With the European Tour returning to Valderrama for this week’s Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters hosted by the Sergio Garcia Foundation, our stats guru has crunched the numbers to make three suggestions for your fantasy teams.
Favourite: Sergio Garcia
Look no further than the defending champion. The Spaniard will return to Valderrama full of confidence after an excellent display there 12 months ago, battling the elements to seal a memorable four-shot triumph.
Garcia’s record in this event is remarkable, with three wins in five starts in Sotogrande – finishing no lower than tenth.
In fact, Garcia’s victory in Andalucía was his seventh professional win in his home country – his other victories coming at the Canarias Open de España (2002), Mallorca Classic (2004) and the Castelló Masters (2008 and 2011).
Back on home soil, we expect Garcia to contend again.
Form horse: Matthias Schwab
The young Austrian has been knocking on the door of a first European Tour win for some time now.
The 24-year-old has impressed regularly since joining the paid ranks in 2017, and with four top-ten finishes already this term – including a share of third place at last week’s BMW International Open, where he narrowly missed out on a place in the play-off – it seems a case of when, not if, he will enter the winner’s circle.
Although Schwab is making his debut appearance at the prestigious Spanish venue, we expect the Austrian not to be fazed – since turning professional he has made a remarkable 49 cuts in 59 starts. Consistency personified.
Wildcard: Alejandro Cañizares
Another player who seemingly makes the most of home comforts is Cañizares.
The two-time European Tour winner – who is back on Europe’s top tier after failing to keep his card in 2017 and 2018 following injury troubles and a loss of form – has featured in all five editions of the Andalucía event, where he has recorded four top-25 finishes.
Yet to miss a cut at Valderrama, the 36-year-old from Madrid clearly enjoys his trips down to southern Spain – and may be worth keeping an eye on this week.
Those are our picks, did we do enough to convince you? Add them to your European Tour Daily Fantasy Game and your line-up in theFantasy Race to Dubaibefore the action begins on Thursday.
