Alvaro

Quiros

The Spaniard will be one of many players somewhat irked that the tournament has a new host. Admittedly his returns were somewhat diminishing at Doha GC, but he had a win and two seconds in a row from 2009 and was T19 in 2018. He also has six top six finishes in the United Arab Emirates, the most recent when T3 in last year’s Dubai Desert Classic so his Middle East form is strong. However, he continues to be mercurial with form. Last season he added second at Eichenried and third at Valderrama in a two week summer spell to that effort in Dubai, but otherwise rarely featured at the weekend and, indeed, he is on a current run of 2-for-9 with all four 2020 starts reaping missed weekends. Glimmer of hope? He won the 2010 Open de Espana at Sevilla GC, a Jose Maria Olazabal design, like this week.

A course debut at the Montgomerie Maxx Royal in Belek for the Spaniard who languishes at 72nd on the Race to Dubai. He made his tournament debut just a year ago, struggling and finishing a lowly T72. Before that he had made just the one start in Turkey, when making a brief return to the Challenge Tour in 2017 and missing the cut. Third at the BMW International Open and then almost implausibly second at tight Valderrama, perhaps he was as surprised as anyone else – that might explain his failure to land a top 40 in his next nine start. He arrives having missed his last three cuts.

The Spaniard joined Frenchman Mike Lorenzo-Vera, plus his fellow countrymen Adri Arnaus, Eduardo De La Riva and Jon Rahm on that number but only the latter ever threatened to catch the winner Christiaan Bezuidenhout. Instead Quiros enjoyed a somewhat wild ride that allowed him to personal best at Valderrama (bettering his T16 last year, which had promised to be better when contending early in the week). On this Sunday he made bogey at No. 2, but responded with birdies at 3, 4, 5 and 9. The back nine started with a run of birdie-birdie-bogey-birdie from the 11th and ended with birdie-bogey at 17 and 18, the latter costing him solo second, but the consolation is that it was a third top three of the season and a second in two weeks.

The tight fairways of Real Club Valderrama might not strike one as the obvious spot for the long-hitting Quiros to excel and his first five starts backed that up (2-for-5, best of T34), but he was T3 after 18 and 36 holes last year on his way to T16 and now he can view a weekend attempting to better that, albeit he lunched four swings back of the clubhouse leader Christiaan Bezuidenhout. He started on the back nine and, as in round one, he didn’t make par between the tenth and 14th tees. This time he went birdie-birdie-bogey-birdie and he added another bogey at the 15th and two birdies to finish to hit the turn in 33. The return home witnessed a more relaxed seven pars (birdie at two, bogey at four).

The Spaniard matched his best result of the season (also T3 in January’s Dubai Desert Classic) with an eagle-par-birdie finish, something he could have sold to plenty of the other protagonists who wobbled down the stretch. Earlier, he’d made five bogeys in nine holes from Nos. 5-12 although he’d bookended that burst with bogeys at 4 and 13. Quiros can suddenly pop like this although, despite missing six of his last eight cuts, he did flicker back to life with T18 at the Made In Denmark last month. The big hitter had previously missed his last ten cuts on German soil and had course form at Munchen Nord-Eichenried of MC-MC-MC-61-MC-MC. In short, he’s a hard man to predict although there is always the potential for a big upside.

The Spaniard started his circuit in give and take fashion: birdies at the first, fourth and ninth, bogeys at the third and tenth. But then he raced home, ticking the 14th and 16th to smooth his way into T6 (with 15 others) just three swings back of the lead of Andrea Pavan. Not that he knew it immediately. There was a three hour weather delay and he had to wait until early Friday morning to discover that he had grabbed that position. He has made just 24 cuts in his last 80 starts. Only three of those finishes were top 15, but they include a win, a second and a third. He was T18 last time out in Denmark.

That’s a leap of 45 spots for the big-hitting Spaniard. Since a third place at the Dubai Desert Classic (the scene of one of his seven European Tour wins), Quiros’ last seven starts show five missed cuts, a 70th and WD at the British Masters last time after opening with 78. But he has a habit of popping when seemingly way out of form so we shouldn’t be too taken aback by his prominent position, even though this is his tournament debut. Quiros flew to the turn in 32 after birdies at 1, 5, 6 and 7 and added another at 10 to hit 6-under. He found the going tougher from there and his run of pars was broken only by a bogey at 16 for the second day running. He’s only 2-under for the par 5s so far this week so there could be more to come.

The Spaniard took this title in 2011 and has a further two top sixes and two top 20s. Today’s lap tied his low 18 here (R4 in both 2009 and 2015) and propelled him 30 spots up the leaderboard to top spot after he’d opened with a 69. Quiros bogeyed his first hole but quickly atoned with red circles at 2, 3 and 5 before adding eagle-2 at 8. After a run of five pars he produced a flying finish with birdies at 14, 16, 17 and 18. The seven-time European Tour winner said: “I have been working a lot (on my putting) with José María (Olazábal) Ole, and with my coach and it looks like it’s paying off. Last week (T65 Abu Dhabi) I was putting nicely too and with these greens it is key. I found out the sand can be very heavy and unfortunately it was an unlucky lie (at the first) and from there onwards I have been playing nicely, holing putts and have been lucky sometimes.”

It’s his first appearance in the event. The monster hitter won six times on the European Tour between 2007 and 2011 and returned to the winner’s circle in 2017 in rather unexpected fashion. Last season he finished inside the top 100 on the Race to Dubai for the first time wince 2014 so there are definite signs that the likeable Spaniard, still just 35, is building his way back. He’s 3-for-3 since late October, a run started with T16 at his home Andalucia Masters.

The Spaniard, 98th in the Race to Dubai standings, chased an opening 68 with a four-birdie, three-bogey showing on Saturday. It’s a shout to Garcia on the top but just two swings shy of second place, held by first-round leader Ashley Chesters. The 35-year-old was 1-over thru his first seven, outbalancing two circles with three squares, but played his final 11 in blemish-free 2-under, ticking birdie-4s at 17 and 4. He’s a 7-time winner on the European Tour in 261 events, most recently the 2017 Rocco Forte Open, which was his first win in six years. This is Quiro’s sixth made cut this season in 20 starts, first since the Open de France seven starts ago, with one just one prior top 10, a solo 2nd at the Trophee Hassan II back in April.