The Armada steps onto hostile territory this week. It’s not that the BMW International Open has been an elusive tournament for our players, quite the contrary (three Spanish victories in 35 years), but on Friday we are playing the quarters in the Euro Cup of football precisely against Germany… and in Germany. La Roja and the Mannschaft face each other for a place in the semi-finals and such a thing in two such football-loving countries are big words. The shots are flying these days…
In fact, in the days leading up to the match, a rather absurd and dangerous debate has been established, like so many others that surround football, about whether Spain will be able to retire Toni Kroos, Real Madrid’s midfielder who has announced his retirement after the World Cup. Something similar happened with Zidane in the 2006 World Cup and France ended up painting our faces. We’ll see what happens with Kroos, in the meantime there is a German that we are going to retire this week and his name is Bernhard Langer. We don’t stand up. We retire him from the DP World Tour. Just to clarify, Langer has no intention of stopping playing on the PGA Tour Champions. He only retires from the regular DP World Tour, as next year he is scheduled to play his last Augusta Masters. It will be his 514th tournament on this circuit.
Langer has confirmed that this BMW International Open is going to be his last tournament on the European circuit. Hats off. He should be the main protagonist of the week, at least until Friday, and if he makes the cut, until Sunday.
It’s worth reviewing his data. He is 66 years old and is going to play his 513th tournament on the European circuit. He has achieved 42 victories on the European Tour throughout his career, only surpassed in the historical classification by the 50 of Severiano Ballesteros. In addition, he has two Green Jackets from Augusta and has won more than anyone on the PGA Tour Champions (46), including twelve senior majors. His career is impressive. One of the greatest.
It will be a week of more than deserved tribute at the Golfclub Eichenreid in Munich, about 90 kilometers from his home and very close to the club where he started working as a professional. He will play the first two rounds with Martin Kaymer, the most successful German golfer after Langer, and with Marcel Siem, the fashionable Teuton after his victory a week ago in Italy.
Unaware of these tributes should be the thirteen Spaniards competing this week: Alfredo García Heredia, Pablo Larrazábal, Santi Tarrio, Nacho Elvira, Adri Arnaus, Alex Del Rey, Adrián Otaegui, Ángel Ayora, Miguel Ángel Jiménez, Sebastián García Rodríguez, Manuel Elvira, Rafa Cabrera Bello and Iván Cantero. It’s the full Armada, except for Ángel Hidalgo, whose plan even before qualifying for the Open was to rest this week.
Who is not retiring for the moment is Jiménez. The Malaga player adds one more tournament to the DP World Tour this week. At his 60 years he will be placed with 722. He is a former winner of the tournament, just like Pablo Larrazábal, champion on two occasions on this same course (2011 and 2015), his garden. Jiménez also won on this course in 2004. His game is improving week by week and he is eager to start giving some scares on Sundays.
