Sergio Garcia and Valderrama to host Spanish Open

Reuters

10 February 2016 at 8:07 am

Sergio Garcia of Spain hits a ball out of the bunker on the eighth hole during the second round of the BMW Masters 2015 golf tournament at Lake Malaren Golf Club in Shanghai, China, November 13, 2015. REUTERS/Aly Song

(Reuters) - Valderrama will stage the Spanish Open for the first time in April, with the Sergio Garcia Foundation as official host of the event at the course in Sotogrande, southern Spain, the European Tour announced on Wednesday.

The venue that in 1997 became the first course in mainland Europe to stage the Ryder Cup, will host the opening tournament of the European season from April 14-17, a week after the U.S Masters at Augusta, with 2 million euros ($2.25 million) of prize money on offer.

Garcia, who has won 11 times on the European Tour and has been in five victorious Ryder Cup teams, set up his foundation in 2002.

"This is a whole new way of working together with the European Tour and I am very proud to be a part of it," he said in a statement.

"I personally have great memories of the golf course, having won the Andalucia Valderrama Masters there in 2011 and I am sure that all the players who tee up in April will enjoy testing their game against the fantastic layout."

(Reporting by Alan Baldwin; Editing by David Goodman)