The second round of the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters came to an emotional ending with Jon Rahm bidding a humble farewell to the public who gave him a standing ovation on Real Club Valderrama’s 18th green. France’s Romain Langasque leads the field with -4 and Alejandro Cañizares is the best Spaniard two shots behind after 36 holes.

Rahm got off to a bad start for second day in a row  ̶  starting from the first this time  ̶  and was unable to find the birdies he needed to stay in the tournament, although he played the back nine under par. He leaves after a long and eventful season, basking in the affection of the crowds who have supported him enthusiastically in the two events he has played in Spain and promising that he will do his utmost to ensure that the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters reaches a higher status on the international scene.

“I putted for birdie on every hole after 7 bit didn’t make any. I knew that I needed six and I didn’t give up.  Pity that I played badly. It’s been a long year and a good year, it's a shame that it ended like this. I love the course and I'll keep coming back, but I'm a bit tired. I don't like excuses, I've tried, but more than my body, my mind hasn't been able to cope. I’m going to hang my clubs for the next four weeks and do something else. I need a rest.”

Rahm admits that his main motivation for coming to this tournament is the passion he felt as a child which he now sees in the eyes of his young fans.

"The public was my reason for coming here, apart from wanting to win. I understand that having reached the level I have reached I can help Spanish golf. I remember when I was a kid coming to the Volvo Masters, seeing the players gave you a big boost. Now I will go and sign autographs because I remember when they signed my shirt in 2008 or 2009, I was thrilled. The next Spanish benchmark golfer could be right here".

Langasque, the 2015 Amateur Champion and a one-time European Tour winner, has carded back-to-back rounds of 69 to lead at the halfway stage with -4. After a stunning eagle on 17, the Frenchman is one shot clear of Swede Sebastian Söderberg, New Zealand’s Ryan Fox and Englishmen Laurie Canter (after a superb 65) and Ryder Cup star Matt Fitzpatrick.

Two shots behind the leader, Alejandro Cañizares made the most of his local knowledge to get to -2 with spectacular finish to his round.

Cañizares, a member of Valderrama, praised the character of the course.

 "Valderrama is a great example of a course that not being long is one of the most difficult if not the most difficult of the year. It would be nice to have more courses like this. Obviously, I'm not a big hitter and it suits me, but it's just that this type of course is nicer than having to hit 350 yards off the tee. More courses like Valderrama would do golf a lot of good.”

Rafa Cabrera Bello had a difficult day on the firm greens of Valderrama and paid dearly for his few long game mistakes, but managed to finish tied 13th in level par. One stroke behind, Sebastián García Rodríguez and Pablo Larrazábal tied 16th (+1). Outside the top 20, Jorge Campillo (+2), Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño and Adrián Otaegui (+3), Álvaro Quirós and Nacho Elvira (+4), and Santiago Tarrío (+5) also made the cut.

INSIDE THE ROPES

Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño equals his best round in this tournament

After struggling on Thursday, Fernández-Castaño, a member and great expert of Real Club Valderrama, carded a bogey-free 68 on Friday, his best score in this tournament (although he shot 67 on the third day of the 2008 Volvo Masters).

England’s Eddie Pepperell, also played bogey-free golf on Friday but missed the cut.

Romain Langasque and Laurie Canter have good memories of Spain

Both midway leader Langasque and lowest scorer Canter will be looking for a prestigious European Tour victory at Valderrama this weekend, the first for Canter and the second for Langasque.

Both are united by a prestigious triumph on Spanish soil, the Spanish International Amateur Championship (Copa S.M. El Rey) which they won resoundingly: Langasque by 9 & 8 at RCG de Sevilla in 2016, and Canter by 11 & 10 at El Prat in 2011.

Picking up Gasol's baton

Jon Rahm declared himself flattered by the front page of Marca naming him Pau Gasol's "successor" as the new benchmark for Spanish sport after the recent retirement of the great Catalan basketball player.

