The finale of last week’s Andalucia Masters at Real Club Sotogrande was one of the highlights of the 2024 DP World Tour season.
Frenchman Julien Guerrier eventually defeated Spain’s Jorge Campillo to claim victory after a gruelling (and record-equalling) nine-hole play-off that was somewhat reminiscent of the infamous first-round clash between John Isner and Nicholas Mahut at the 2010 Wimbledon tennis championship.
On that occasion it took the pair a mammoth 11 hours and five minutes to complete their match, Isner taking the fifth set by 70 games to 68.
Guerrier and Campillo did not require quite such levels of courage, fitness and sheer bloody-minded obstinacy, but it was still a magnificent example of bravery, one in which their mental fortitude and golf swings stood up to an increasingly wearying task.
If only the same could be said of your correspondent and his golf when he played the course less than 24 hours later.
From the sublime to the ridiculous is one way of putting it. From the resolute to the flimsy is another.
But here’s the good news. You cannot play the venerable Real Club Sotogrande – 60 years old this year and a top ten constant in every top 100 rankings of Europe’s finest course – and have a bad day, no matter how poor your golf is.
It’s just not possible.
Why so? Well, there’s always another great hole around the corner, always another fantastic shot to take on, always another view worth smiling at, always sensational conditioning to blow your mind.
The day had started in wonderful fashion. Andalucia in October enjoys warm sunshine but in the morning it is chilly and, because dew had descended overnight, this Mediterranean seaside layout had the 9am look of an English parkland venue on a frosty morning in February.
Starting on the second hole with a decent thump down the middle all seemed well and a bogey-6 felt okay in the circumstances.
Moreover, early efforts to plot a route through the cork trees went more or less to plan.
There’s a fairytale feel about those holes. The trees twist and turn like the scenes from a children’s story about the perils of the woodland of the forest – and the fairways twist and turn too, offering golfing versions of threat and jeopardy.
The seventh tee is famously magnificent and it is typical of the tree-lined holes.
Unlike nearby Valderrama there is width on the fairways, but beyond the short grass the trees provide danger. The fairway sweeps down towards a pond and beyond that to a typically swift green.
In the far distance are the spiky mountain peaks of Andalucia, adding to the drama with a sense of foreboding.
What is striking about this hole and the Real Club as a whole, however, is that it is challenging, often fearsomely so, but it is also fair, fun and simply gorgeous to look at.
Midway through the back nine there is a Florida-like stretch of three holes that is lined by astounding villas that can easily distract – and that’s precisely what happened to this average golfer.
How did I do by the close, though? Well, the format handed a significant boost. We were playing Tour Scramble (all four golfers teed off, we picked the best ball, everyone played from there and par was our friend).
So, in theory, with a trio of birdies, I beat my handicap, as you would expect on a course in spectacular condition with a very benevolent scoring system.
But let’s be honest: I was no Guerrier or Campillo.
Mentally, however, I was feeling every bit as triumphant as the Frenchman when I sipped my Alhambra cerveza in the clubhouse.
Just to have played the Real Club, one of continental Europe’s finest layouts, was a win and one I’m unlikely to forget.
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