Paul McGinley leads a group of five Irish players at the Iberdrola Open Cala Millar in Mallorca on the next leg of the European Tour which starts on Thursday at Pula Golf Club at Son Servera in the Balearic Islands.
McGinley makes his first outing since the Ballantine's Championship in Korea, where he failed to make the cut, and is still making his comeback from injury after an operation on his knee during the off season.
Damien McGrane makes a visit to Mallorca as the most in form of the five players having secured two top 20 finishes so far this season with 17th places both at the Volvo China Open and the Open de España more recently in Sevilla.
With the first Re-Rank of the season due there will be plenty of jostling for position ahead of the big summer events for those who came through the Qualifying School such as Gary Murphy and Simon Thornton.
Gary Murphy makes his fourth consecutive outing aiming to break the cycle of missed cuts at the past three events in Italy, Spain and Madeira Islands. Having regained his playing rights at Qualifying School last December, Murphy has been unable to make in impact so far in the early part of the season when the “big guns” are traditionally off.
Simon Thornton is also looking to the Iberdola Open Calla Millar Mallorca to regain some momentum in his first season having also missed consecutive cuts in Sevilla and then last week in Turin at the BMW Italian Open.
Colm Moriarty arrives in Mallorca from the Challenge Tour for his second main Tour event of the year - following his first outing in Madeira Islands in April - having made a top 20 finish in Turkish Airlines Challenge but failing to make the cut in a windy Brittany last week.
Denmark’s Søren Hansen is the highest ranking player to compete this week and will be looking to consolidate his place in the World’s Top 50. The Dane made his Ryder Cup debut in Valhalla in 2008 and is chasing his third European Tour title.
The José Maria Olazábal-designed course has been a happy hunting ground for Spanish players. On each of the first three European Tour visits to Pula, home players claimed the Mallorca Masters; Miguel Angel Jiménez (2003), Sergio Garcia (2004) and José Maria Olazábal (2005).
Another Spaniard Alejandro Cañizares, who came close to winning the Open de España, is on course to top the first Re-Rank of the season having earned €191,219 this season.
Iberdrola, Spain’s leading energy company and the world’s largest producer of wind power, are the title sponsors of the first edition of the Iberdrola Open Cala Millar Mallorca from May 13-16 which has prize money of €800,000 on offer.
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