Sometimes you just have to sit back in awe and amazement at the ups and downs of a golf event; the 2013 Open de Espana has proven to be one of the best ever European Tour events in history and it went right down to the wire and beyond.
Thursday 18th April marked the start of the first round and there were some surprise leaders after the days play – indeed Felipe Aguilar was leading the way with a respectable 4 under par alongside Gary Stal and Morten Orum Madsen.
The 2012 winner Francesco Molinari was way behind the pace after many expected him to put up a strong fight to retain his crown. Other favourites such as Sergio Garcia and Matteo Manaserro also struggled to make any real impact.
Round 2 kicked off on Friday with more drama and ups and downs, new names came onto the leader board and replaced virtually the whole of the first round leaders apart from Aguilar who finished the round in joint second on 5 under par. Peter Uihlein led the round by 1 shot at 6 under par and again many of the big names and favourites had failed to make their mark on the leaderboard.
Day three saw some big changes in players at the top and going into the final day the crown was still massively up for grabs and promising a fantastic finale to an already hotly contested event full of ups and downs.
Sunday 21st April 2013 will go down in golf legend and history as one of the finest final days of a European event that the sport has ever seen.
It ended with France’s Raphael Jaquelin taking the crown after putting from 10 feet in a tense and European PGA Tour record equaling 9 sudden death holes with Germany’s Maxamilian Kieffer after Chilean Felipe Aguilar, who had contested the event throughout, had been knocked out in the earlier play off between the three leaders who all finished on an impressive 5 under par.
In summary there’s nothing more to say other than the Open de Espana lived up to its billing and was one of the most memorable golf events you are ever likely to see. El Saler in Valencia did themselves proud and more than earned its reputation as a fantastic, but unforgiving short course, with Sergio Garcia himself speaking highly of the challenges of the greens and course overall.
Original source https://www.ccgt.co.uk/blog/523/483/2/An-Overview-of-the-Open-de-Espana-2013
