Pablo Larrazábal

Pablo Larrazábal
— Golfer —

Larrazábal at the 2011 BMW International Open
Personal information
Full name Pablo Larrazábal
Born (1983-05-15) 15 May 1983
Barcelona, Spain
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight 79 kg (174 lb; 12.4 st)
Nationality  Spain
Residence Barcelona, Spain
Career
Turned professional 2004
Current tour(s) European Tour
Professional wins 5
Number of wins by tour
European Tour 4
Other 1
Best results in major championships
Masters Tournament DNP
U.S. Open CUT: 2014
The Open Championship T30: 2011
PGA Championship T45: 2011
Achievements and awards
Sir Henry Cotton
Rookie of the Year		 2008

Pablo Larrazábal (born 15 May 1983) is a Spanish professional golfer currently playing on the European Tour.

Larrazábal was born in Barcelona, Spain. He attended high school in the United States and returned to Spain in 2002 with the intention of turning professional but his father made him work on the family fish farm to understand the value of money. He eventually turned professional in 2004. His older brother Alejandro Larrazábal won The Amateur Championship in 2002.

Professional career

2006–2007: Challenge Tour

Larrazábal played in 8 events on the Challenge Tour in 2006 and made 7 cuts. His best finish came at the Vodafone Challenge where he was tied for seventh, his only top ten finish of the year. He earned €7,160 on the year and finished 138th on the money list.

Larrazábal played in 17 events in 2007 and made 10 cuts while recording two top 10 finishes and six top 25 finishes. His best finish came at the Postbank Challenge where he finished in fourth. He earned €21,596 on the year and finished 69th on the money list. Larrazábal finished in a tie for sixth at Q-School and earned his card for the European Tour's 2008 season.

2008: Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year and first European Tour title

In his rookie season on tour, Larrazábal played in 28 events and made 17 cuts. Larrazábal won his first title on the European Tour at the Open de France where he led after all four rounds. He also had an impressive finish at the Madrid Masters where he finished in third. Larrazábal recorded three top 10 finishes and 7 top 25 finishes. He finished in 18th on the Order of Merit, earning €960,858. This propelled him to the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year award.

2009–2010: Inconsistency and struggle for form

Larrazábal had an inconsistent year in 2009 on the European Tour, with only a single top ten finish, and three top 25 finishes. He finished ranked 86th on the inaugural Race to Dubai. The following season was not much better for Larrazábal, making 18 of 31 cuts and finishing in the top ten on three occasions. He earned €332,500 in the 2010 season and finished 88th in the Race to Dubai standings.

2011: Improved form and second European Tour win

Larrazábal started the 2011 season in good form with a fifth-place finish in India at the Avantha Masters before finishing third in his home country's national tournament, the Open de España finishing three strokes behind the winner Thomas Aiken. A month later he finished fourth at the Saab Wales Open shooting a 67 during the final round to move through the field and into the top five. In June 2011, Larrazábal won his second European Tour title at the BMW International Open in Munich beating compatriot Sergio García in a sudden death playoff. Both men entered the final round trailing by two strokes, but fired rounds of 68 to finish on sixteen under par. Larrazábal had a putt to win outright at the 72nd hole but that slipped by, allowing García to birdie the last to take them into a playoff. After both players made birdies at the 18th, on the first and second playoff holes, they advanced to the par three 12th and the par three 17th, where Larrazábal let two more ten footers slide by for the championship. However at the fifth extra hole, the par five 18th, García ran his eagle putt four feet past, with Larrazábal two feet away in three. García's birdie putt then lipped out and Larrazábal holed out for victory.[1]

This win came three weeks after Larrazábal had missed out in a playoff himself in an Open Championship qualifier at Sunningdale, but the win has ensured himself of a place at the 2011 Open Championship at Royal St. George's. Larrazábal ended the season ranked 17th on the Race to Dubai, his highest finish to date.

2012

Larrazábals best finishes in 2012 were a pair of tied for second places: at the Reale Seguros Open de España in May and at the KLM Open in September.[2]

2014

In January 2014, Larrazábal won the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship by one stroke over Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson.[3] In a bizarre incident in April, Larrazábal was attacked by a swarm of hornets during the second round of the Maybank Malaysian Open and resorted to jumping into a lake to escape.[4] He received around 20 stings, but still managed to card a round of 68.[4]

Professional wins (5)

European Tour wins (4)

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner(s)-up
1 29 Jun 2008 Open de France ALSTOM −15 (65-70-67-67=269) 4 strokes Scotland Colin Montgomerie
2 26 Jun 2011 BMW International Open −16 (68-67-69-68=272) Playoff Spain Sergio García
3 19 Jan 2014 Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship −14 (69-70-68-67=274) 1 stroke Northern Ireland Rory McIlroy, United States Phil Mickelson
4 28 Jun 2015 BMW International Open (2) −17 (70-66-69-66=271) 1 stroke Sweden Henrik Stenson

European Tour playoff record (1–1)

No.YearTournamentOpponent(s)Result
1 2011 BMW International Open Spain Sergio García Won with birdie on fifth extra hole
2 2011 Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles Denmark Thomas Bjørn, South Africa George Coetzee,
England Mark Foster, Austria Bernd Wiesberger		 Bjorn won with birdie on fifth extra hole
Foster eliminated with par on fourth hole
Larrázabal eliminated with par on second hole
Wiesberger eliminated with par on first hole

Alps Tour wins (1)

No. DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin of
victory		Runner-up
1 28 Apr 2012 Peugeot Alps de Barcelona −16 (64-65-65=194) 4 strokes Spain Ivó Giner

Results in major championships

Tournament 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Masters Tournament DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
U.S. Open DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP CUT DNP
The Open Championship T70 CUT DNP T30 T45 DNP CUT CUT
PGA Championship CUT DNP DNP T45 CUT CUT CUT CUT

DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
Yellow background for top-10.

Team appearances

Amateur

Professional

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Larrazabal wins second European Tour title in Munich". European Tour. 26 June 2011. Retrieved 26 June 2011.
  2. ↑ "Peter Hanson wins the KLM Open with eagle on final hole". BBC Sport. 9 September 2012. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
  3. ↑ "Abu Dhabi Championship: Pablo Larrazabal wins by one shot". BBC Sport. 19 January 2014. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  4. 1 2 "Pablo Larrazabal attacked by hornets at Malaysian Open". BBC Sport. 18 April 2014.
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