Sunday 21 May 2017 19:38, UK
Richard Kaufman reflects back on a career-changing victory in Alvaro Quiros' career and reviews an entertaining week at the Rocco Forte Open.
There is no denying that the backdrop for the Rocco Forte Open was one of the most spectacular of the season, with glorious sunshine all the way glistening off the Mediterranean.
Golfers love a moan (don't we all?!), but I didn't hear a single complaint about the resort, the course or the weather all week.
How often do we go to a course where players and commentators are cycling around?! Even Tony Johnstone got his feet on the pedals! It led to a nice, relaxed vibe.
The weather was perfect, with the first two days presenting an opportunity to go low and testing winds making scoring more difficult over the weekend.
Sandwiched in between the flagship events of the PGA Tour and European Tour, the event was never going to be a glamour event in terms of the calibre of the field.
We might not have seen a player ranked in the world's top 100 teeing it up in Sicily and saw some others getting a rare start, but we got a winner who has been right up there with the best.
Someone had a golden opportunity to secure their European Tour future and in the end the man who took it was Alvaro Quiros, but it was anything but straightforward.
The likeable Spaniard got his week off to a bang with a hole-in-one on just his third hole and came into the Sky Sports commentary box after his opening-round 64, giving us a good insight into what it's been like for him since his heyday in 2011.
Back then he had been as high as 21 in the world rankings, but wanted a less aggressive swing and looked to be more consistent like a Luke Donald - who was getting to world No 1 at the time.
At the same time, Donald was changing things to try and hit it more like Quiros! How ironic, eh? He admits that instead of feeling grateful for what he had, he wanted what he didn't have!
He lost his touch, the natural way of his swing and then needed hand surgery at the end of the 2012 season. What followed was a slippery slope down the world rankings (he started this week outside the top 700) and then a loss of his European Tour card.
Resigned to a season on the Challenge Tour, this was a man determined to get back to basics and try and get back what he had.
You would have thought that when the winning putt came on Sunday evening at the end of his play-off with Zander Lombard, there would be huge elation. Instead, after giving away a seven-shot lead during the final day, Quiros gave a low-key reaction to his seventh European Tour success.
He told Jamie Spence in his interview afterwards that it wasn't the way he wanted to do it. By the time he arrives at Wentworth as a fully-fledged European Tour player again, the smile should be back.
His game isn't perfect and the victory in Sicily was painful to watch at times, but a win is a win, as they say. Alavro Quiros is back and it's good to have him.