"I'm delighted to accept, and all I can say is that I hope I can deliver. Apart from the next few weeks, I'm going to keep training to try to win more titles and give Spain a lot of excitement. I hope I can be an example like Pau has been; he is a great Spanish sportsman."

Tickets can still be purchased to enjoy this year's edition of the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters, and the flexibility of the offer allows to choose between individual access for each day, season tickets or passes for the weekend, with preferential rates for children under 14 years, federated golfers or people with reduced mobility.

Tickets can be purchased from the Tickets menú on the tournament website, at edamgolf.es or at Fever.

The Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters, an event in the European Tour’s Race to Dubai made possible by the essential contribution of the Real Club Valderrama, is sponsored by Estrella Damm and the Consejería de Turismo, Regeneración, Justicia y Administración Local of the Junta de Andalucía, jointly funded by the EU, declared Event of Exceptional Public Interest by the Government of Spain. This tournament is also supported by the Diputación de Cádiz, Exterior Plus, Hero, Rolex y Santander Private Banking. Callaway, Cinco Jotas, Enterprise, Gadira, Kyocera, La Reserva Club Sotogrande, Marca, Quirónsalud, the Real Federación Andaluza de Golf, Riversa, SO/ Sotogrande, Varma and Volvo are official suppliers.

The indelible memory of Seve Ballesteros impregnated the event held last Tuesday at the Real Club Valderrama in the setting of the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters. Promoted by the Junta de Andalucía, represented among others by José María Arrabal Sedano, its Secretary of Sports, and also supported by the municipal corporation of San Roque headed by Mayor Juan Carlos Ruiz Boix, the heartfelt tribute to Seve Ballesteros was attended by his sons, Javier and Miguel, his colleagues Manuel Piñero and José María Cañizares and a very special hostess, María Acacia López Bachiller, press officer of the European Tour in Spain for more than forty years.

The importance of Seve Ballesteros for Andalusian and Spanish golf was once again made clear in a moving video that reviewed his career, and both his son Javier and the golfers who shared a thousand adventures with him framed with their words the spectacular figure of the genius of Pedreña. In addition, Javier Ballesteros gave José María Arrabal Sedano one of the polo shirts that his father wore in the spectacular Ryder Cup held in 1997 at the Real Club Valderrama to be exhibited in the Sports Museum of Seville, a garment that will be accompanied by a portrait of Victor Jerez, a painter specializing in sports scenes.

To round off the event, Nuno Brito e Cunha, President of the Real Club Valderrama, hosted a very special charity auction in which bidders competed for unique gifts, such as a spectacular bronze figure with Seve's hands, a painting of Seve by Víctor Jerez with the iconic image chosen by the winning bidder, the chance to enjoy an unforgettable day with José María, Gabriel and Alejandro Cañizares at the Real Club Valderrama and other unique gifts. Those attending the event, many of them belonging to public and private entities that sponsor the tournament (such as Damm and the Junta de Andalucía, for example) or members of the Real Club Valderrama, showed their generosity and their contributions added up to a great amount, approximately 40,000 € that will be given to the victims of the catastrophe in La Palma.

In this way, the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters once again became a great platform to strengthen ties between golf and the community in an event that remembered the best Spanish golfer of all time.

Tickets can still be purchased to enjoy this year's edition of the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters, and the flexibility of the offer allows to choose between individual access for each day, season tickets or passes for the weekend, with preferential rates for children under 14 years, federated golfers or people with reduced mobility.

Tickets can be purchased from the Tickets menú on the tournament website, at edamgolf.es or at Fever.

The Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters, an event in the European Tour’s Race to Dubai made possible by the essential contribution of the Real Club Valderrama, is sponsored by Estrella Damm and the Consejería de Turismo, Regeneración, Justicia y Administración Local of the Junta de Andalucía, jointly funded by the EU, declared Event of Exceptional Public Interest by the Government of Spain. This tournament is also supported by the Diputación de Cádiz, Exterior Plus, Hero, Rolex y Santander Private Banking. Callaway, Cinco Jotas, Enterprise, Gadira, Kyocera, La Reserva Club Sotogrande, Marca, Quirónsalud, the Real Federación Andaluza de Golf, Riversa, SO/ Sotogrande, Varma and Volvo are official suppliers.

