Naps & Spaniards

Congrats Pat Perez! Sorry about your luck, Steve Stricker. Despite the five day birdie barrage, the Bob Hope proved to be no more than nap fodder. Unfortunately, the Bob Hope will never draw a decent field with the current Pro-Am setup. Arnie could give away Rolexes to every entrant and it wouldn't make a difference!

Alvaro Quiros was rather impressive in winning the Qatar Masters, which featured seven of the Top 15 players in the World. After some quick research, I'm realizing he is a player worth keeping an eye on. Historically, Spaniards have been blossomed at a young age. Everyone remembers 19-year-old Sergio dueling with Tiger down the stretch at the PGA in '99. Seve Ballesteros led the British Open after 36 holes at the age of 18, won his first British Open at 22 and first Masters at 23, en route to 5 major championships by the time he was 31 years old.

Jose Maria Olazabal finished second on the European Tour's Order of Merit at the age of 20, winning twice in his rookie year. He was nearly a senior citizen, at 28, when he won his first Green Jacket, but already had 15 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour victories to his credit.

So the 26-year-old Quiros has some catching up to do! However, he has not been slacking, despite his lack of notoriety. This is his third European Tour victory, his second in under four months. He started on Tour in 2007 and won the first event he played in with his tour card! Last October he won the Portugal Masters, and the win Sunday in Qatar moved him up to 28th in the Official World Golf Rankings. So that means he has won an event in each of his first three years, and has likely secured an invite to the Masters come April.

The lanky Spaniard absolutely bombs it, currently averaging 312 yards per poke and averaging over 308 in each of his first two seasons! He appears to hit a lot of greens, too, but his putts per round are well above tour average for both Europe & the PGA Tour. As we know, that's where the dollars are made, but he is already showing drastic improvements in the putting statistics for 2009, after improving from 2007 to 2008. If this continues, look for Quiros to keep winning and eventually make his presence felt on U.S. soil.

Although I'm always happy to see a fresh face emerge, I will say I was moderately disappointed we didn't see more fireworks from the strong, international field at the Qatar Masters. Many well known players missed the cut, including Americans Boo Weekley & Brandt Snedeker, and players like Ernie Els and Adam Scott were never a factor. Henrik Stenson (T-2) continued his strong play, perhaps showing that he will be a player to watch in '09 and propelling himself to 7th in the World Rankings. Sergio Garcia was never a threat, but played four solid rounds to finish tied for 7th and keeping his lead in the Race for Dubai. He will be in Dubai for the third leg of the "Gulf Trilogy", competing against another very strong field.