Sergio Garcia, Europe’s leading challenger for last week’s Open Championship, tees up for the third straight week in Europe aiming to make significant further progress towards his ultimate goal of qualifying for The 2006 Ryder Cup at The K Club in September.
The Spaniard committed to playing in The Barclays Scottish Open, The 135th Open Championship and The Deutsche Bank Players’ Championship of Europe in a bid to lock up a place in Ian Woosnam’s side to face the United States.
So far, Garcia is on track, despite the frustration of a final day 73 at Royal Liverpool which saw him drop from a share of second place overnight to tied fifth behind Champion Tiger Woods.
Garcia won 70,228 points for finishing tied ninth in Scotland and a further 231,710 at The Open. Those points helped the 26 year old to climb to fifth on The Ryder Cup European Points List with 1,557,771 while his 22 World Ranking points at Hoylake elevated him to sixth on The Ryder Cup World Points List.
With a further 600,000 available to the winner in Germany, from a prize fund of €3,600,000, Garcia has a golden opportunity to improve his prospects of a fourth Ryder Cup appearance in Ireland – the country where he won his first European Tour title seven years ago.
A total of seven players in the world’s top 20, headed by Number Four Retief Goosen will play at Gut Kaden near Hamburg. Goosen, winner of the US Open in 2001 and 2004, arrives in Germany looking for his second title on German soil following his win in the Linde German Masters last year and will face stiff opposition from five other Major Champions in Michael Campbell, John Daly, Todd Hamilton, Bernhard Langer and Ian Woosnam.
Goosen is joined by Garcia (World Number Nine), European Number One Luke Donald (Tenth) and fellow Englishman David Howell (11th), Swede Henrik Stenson (17th), South Africa’s Tim Clark (18th) and Ireland’s Padraig Harrington (19th) from the World’s Top 20. Scot Colin Montgomerie was a late withdrawal on Tuesday suffering from exhaustion.
Of that illustrious group, only Harrington has tasted success at Gut Kaden, winning the title in 2003 after a play-off with Denmark’s Thomas Björn. Harrington, who has picked up two runners-up finishes in the last five weeks, will be keen to make amends for the disappointment of missing the cut at Royal Liverpool as he looks to further cement his place on Ian Woosnam’s team for The Ryder Cup in September.
The top three finishers from last year’s event - Niclas Fasth, the eventual winner, Angel Cabrera, who was defeated in a play-off, and joint third placed Stephen Gallacher of Scotland are all in the field.
Daly, winner of the 1991 US PGA and The 1995 Open, is always a crowd pleaser and he is making his fourth appearance in the event, which carries a prize fund of €3,600,000 and a winner’s cheque for €600,000, while Hamilton, who beat Ernie Els to win The 2004 Open, is competing for the first time.
Focus is inevitably on the race to make the European Team for The K Club with Swede Johan Edfors, winner of three titles already on The 2006 European Tour International Schedule, England’s Kenneth Ferrie and Björn, all just outside the automatic qualifying places and looking to force their way into the side.
Italian golfer Edoardo Molinari, the current US Amateur Champion and brother of 2006 Telecom Italia Open winner, Francesco, has turned professional and will make his European Tour debut in The Deutsche Bank Players Championship, courtesy of a sponsor’s invitation. Having taken Affiliate Membership of The European Tour he will be attempting to obtain his full European Tour playing status.
Molinari became the first European to win the US Amateur Championship for 95 years. This followed his victories in the 2001 Italian Amateur Championship and the 2003 Turkish Amateur Championship. Whilst completing his Engineering Degree at the University ‘di Torino’ he has had the privilege and experience of playing with Tiger Woods at the Masters Tournament and US Open Championship as well as competing in several European and US PGA Tour events.
He said “I am very excited to be turning professional and joining my brother on The European Tour. The last year has been an incredible journey with many fantastic experiences from making the cut at The Open to winning the US Amateur Championship to playing with Tiger Woods in two Majors.”
