Next Thursday, Alejandro Cañizares will reach the remarkable milestone of 400 DP World Tour events as he tees it up at the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters, as determined as ever to “give his best in every shot”.
Reaching 400 events on tour is no small achievement, and to do it at home, “an incredible coincidence,” says Alejandro. “This is my club; I have practiced here since I was 15 or 16 and they’ve always helped me a lot. It’s very special to celebrate it here”.
Cañizares recalls vividly his first appearance on the then European Tour as an amateur, the 2002 Canarias Open de España, aged 19. “My brother caddied for me and I finished fourth from bottom, but Seve Ballesteros was behind me, and we also met at the airport. As I didn’t make the cut, we drove around the island and had a great time”.
In 2006 he won his card with full playing rights and needed only three starts to notch his first victory, the 2006 Russian Open. The second came at the 2014 Hasan II Trophy in Morocco.
Cañizares is proud of his 400 tournaments, “that means that I’ve teed it up many times during my 16-year career”. With countless battles in his bag, he looks forward to playing once again on his home course, Real Club Valderrama, in front of his home crowd.
“It’s been a tough year in terms of golf and also mentally, but the game is not over. I can’t have too many expectations, but I still have my goals and my dreams. I can only say that I’m going to give my best in every shot”.
Aiming at the 200th Spanish victory on the DP World Tour
15 Spanish players target that very special goal, many of them with brilliant victories on their record, such as Pablo Larrazábal, Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño and Álvaro Quirós (seven each), Rafa Cabrera-Bello (four), Adrián Otaegui (three), Alejandro Cañizares and Jorge Campillo (two) and Nacho Elvira (one).
They will be joined by fellow professionals Pep Anglés, Pedro Oriol, Ángel Hidalgo, Sebastián García Rodríguez, Santiago Tarrio and Alfredo García Heredia.
Ángel Ayora, leading amateur from La Cañada, will complete the Spanish field, having finished second in the 2022 Spanish International Under-18, as well as the Spanish Amateur Championship and the Spanish Absolute Championship.
All those who want to enjoy this DP World Tour event also have the opportunity to acquire individual day tickets, weekend passes or season tickets at experiences.dpworldtour.com/edam or at Real Club Valderrama box office (credit or debit card payment required).
The Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters, an event in the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai made possible by the essential contribution of the Real Club Valderrama, is sponsored by Estrella Damm and the Consejería de Turismo, Cultura y Deporte of the Junta de Andalucía, jointly funded by the EU and was declared Event of Exceptional Public Interest by the Government of Spain.
