Tuesday in Sotogrande. The sky held up like a champ. It kept dodging the old-timers of the area. “Now it’s coming, but just wait until noon, it’s going to pour…”. Not a drop. After the first crisis was averted, another one appeared with their own prediction, finger raised high. “No, at four it will start raining and won’t stop…”. Not a drop.
That’s the charm of this wonderful corner of Spanish geography, no one can predict it. Instability is a constant. From a quarter to seven, with no doomsayers on the coast, the sky couldn’t hold any longer and opened up. Rain, rain, and more rain. It’s pouring. In the last two days, 45 litres per square metre have fallen. Quite something. Add to that what’s falling this evening…
The elements have conspired to thwart the ideal course preparation plan for the Estrella Damm Andalucía Masters. The main goal was to have the greens very firm and very fast, but of course, with this weather, it’s very complicated. It’s worth mentioning that Sotogrande, with all its workers at the forefront and the European Tour, are doing everything they can, and there is more than reasonable hope that we’ll see the Sunday we all want. Here’s the story.
Last Monday, all the greens were sprayed with a mix of wetting agent and penetrant. It’s a product widely used on golf courses that helps water filter down much faster, so the top layer, the one that matters, stays as dry as possible. The solution doesn’t work miracles, but it helps. Science to the rescue.
Even so, 45 litres is a lot, and the greens were very receptive today. Perhaps too much. Here and there, among the players, it was whispered that the winning score would be around -25. A torrent of birdies is expected. Even so, let’s see, it’s not wise to speak so lightly of that -25. If the dream Sunday is achieved, we should be thinking more about a -20…
Besides the wetting agent and penetrant, the course needs the weather to lend a hand. As of today, we can say it’s possible. More rain is expected this Wednesday, but from Thursday, the forecast points to dry weather. Additionally, a last-minute ally might arrive, the westerly wind, which dries the most. According to the specialised website wind guru, on Thursday we could have gusts over 40 kilometres per hour, which is no small feat. Beyond drying the greens, it can obviously also make play more difficult, and the -25 is not so likely.
If the forecast holds, it doesn’t rain from Thursday, and the wind appears, on Sunday we could have the greens almost as firm as Sotogrande desires and at the speed decided by the DP World Tour. In this regard, the plan is to have them at 12.5 on the stimpmeter on Thursday and to touch, or even exceed, 13 on Sunday. With those greens, which have a lot of movement, at that speed, golf will no longer be a walk in the park.
Can we reach -25? Absolutely. Will it be as easy as it seems? Absolutely not. Especially if Sotogrande’s plan goes as expected. The rest, what happens in the standings, is solely and exclusively in the hands of the players.