Rafa Cabrera Bello, a big fan of surfing, keeps riding the good wave. After last week’s performance the Open de España champion has carded a first round 68, one shot behind leader Julien Guerrier, in tough conditions at Real Club Valderrama.

“You need to have a lot of respect for this course, but I feel confident and I’m managing to bring the good feelings to the course. If I don’t trust myself after a win, I don’t know when I’m going to do it. There’s a lot of difficult shots out there, but I have many recent memories of things going well, so I just go for it. I hit the shot that I think is right and it’s working fine!”

The wind that blew all day on Thursday adds to the merits of Rafa’s score.

“This might be one of my best rounds at Valderrama. It’s hard enough to shoot under par in calm conditions, with wind it just makes it all that tougher. The greens were fast and firm, so you really had to focus. There were some good shots that ended badly, but I was able to hold on, I took advantage of the opportunities and the putt helped me a lot today”.

In contrast, Jon Rahm had a difficult start, although he never lost his nerve and his performance improved as the holes went by, but his putter was cold and he was unable to come back. Despite his opening 78, tough conditions at Real Club Valderrama leave the door open as only ten players finished in the red on Thursday.

“Tough day, but I never gave up. 78 is better than 79, and every shot counts because the cut will be high if we have this wind tomorrow. I like this golf course and I want to play well, but I had a disappointing start. I didn’t make a single birdie, I never got started. I gave myself some opportunities and hit some good putts, but they refused to fall.”

Leader Julien Guerrier was almost faultless from tee to green and very pleased with his putting, including a few long ones. The Frenchman, third last week at the Spanish Open, seems to have caught the same wave as Rafa Cabrera Bello and having saved his card aims for higher goals.

“I think I’m more relaxed after last week. I’m playing to shoot a low score, not to save my card, that’s the main thing.”

As for the other Spanish participants, Alejandro Cañizares and Pablo Larrazábal carded well fought rounds of par with Nacho Elvira and Sebastián García Rodríguez one behind (+1).

INSIDE THE ROPES

Patience is key at Valderrama

Players at Valderrama keep repeating the word “patience”, particularly those who are familiar with the course. Besides the usual difficulties of the layout, patience is a priceless ally in windy conditions.

Alejandro Cañizares and Sebastián García Rodríguez made good use of it to finish on par and +1 respectively.

"A round of +3 is not pretty but it's quite usual on this course. You know that if you don't give up and stay focused, as soon as you make a couple of birdies you'll be in the top positions, something that doesn't happen in any other tournament of the year," said Cañizares, who knows Real Club Valderrama really well.

Sebas García confirms this: "As I played today I would be -4 or -5 any other week, but here I am happy with +1. These two years on Tour have taught me to be patient and keep my head, and that is essential on days like this."

Jon Rahm recalls what happened in Chicago

World number one is not giving up hope of getting into the fight with 54 holes to go.

"If anyone can do it, it's clearly me. Something similar happened in Chicago, playing the BMW Championships at Olympia Fields, when after two rounds I was +6 and I was able to fight for the title on Sunday to win the tournament. I will have to play under par tomorrow, and I have options for sure".

Only ten players under par

Soren Kjeldsen stands out among them three strokes behind the leader with -1. The Dane can boast of his record in previous editions of the tournament. He has played six times and has made the cut every time. His best result was a second place in 2010 and he has always finished in the top 50.

 In addition, Kjeldsen won the Volvo Masters in 2008, was runner-up in 2007 and finished in the top 25 in five of the six editions he played. He finished fourth in the 2016 Open de España held at this venue. He is an expert on the demanding Valderrama course.

