After a nine-year absence, Sergio Garcia returns to the Omega European Masters aiming to continue his superb record in this week’s €2.7 million event.
The Spaniard, who arrived in the stunning Alpine town of Crans Montana on the back of another top ten in The Open Championship, has finished in the top four in each of his last three visits to Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club.
That remarkable run of results includes a win in 2005, when he closed with a round of 68 to beat Sweden’s Peter Gustafsson by a single stroke, with the English duo of Paul Casey and Luke Donald finishing in third and fourth respectively.
Garcia was denied a successful title defence by a stunning performance from Bradley Dredge the following year but, buoyed by his tied sixth finish behind Zach Johnson at St Andrews, the Spaniard will be confident of securing a second success in the tournament this week.
Garcia is one of four members of Europe’s victorious 2014 Ryder Cup team in attendance, with Wales’ Jamie Donaldson, Frenchman Victor Dubuisson and England’s Lee Westwood having also made the trip to the Swiss Alps.
Of that illustrious quartet, only Westwood has been fitted out for the red jacket awarded to the winner after he pipped Thomas Bjørn to the title in 1999.
On his last visit to Crans Montana in 2011, the roles were reversed as Westwood finished in a tie for sixth place behind Bjørn, who won again in 2013.
Bjørn was succeeded as champion by David Lipsky, who is bidding to become the first player since the late, great Seve Ballesteros in 1978 to retain title.
The last American to win a regular European Tour event in back-to-back years was a certain Tiger Woods, in the 2001-02 Deutsche Bank – SAP Open TPC of Europe; the only previous occasion prior to Woods was when Bob Byman triumphed in the Dutch Open in 1977 and ‘78.
Last year, Lipsky prevailed after a play-off with Graeme Storm to capture his debut European Tour title.
He said: “It’s great to be back in Crans as the defending champion, it’s a beautiful part of the world and I couldn’t have picked a better place to win my first European Tour event.
“I’d been playing well going into the tournament last year, got off to a great start with a 67 on the first day and then just carried it on from there. On the final day the eagle on the par four seventh, where I nearly had a hole in one, got me right into contention, and then the birdie on the 18th was probably the most important of my career so far.
“I was a little nervous in the play-off, but knowing I could control my emotions under that pressure gave me so much confidence and belief in myself, which I carried through the rest of the season. The win obviously got me a category on The European Tour and also gave me a huge rise up the World Ranking, so it really helped me move to the next level.”
Other notable names in the field include Lipsky’s fellow American Patrick Reed, who is making his first appearance in a regular stroke play event on The European Tour since the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in 2011.
Crans-sur-Sierre holds the distinction of being the only venue to host a European Tour event in every season since The European Tour’s inauguration in 1972, and has held the tournament every year it has been played since 1939.
The Omega European Masters is also the only European Tour event staged in Europe which is co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour, an arrangement which began in 2009.
