The Volvo China Open is the fifth victory for Adrián Otaegui on the DP World Tour. The handful. It also represents the first Spanish golf victory in a long time on the European circuit, specifically since May 28 of last year, when Pablo Larrazábal lifted the trophy of the KLM Open, the ninth of his career. Almost a year, exactly 343 long days, has passed between one and the other. A drought that had not been seen in Spanish golf on the European circuit for a long time.
The last time so much time passed between two Spanish victories on the DP World Tour was between June 2015, when Pablo Larrazábal, yes, also Pablo, won the BMW International Open for the second time, and February 2017, when Sergio García opened the can again with a great victory in the Omega Dubai Desert Classic after a vibrant duel with Henrik Stenson. In other words, the bad streak that Otaegui has just cut is the worst in the Jon Rahm era, as we remember that the golfer from Barrika did not play his first regular tournament of the DP World Tour until July 2017, the French Open.
The Pirate’s triumph is the 206th of Spanish golf on the DP World Tour. A figure reached with the sum of 33 different golfers. Only England and the United States accumulate more victories than Spain on the European Circuit. Since 2017, the last six years, we have added 33 Spanish victories, more than 16 percent of the total and an average of almost five per year. We are, without a doubt, in one of the golden stages of our professional male golf.
Otaegui’s fifth victory also means that he equals in the historical classification of Spanish golf to Antonio Garrido with five victories and is ahead of Rafa Cabrera Bello and Pepín Rivero, with four each. He is one behind José María Cañizares and two behind Álvaro Quirós and Gonzalo Fernández Castaño. Of course, the Spanish golfer who has achieved the most victories on the European Tour is Seve Ballesteros, with a whopping 50.
In addition, speaking of numbers and data, Otaegui provisionally ranks 103rd in the world ranking, behind Jesper Svensson and Zander Lombard, among others, and waiting for what the players who are competing in the Byron Nelson in the United States and who could still make him lose some positions.
Also, in the Race to Dubai he moves up 46 positions and is placed in the thirteenth place as the best Spaniard. Once again, involved in the fight for those ten PGA Tour cards.
Similarly, waiting for the International Golf Federation to update the ranking at the beginning of next week, he will make a significant jump in the classification for the Olympic Games. We will see if he surpasses David Puig, who currently holds the second place that gives access to Paris along with Jon Rahm, the undisputed number one at this time. There is only a month and a half left for the deadline and Otaegui, Puig and Jorge Campillo are in a close fight, while Pablo Larrazábal, Alejandro del Rey and Nacho Elvira still have options.
