Alvaro Quiros hopes a successful defence of his Omega Dubai Desert Classic title can provide the perfect springboard to his ultimate goal for 2012 - a place on José María Olazábal’s Ryder Cup Team.
The big-hitting Spaniard is currently in the top five who automatically qualify from the European points list, but the big-hitting Spaniard there is plenty of work to be done to secure a seat on the plane to Medinah.
“Obviously it's a Ryder Cup year - qualifying for The Ryder Cup Team is the most important thing, I would say,” said the 29 year old.
“There's not only one thing in my mind, the most important thing is to keep improving.
“We were talking yesterday about it at dinner, the memories that I have on my mind about The Ryder Cup - Olazábal dancing in his first Ryder Cup, and unfortunately the one that I have is Justin Leonard jumping in the line of Olazábal, which is something no good. But these are the memories that I have.
“Apart from that, everyone knows the Spaniards have been very successful in The Ryder Cup. We have people always playing in the recent events of The Ryder Cup.
“So I want to be one of these players. I want to be one of the guys who have played for his country and especially for Europe. The most important thing is the blue - it's one of the few times that you can really feel that you are in a group.”
Quiros enjoyed a hole-in-one during his final round last year as he finished a shot clear of James Kingston and Anders Hansen at Emirates GC.
“Obviously just the idea to be coming back to a single course that you have been successful once at least is nice,” he said.
“Not a lot of people can say that they are coming back to golf courses to defend the title, so I'm happy.
“Obviously the hole in one on the 11th was the key to the tournament, or at least in the last round.”
After a slow start to the season, Quiros believes a more patient approach could be the key to finishing the Middle East swing in style.
The big-hitter added: “The most important thing is to be fighting in the last round, not in the first hole of the first round, isn't it? That's the only thing that could change from last week to here.
“I'm hitting the ball good. My coach is here, and I'm putting good. So I just need to trust and believe that it's going to happen.
“I wasn't in my best moment the last two weeks thinking and behaving. The most important thing is to be honest with yourself and at the same time analyse the thing in the proper positions of importance. And I wasn't able to do that the last two weeks - it’s as simple as that.
“This week is a completely different week. The good thing that we have is once we take off in the plane from Qatar to here, a new week has started. It could be the week that you hole all the putts and win by ten.”