Tickets can still be purchased to enjoy this year's edition of the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters, and the flexibility of the offer allows to choose between individual access for each day, season tickets or passes for the weekend, with preferential rates for children under 14 years, federated golfers or people with reduced mobility.

Tickets can be purchased from the Tickets menú on the tournament website, at edamgolf.es or at Fever.

The Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters, an event in the European Tour’s Race to Dubai made possible by the essential contribution of the Real Club Valderrama, is sponsored by Estrella Damm and the Consejería de Turismo, Regeneración, Justicia y Administración Local of the Junta de Andalucía, jointly funded by the EU, declared Event of Exceptional Public Interest by the Government of Spain. This tournament is also supported by the Diputación de Cádiz, Exterior Plus, Hero, Rolex y Santander Private Banking. Callaway, Cinco Jotas, Enterprise, Gadira, Kyocera, La Reserva Club Sotogrande, Marca, Quirónsalud, the Real Federación Andaluza de Golf, Riversa, SO/ Sotogrande, Varma and Volvo are official suppliers.

The Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters has once again confirmed that it is much more than just a great golf tournament thanks to the initiative set up by the European Tour and the San Roque City Council to clean the Torreguadiaro beach. Hundreds of volunteers, students, and local residents joined the efforts of Santiago Tarrío and Alejandro Cañizares, two of the best Spanish players in this week’s field.

This initiative is part of the European Tour's Green Drive programme, created to promote social and environmental responsibility and generate a positive impact in terms of sustainability. The clean-up took place on Tuesday 12 with an immediate and visible effect, as volunteers were busy picking up litter and micro plastics in this wonderful environment of the San Roque coastline.

Every year almost eight million tonnes of plastic waste go to the sea. This is extremely harmful to marine and human life, as it contributes to the reduction of biodiversity and the extinction of species. The Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters team organised this beach clean-up operation with the single objective of collecting as much plastic and rubbish as possible in order to make the beach and the sea cleaner and safer for everyone.

The two players who volunteered, Santiago Tarrio and Alejandro Cañizares, worked with enthusiasm and praised this initiative promoted by the local entities and the tournament sponsors. 

"Activities like these help make us all better. At the end of the day it's not just about playing golf; we must teach the next generation the wonderful values of golf, and these initiatives show something more important that the game  ̶ that we must respect the environment to respect ourselves," said Tarrío.

“The amount of rubbish that litters our beaches is just incredible, and we must realize at once that taking care of our environment is taking care of ourselves. I hope this will go beyond San Roque, Andalusia and Spain because it’s a global problem that we must resolve together. It costs nothing to help and not pollute", said Alejandro Cañizares.

The volunteers were rewarded for their efforts and commitment as the first 200 participants received a pass to enter the Real Club Valderrama on Saturday and enjoy the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters.

We would like to thank the San Roque City Council, the International School of Sotogrande for bringing so many young people, and the volunteers. They were able to collect 230 kilos of rubbish between them and left the Torreguadiaro beach cleaner. 

Tickets are now available for this year’s Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters, with options for purchasing individual tickets for each day, four-day passes or weekend passes, with preferential rates for children under 14, federated golfers or people with reduced mobility.

Tickets can be purchased from the Tickets menú on the tournament website, at edamgolf.es or at Fever.

The Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters, an event in the European Tour’s Race to Dubai made possible by the essential contribution of the Real Club Valderrama, is sponsored by Estrella Damm and the Consejería de Turismo, Regeneración, Justicia y Administración Local of the Junta de Andalucía, jointly funded by the EU, declared Event of Exceptional Public Interest by the Government of Spain. This tournament is also supported by the Diputación de Cádiz, Exterior Plus, Hero, Rolex y Santander Private Banking. Callaway, Cinco Jotas, Enterprise, Gadira, Kyocera, La Reserva Club Sotogrande, Marca, Quirónsalud, the Real Federación Andaluza de Golf, Riversa, SO/ Sotogrande, Varma and Volvo are official suppliers.