Antonio Garrido. Photo by Getty Images.
Players Quotes
Jeff Winther: I played solid, hit a lot of fairways - you have to out here. Had lovely iron shots here and there and made a few good putts, so can't complain. That was lovely (the run of three birdies on the back nine) they came right after my bogey on ten, I had a bad lie there. But I'm playing solid, had one bad iron shot today, but I managed to save that. I'm all ready for tomorrow hopefully.
It's very important just to keep your game flowing, keep thinking positive, because you have a lot of chances if you hit the fairways. The greens are still a bit soft so you can spin them out quite easily. Three quarter iron shots have been the way for me today.
The last two weeks in Spain have been, course-wise, phenomenal, the best we've played in a while. The greens are lovely, the fairways are really good and the rough is mean. It's just the way it should be, in my opinion.
Darren Fichardt: I played really solid, I know is a tough golf course, you have to keep the ball in play off the tee and make sure you get chances. The front nine I just really played solid, I made two good birdies and then I putted great in the back nine, which was nice. Managed to hole really good putts, managed to get momentum and unfortunately didn't do so well in the last one but if you gave me a 66 before I started I would have taken it.
Last week I hadn't play well in quite a while, I had injuries at the beginning of the year so I took three week off in SA and I came and played really well but my confidence was low so I was playing quite protective golf last week, just wanted to get a good result and I did that.
This week is pretty similar sort of game playing, very defensive golf course, last week and this week, you can't attack, you can't be too aggressive, you have to be very patient and accept the fact that you are going to make mistakes. Try to get on the fairway and try to get in the hole.
I was telling my playing partners, we should be playing a big tournament here, like a really big tournament, this is unbelievable. I think if I had to play a course like this every week I would have no hair on my head, but it's amazing, they have done unbelievable changes.
Oliver Bekker: I'm pretty happy, it's tricky out there, it's a tough golf course and you are just keeping your head down and trying to hit a good shot every time you step out there. It punishes you if you hit it off line so, very very happy.
If you get a little bit off line, as I did on 10th and made a double, you are going to get punished. The greens are very slopey and they are firming up a little bit so I think it's going to be interesting to see what happens if we don't get any rain or anything over the weekend if they firm up a bit.
You can never relax, that's the thing around this golf course.
Antonio Garrido
(Honorary starter and winner of the first ever DP World Tour event, the 1972 Open de España)
I feel different, I was less nervous then (winning in 1972) than I am now. In those moments you are not thinking about the future in 50 years, at that moment you are in another moment of life, and I could never think that that could lead us to this moment (celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Tour).
The memories (of his first win) are so different that they cannot be explained. Nothing is the same, only one thing, the game itself. The rest cannot be explained. I can't say if it was worse or better than now; I can only say that everything has fortunately gotten better and that nothing is the same. It was very exciting because the play off was with a friend, Valentin Barrios, it was 3 hole play-off… at the end one had to win, and that was me.
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