European Tour arrives on home soil
IN: News | European PGA | Madeira Islands Open (2007) | by Bruce Young | 21 Mar 2007
After visiting just about every country known to mankind in the last five months, the European Tour finally arrives on European territory, a Portugese island of the coast of North Africa, for this week's Madeira Islands Open BPI.
Madeira Island is 800 kilometres off the south west coast of Portugal. The event will once again be played at the stunning Robert Trent Jones designed Santo da Serra and for those who played at last week's TCL Classic on Hainan island off the coast of China they will play a Robert Trent Jones Jr designed course for the second consecutive week. The course was originally built in 1937 but totally redesigned by Jones in 1991 and has played host to this event since 1997.
The defending champion is Jean Van de Velde who secured an emotional victory twelve months ago when he returned from injury to win just his second European Tour event and his first since the debacle of the 72nd hole at Carnoustie nearly eight years ago.
Van de Velde arrives on Madeira in good form having finished 10th at the recent Johnnie Walker and 4th in Singapore so his chances of victory are looking perhaps even better than was the case when he arrived last year. His one shot win here over Lee Slattery was made more dramatic after he had double bogeyed the last and dropped three shots in the last four holes after recording eight birdies prior to that on the final day. Memories of Carnoustie cam flooding back as he nearly blew a three shot lead playing the last.
David Lynn might just be the favourite ahead of Van de Velde although he too finished 4th in Singapore. His 11th place in Qatar might be a better guide to his chances given that it was a much stronger field than he will face this week.
Graeme Storm seems to be closing in on a win. He has made ten of his last eleven cuts and although he has not put it all together in any one week there have been some brilliant rounds of golf amongst those tournaments.
Rafael Echenique's runner up placing last week in China was very impressive and given that he has won twice on the Challenge Tour in the last five months he might be ready to step up to the higher level and win on the European Tour.
Italy's Edoardo Molinari could be a surprise packet this week as the 2005 US Amateur Champion settles into the life of a professional. He finished 8th at the Joburg Open earlier this year but his recent wins in Challenge Tour events are perhaps a better indication of his chances this week. His brother Francesco also stands a chance.
From an Australasian perspective, Wade Ormsby, Steve Alker, Matthew Zions, David Bransdon, Terry Pilkadaris, John Wade and Simon Nash are all taking advantage of the weaker field this week to get a start in a European Tour event. Nash finished fourth last week in China while Bransdon was 6th. Pilkadaris, Bransdon, Wade and Nash are all looking to leapfrog their way onto the European Tour as at this stage none have full status.
The tournament carries prizemoney of just €700,000 but it is a very important week for many looking to secure their immediate futures in Europe.
