Santiago Luna is hungry to come out on top on home soil but will have to get the better of ten of his fellow countrymen at the inaugural Costa Blanca Benidorm Senior Masters this week.
The fomer European Tour winner returns to his homeland in fine form, having triumphed at the Farmfoods European Senior Masters at Forest of Arden last month – his fourth Staysure Tour title.
The 55 year old faces a number of formidable competitors in the first-ever over-50s event in Benidorm, most notably four-time Senior Major winner Miguel Ángel Jiménez – who is making his maiden regular Staysure Tour appearance – and former Masters Champion José María Olazábal.
But having entered the winners’ circle so recently, Luna is quietly confident he can hold off their challenges and taste victory again in the final European event of the Staysure Tour season.
“I want to be ready to fight and have the opportunity to win,” said Luna, who currently lies in 13thplace on the Staysure Tour Order of Merit.
“I will do my job because I want to fight, and that for me is the most important thing. I want to do my best in Spain because it is my country, but I’ll try to treat it with the same mentality as the other tournaments.
“I’m not thinking about winning just yet, though, and will take each round day-by-day.”
This week’s tournament will see the Staysure Tour visit Spain for the first time since 2012, when Gary Wolstenholme claimed the Benahavis Senior Masters title.
With Spanish events on both the European Tour and the European Challenge Tour, Luna is hopeful his home country can go on to become a mainstay of the over-50s circuit for years to come.
“We had the Open de España, the Valderrama Masters, two on the Challenge Tour, and now we have one on the Staysure Tour. Hopefully it’s the first step for it to continue in the future,” he said.
“I think it’s very important for Spain and hopefully it’s the start of something. I hope everyone enjoys it because having a tournament in our country is very good.
“I’m very excited, for sure. Miguel is a big player and he doesn’t have as much time to be with us on the Staysure Tour because he plays in America and on the European Tour as well.
“To find a week to play with us is very important for the tournament and for the players on the Staysure Tour and we really appreciate that he will be with us. It’s very important for the tour and it’s very important for the future as well.”
