The 2022 season marks 50 years of the European Tour, now known as the DP World Tour, and we continue our celebration of the anniversary this week by reflecting on Antonio Garrido’s historic victory in the Tour's first event.
Spain’s Antonio Garrido etched his name into the history books on this day, April 15, 1972, when he won the Tour's very first event – the Spanish Open - with victory over compatriot Valentin Barrios in a three-hole play-off.
The 1972 Spanish Open marked a watershed in the rich history of golf as it was here, among the umbrella pines at Pals Golf Club on Spain’s Costa Brava, that the new professional golf circuit of the Tour was born.
While there had been tournaments prior to 1972, this was when the vision of the Tour's founding father John Jacobs came to fruition as prize money and points from European events were included in an Order of Merit for the first time.
As such, the field comprised many international golfers and they were put through their paces in tough conditions.
“With a violent, cold wind hustling in from the Pyrenees all day, only seven golfers managed to to beat the par of 73 in the first round of the £10,000 Spanish Open Championship in Pals, on the Costa Brava,” wrote Michael Williams in the Daily Telegraph.
American David Oakley led after a 70 with Spain’s Angel Gallardo one back and the late greats of Tommy Horton of England and Ireland’s John O’Leary a further shot back.
On day two, Valentin Barrios, described by Williams as “the gentle giant of Spanish golf”, pulled four shots clear and was very much the man to catch at the halfway stage.
The event took a dramatic turn on day three as, despite an easing of the conditions, Barrios collapsed to a third round 78 and three players moved into a tie for the lead – England’s Guy Hunt, Oakley and Spain’s Antonio Garrido, one of three golfing brothers.
It was a day that also saw the Tour’s first sub 70 round as Brian Huggett shot a 69.
The drama continued right to the end of the final day as Barrios and Garrido finished tied on 293 with Hunt missing out on the play-off when he three-putted the final green. A sudden-death play-off ensued, with Garrido taking the title with a birdie three on the third extra hole, a victory described by Williams in his final day report as “another feather in the cap of Spanish golf.”
Another feather in the cap of Spanish golf
What followed
Garrido became established as one of the leading Spaniards in the formative years of the Tour and etched his name into golfing folklore on a number of occasions.
He secured a further four Tour titles in the 14 years which followed, including twice in 1977 when he won the Madrid Open and the Benson & Hedges International Open on his way to finishing a career-best third on the Order of Merit.
It was during that same season he teamed up with the late, great Seve Ballesteros to represent his home nation at the World Cup of Golf in Manila, Philippines.
The duo earned a three-stroke victory to win the team event while Garrido finished eighth in the individual competition, one stroke behind Ballesteros in tied sixth, while the legendary Gary Player came out on top.
Ballesteros and Garrido were at the top of their game and two years later made history when they became the first Continental Europeans to represent Team Europe at the Ryder Cup.
The 1979 Ryder Cup was a watershed moment in the event’s history as it was the first time the biennial showpiece was contested by a European side encompassing the whole continent, as it had previously pitted the United States against a team from Great Britain and Ireland.
Garrido had picked up a knack of becoming the first golfer to achieve a certain feat, and that continued into the 1990s.
The Challenge Tour was in its infancy having been founded in 1989 and despite having full privileges on the European Tour group's main men's Tour, Garrido opted to tee it up at the Torras Hostench in his home country.
The outcome was the same as his first Tour appearance on home soil. Garrido blazed the trail which many a Spaniard would walk in years to come by winning on the Challenge Tour.
After his Challenge Tour success, Garrido won twice on the Legends Tour (then the European Senior Tour) to become the first player to win on all three tours, while his son, Ignacio, triumphed first on the Challenge Tour and then twice on the main Tour.
Ignacio continued the Garrido Family tradition of firsts by playing in the first Ryder Cup to be held on Continental Europe at Valderrama Golf Club in 1997. The pair therefore became only the second father and son duo to compete in the biennial showpiece after Percy and Peter Alliss.
