José Maria Olazábal
There may not be a tournament this week on The European Tour but history shows it has been a week, in the past, which has been significant for a number of Tour members in terms of their career development.
No-one more so than for the man who currently holds the honour of being captain of the European Ryder Cup team, Spain’s José Maria Olazábal, who won no less than three of his 23 European Tour titles during this week.
The first success for ‘Chema’ came on March 1, 1992 when a closing round of 68 saw him pip fellow countryman José Rivero at El Bosque Golf and Country Club in Valencia to claim his 13th Tour win in the Open Mediterrania.
Two years later, on March 6, 1994, the same tournament once again provided a happy hunting ground for the Spaniard who picked up his 15th Tour title at Villa Martin in Torrevieja, this time having to go to the second hole of a sudden-death play-off to see off Ireland’s Paul McGinley after both men had finished tied on 12 under par 276.
Finally, four years later in 1998, it was a successful return to March 1 for Olazábal who capped one of the greatest comebacks in the world of golf with his victory in that season’s Dubai Desert Classic.
Two years earlier, the Spaniard did not know if he would ever walk again, never mind win a golf tournament. The previous year he had chosen Dubai as the starting point for his fightback from a crippling foot injury which threatened his career and, twelve months on he won in fine style at the Emirates Golf Club, four rounds in the 60s seeing him finish three shots clear of the field.
The first week of March has also been bountiful for former European Ryder Cup Captains Ian Woosnam and Mark James.
Welshman Woosnam won the Mediterranean Open over three rounds at Las Brisas on March 4, 1990 while, the following year, on March 3, 1991, he retained the title at Golf D’Esterel in France with a best of day 67; while on March 5, 1989 James marked The European Tour’s first visit to the desert with a play-off victory in the inaugural Dubai Desert Classic over Australia’s Peter O’Malley.
While the above victories augmented already successful careers on The European Tour, this week in history also proved a starting point for three players to win their first tournaments on the schedule: Scotsmen Andrew Oldcorn in the Open de Andalucia on February 28 1993 and Paul Lawrie in the Open Catalonia on March 3 1996 – while March 2 1997 saw Richard Green triumph in the Dubai Desert Classic, beating Greg Norman and Ian Woosnam in a play-off.
