Sergio García is one of the standout names of the week at the Club de Campo Villa de Madrid. It’s no wonder, as the golfer from Borriol, champion of the Masters Tournament in 2017, returns to the Open de España six years later. When Sergio sets foot on Spanish soil, the ground shakes. That’s what the numbers say.
García has achieved nine victories in Spain, seven on the DP World Tour and one more in LIV Golf. He is tied overall with José María Olazábal and just two wins away from matching the greatest of the greats: Severiano Ballesteros. The Cantabrian left the bar at 10 victories. This is the podium of Spanish golf in terms of home wins. The Open de España starting this Thursday will be the 196th European Tour event on home soil. The two countries with the most successes are Spain and England, far ahead of the rest. The Armada has currently stopped the counter at 48, while the English are at 39. The next are Scotland, South Africa, and Sweden with 13. The non-Spanish golfer with the most victories here is the German Bernhard Langer with five.
Sergio, therefore, has the opportunity to add his ninth victory in Spain, which is not bad at all. In any case, besides being an opportunity, it is almost a necessity if he aspires to at least meet the minimum number of tournaments played in a season required by the DP World Tour to maintain membership. Specifically, playing the Open of your country, as is the case, the minimum is four excluding the Majors. The Borriol native currently has one, the BMW International Open, the second will be the Open de España, and he would have to play two more. In India, which is played next week, he is not registered, leaving only Korea, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai. Obviously, his plan is to avoid Korea and play the last two in the United Arab Emirates. The problem is that to do so, he must qualify. In Abu Dhabi, the top 70 of the Race to Dubai who want to play enter (that is, in case of absences, positions move up, so it could drop slightly and approach position 80) and the top 50 access the Dubai Final. Sergio currently occupies the 192nd position, far from that top 70.
The challenge is not easy. To enter Abu Dhabi without needing to play in Korea, García needs to win in Madrid or finish second alone. A second tied with a third would not suffice. Thus, Sergio arrives in Madrid with the desire and need to win if he wants to meet that minimum. Certainly, that is his intention, as he confessed today at the Club de Campo. “Yes, I am missing some tournaments after this week to play the minimum. Obviously, it is something I would like to achieve. It will depend a little on several things because there are weeks when unfortunately I cannot play. But well, I will try my best to play the minimum and then mostly rest until the LIV season starts again in February. We will see how everything goes,” he notes.
His exclusion from the Ryder Cup team was a disappointment. The player who holds the record for points in the history of the competition held hope until the end, although ultimately he was left out. It was a blow, but he remains convinced that he still has a place on the team in the future. In fact, he is not even considering the possibility of being a captain at the moment. “The only thing left for me is to keep at it, keep improving a and try to give myself chances to see if we can be on that team in future editions. Obviously, being a captain is something that would be nice, but it’s something I really don’t want to think about at the moment. I think the moment you start thinking about being a captain, you forget about trying to be a player, which is the most beautiful thing. And until I see that my body can’t take it anymore or I can’t deliver the level, I don’t want to think about that. I still have the game to qualify or try to qualify once or twice. There’s Justin Rose, who is the same age as me,” he explains.
Regarding the Ryder Cup at Bethpage, Sergio notes that “I saw it a bit more tense than we wanted on Sunday, but very well. Very happy that the European team won again in a difficult place, which we all knew was going to be tough there in New York. We have played many times and we know how the New York crowd responds. And knowing that the Ryder was coming, everyone knew it was going to be difficult. The team held up very well. Probably, on the last day, they felt the wear and tear of those first two days, with all the pressure and with all the crowd there piling on. Happy that they managed to do what was wanted, which was to win it.”
As for his golf, Sergio sees himself with chances for everything this week. He doesn’t rule out anything. “I started the year very well, then I had a bit of a slump in the middle of the year, but I think I finished it at a fairly decent level. These weeks at home training I have felt quite good, trying to test some things here and there, trying to improve in everything we can. Looking forward to playing this week, trying to do very, very well, to see if we can put ourselves in a position over the weekend to fight for the title.” Sergio played nine holes on Monday and another nine on Tuesday and assures that he has never seen the course in such good conditions.
