Two Spaniards made their British Open debut and now 71 have played ‘majors’

Angel de la Torre, in 1920in the Royal Cinque Ports, is the first Spanish golfer to debut in a Grand Slam, particularly British. In participating in this 151st edition of The Open, of Josele Ballester from Castellón and Nacho Elvira from Madridthere are already 71 Spanish players who have played at least one of the four Grand Slams (Masters, PGA, Open USA and British Open).

Amateur Ballester is a double European champion, an individual champion just over two weeks ago in Estonia, and on Saturday with Spain he won the team gold in the Belgian Royal Waterloo. Elvira earned her place at the Danish Open two weeks ago.

In 1957 another legend of ours, angel michaelachieved the first Spanish top ten in a ‘big’, also in the British, while Seve Ballesteros was the first (and so far only) to lift the prized Silver Jug in 1979, at Royal Lytham.

After first wowing the world with his stunning lead at Royal Birkdale in 1976 in his second British and subsequently sharing second place on the totem pole Jack Nicklaus, Seve won his second Open defeating the American Tom Watson on the Old Course at St Andrews. Watson won the 1982 and 1983 tournaments and held the lead with two holes to go.

In 1988, the unlucky Cantabrian won the third and final British to date for Spanish golf again at Royal Lytham, on a historic final day played on a Monday and in an epic final duel beating. Nick Price and Nick Faldo and there was a chip on the 18th hole that caused public delirium.

Since then, the closest Navy has come to repeating Ballesteros’ feat is the 2nd (a British playoff loss) of Sergio Garciaa, a fateful Sunday afternoon at Carnoustie, where he certainly made his professional debut in 1999 without making the cut, and a 2nd draw for Borriol at Royal Liverpool in 2014, with victory for Rory McIlroy . Until now, in The Open, this is the best finals for Spanish golfers (they add up to 16 top 5s). Is it:

1st 1979 Seve Ballesteros (Royal Lytham)

1st 1984 Seve Ballesteros (Saint Andrews)

1st 1988 Seve Ballesteros (Royal Lyham)

2nd 1976 Seve Ballesteros * (Royal Birkdale)

2º 2007 Sergio García (lost in playoff) (Carnoustie)

2nd 2014 Sergio Garcia * (Royal Liverpool)

3rd 1985 Jose Rivero * (Royal St. George’s)

3º 1992 Txema Olazabal (Muirfield)

3º 2001 Miguel Ángel Jiménez * (Royal Lytham)

3rd 2005 Txema Olazabal * (Saint Andrews)

3rd 2021 Jon Rahm* (Royal St. George’s)

4º 1957 Angel Miguel (Saint Andrews)

4th, 2017 Rafa Cabrera * (Royal Birkdale)

5th 2005 Sergio Garcia * (Saint Andrews)

5º 2006 Sergio García * (Royal Liverpool)

5th, 2016 Sergio Garcia * (Royal Troon)

* bound area