Andalucia Masters 2011
At Club de Golf Valderrama, Sotogrande
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| Immaculate bunkers at one of the finest golf courses in Europe - if not still the best. |
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| Miguél Angel Jimenéz - spanish golf icon from tee at the par-5 4th hole. |
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| Martin Kaymer - approch at 4th hole securing his bogy. Difficult hole, even for the german-machine-golfer, because in the end that´s what he is.. |
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| Georg Coetzee (RSA) trying his best after a one stroke penalty drop in the bunker. Outcome = triple bogey! |
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| ..and this is why he had to drop. Bad luck when the fairway sucks! |
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| Kaymer and his school book swing - efficient but boring to watch. |
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| Now, this is a swing with soule and personality! Name: Greame McDowell, and add to that owner of probably the best golf player web site in the world - have a peek here |
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| 47 years - and still enjoying life as a pro golfer. |
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| When the rough gets tough - the tough gets going! Swedish Christian Nilsson did harvest € 82.700,- in the forrest after four rounds. |
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| At Valderrama you need a wide range of shortgame tools and touch! |
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| Fairway view from the 18th. |
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| If you can "only" hit straight shots - not that it´s a bad thing most other places - you´ll never survive at Valderrama. |
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| Three time 2011 European Tour winner, Thomas Bjørn, has the curved shots and the creative mindset required. (15 th overall). |
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| Jimenéz in his well known flat back swing and recognizable posture. |
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| El Bulli normally stays on top of the hilly Andalucían landscapes as trademark symbols of Andalucia - but as tourist promotor Andalucía was main sponsor, a few had sneaked in. |
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| Justin Rose at the 11th par-5. One of the rare holes, not being surrounded by trees. (72,71,74,74 = 28th overall) |
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| As of mid November until early May you can play a round of golf and go skiing the next day. Sierra Nevada is situated only 2½ hours away from Sotogrande. (I LIKE) |
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| Eagle recipe on par-5: Driver 280 m, 3-wood 215 m in front of the green and let the ball do the work. 1½ m put and two shots gained. |
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| Grégory Havret, the quit frenchman, made € 105.000 and finished 6 th overall. |
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| Important is not the player on this photo. It´s the cutting of the: green, french, second cutting and the rough that stood our for me. Immaculate is a word that cannot be used to many times at Valderrama - IMMACULATE, that is. |
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| Best hole No. 17 in the world. Risk and reward par-5 which has seen many men become crying boys. |
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| If you are not accurate in your approch by only very few feets - you either have to drop a new ball - taking a one shot penalty, or you probably end up with a three-putt and a bogy. (Ranked as 4th most difficult hole this year with an stroke avg. of 5.23) |
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| Steep backswing, for Shane Lowry but good enough for securing a par. (€ 150.000,- in prizemoney for a 4th overall) |
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| Crowd pleaser, as only a Spanish matador Sergio Garcia can be. VERY LUCKY to save his par, but the loud spanish spectatores loved him. |
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| Scottish tournament leader through the three first rounds, Richie Ramsay secures a 3rd place and a €187.800,- cheque in his Autumn campagne which also included a 3rd place (€ 112.600,-) at Castelló Masters the week prior to Andalucía Masters and a 13th spot in Barclays Singapore Open (€62.427,91) two weeks later. |
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| WINNER: Sergio Garcia at the 18th - and € 500.000,- happier.. |
Go to the gallery from 2011 Volvo World Match Play Championship (Finca Cortesin)