Quiros wins Alps de Las Castillas

Raul Quiros wins his first title on Alps Tour. His final 71 score for -6 total was enough to resist to Ricki Neil-Jones’ assault. Englishman fired wonderful 67 to finish second by his own. Fellow Laurie Canter climbed on podium third step.

Raul Quiros wins his first title on Alps Tour. His final 71 score for -6 total was enough to resist to Ricki Neil-Jones’ assault. Englishman fired wonderful 67 to finish second by his own. Fellow Laurie Canter climbed on podium third step.

Ricki Neil-Jones signed for best score of the week with great 67. Englishman has been playing for a few seasons on Alps Tour and is still seeking for maiden win.

“I hit it really well all week, it was just that I wasn’t holing any putts. I pretty much hit it as good as I could finally. Putting was definitely what made the difference today, the key of my game. Holed good putts all day long, and made a great eagle on hole 4, with the 3 wood to about 15 meters and holed it. It was such a nice round and I am happy with it but a bit disappointed after dropping a shot on the last hole to have chances. But overall it was very nice to play that well because it was tough out there”.

Young Matt Wallace should have as well some regrets as his last round in the last group was not a bed of roses. He was in contention until the 9th hole. But he had a bad time on 10th hole and as he had to speed up his routine, he started to drop shots. Unfortunately he had a second bad time on the 14th synonymous of one stroke penalty.

Playing partner Raul Quiros made a solid round to keep his lead even if he realize he played the last few holes with to much caution.

“On 17th I thought I was 3 shots ahead so I did not risk, hit it to the right and when I reached the green I felt awful because then I saw that I was just 1 shot ahead, and hit it short for birdie. And played really well the 18th, good drive, very good 4 iron and 2 putts from 7-8 meters.”

“I started the round with very good tee shot on number 1 to 1 meter that could have been an eagle but rolled to the bunker, I made a great bunker shot and holed it for birdie; then it was almost in for eagle on 2nd and I made birdie ; on 3rd I hit a very good shot with the 6 iron to 1 meter but could not make it for birdie ; made good ups and downs on 4, 5, 8, I missed a very short birdie putt on 7th, 9 and 10. Those were good birdie chances. On 11th it was plugged in rough that I thought I could not hit it, I had to call a referee and made bogey and on 12th I missed a very short putt for bogey. I made a really good birdie on 14th with a 6 iron to a meter and a half.”

“I did not worry at all about the 2 bogeys because they were little mistakes, no big mental errors so I was ok, but the birdie on 14th made me breath. I am really happy to start the season winning, I think I am a lot more in competition than the other guys because I have been playing the Gecko Tour but still, I have a few changes to do in my game that I have suffered today and yesterday so it is time now to work with them.”

Andrew Cooley keeps the first place at Alps Tour ranking despite he is missing the cut this week. Ricki Neil-Jones jumps to second position and Laurie Canter enters directly to 7th position.

From Toledo
Agathe Séron

Raul Quiros leader, Matt Wallace on his toes

Raul Quiros kept the lead after second round was completed in the early fresh morning. He has a two stoke advantage over England’s Matt Wallace.

Wallace completed his second round this morning as he had one hole left to play. Unfortunately he dropped one shot as his playing partner France’s Dominique Nouailhac. The cut is finally fixed at +4 and sun shines on Layos Golf Club but temperatures are low, around 4°C to rise up to 12° in the afternoon.

Quiros holds lead as darkness stops play

Raul Quiros is leading at club house as Alps de Las Catillas first round has been suspended due to darkness. He scored four under par today for -5 total. On course with still one hour to play, Matt Wallace is close to the leader with current -4 total. The game was delayed by one hour and half this morning as heavy rain flooded the course.

It was not the kind of weather Alps Tour players should except in Spain. It was a cold, windy and wet; they had to leave their hat on all day. It was no more than 7° C and the wind made it seems even colder.

Raul Quiros managed to deal with tough conditions and fired amazing 68 to take early lead at Loyas Golf Club. Quiros is in very good form as he won 5 titles in the last 6 months on the Gecko Tour. He finished runner-up on four further events.

“I played really well but I missed some tee shots. My short game was very solid and I saved a very good par on the 9th hole. I had only one bogey as I three putted the 13th hole but I was very far. I had good feelings on course. I had played Gecko Tour from September to March so I kept on competing all winter and I won the order of merit so it was great.”

Spain’s Javier San Felix played in morning session as well and signed for solid 70 to aggregate -2 total. A group of five players are 4 shots back of Quiros: fellow Pedro Oriol and Mikel Galdos, Frenchmen Edouard Espana and Jérôme Lando-Casanova and England’s Laurie Canter.

It was really dark at 21:00 but all players of last group decided to finish and the last green was lighted with one car’s headlights.

The game will resume at 8:30 for only two players, Dominique Nouailhac and Matt Wallace who were the only players who chose not to finished tonight.

Expected first tee time for third round at 9h30.

From Toledo
Agathe Séron

Linard and Gonzalez on pole position

France’s Thomas Linard (pict Patxi Ramirez) and Spain’s Carlos Gonzales share lead after opening round at Alps de Las Catillas. Both signed for 68 to get on shot advantage over Jaime Camargo, Brendan McCarroll and Lukas Nemecz.

The course of Layos is on of the longest of the season, 6520 meters. During morning session, Linard of France took and kept for a while the lead by his own.

“I played very well, specially putted great. I started with a birdie holing a very nice putt, and gave me good confidence for the start. Ibirdied the 7th also, I was on green in 2, easy. Then I made good par saves on 8th and 9th. On 13th I made a very good approach, I dropped on shot on 14th and then birdied the 17th, I was on the left almost in water and holed it for birdie. I have been working hard on my game but specially my short game for the last weeks. I did not play well in Egypt at all, so I came back home, changed my putter and worked on my routines, my preparation and other aspects of the game. The course is great, I never played here before and I think is great, and it will be even better if the wind starts to blow”.

From Toledo
Agathe Séron

All the players had almost complete their when Spain’s Carlos Gonzalez joined Linard. Gonzalez said his goal is to play as many events as possible on the Alps Tour.

“It was a tough day. When I started it started to rain but as I holed 2 birdies on the very first holes, I was in a good mood. I made no big mistakes and my putting was great. I holed 6 birdies and what to say, the score is goof because my game was good.”

The projected cut is +1.

This week: Alps de Las Castillas at Layos Golf

Back on the road this week for the third event of the season. As last year, Spain will organise four tournaments. With the support of the Royal Spanish Golf Federation, the Federations of Castilla La Mancha and Castilla Leon, Layos Golf welcomes the Alps de Las Castillas.

The prestigious golf course is now well known by pros as in 2007 they hostes the Challenge de España and the Finals of the Madrid Pro Tour.
The 54-holes tournament will start next Thursday. 132 players from eleven nationalities will compete for a prize money of 48,000 euro. After the first two rounds, the best 40 players and ties will dispute the final round on Saturday.
A lot of great names attend this event: Andrew Cooley, the “King” of Egypt tournaments, Spain’s Santiago Luna, Alvaro Velasco, Carlos Aguilar, amateur Javier Ballesteros… past Alps Tour No.1 Andrea Maestroni (Italy)… rookies as Michael Stewart (Scotland), Edouard Espana (France)… We should have a nice show!