This week’s ACCIONA Open de España presented by Madrid features one the strongest field in the tournament’s recent history, with some of golf’s biggest names set to compete in one of the DP World Tour’s oldest events. The field includes defending champion Matthieu Pavon, Ryder Cup stars Tommy Fleetwood, Shane Lowry, Jon Rahm and Sepp Straka and Masters champion Patrick Reed.
The presentation for the 2024 ACCIONA Open de España presented by Madrid, took place yesterday at the Club de Campo Villa de Madrid, with Pavon, Fleetwood and Lowry in attendance. Pavon won the 2023 event after with a final-round 67, finishing four shots clear of the field to claim his first DP World Tour title. Since then, the Frenchman has also claimed victory on the PGA Tour at the Farmers Insurance Open and achieved his best major result with a 5th place finish at this year’s U.S. Open.
“It’s great. It’s a strange feeling. It’s the first time I’m defending a title. I’m really happy to be here. A lot of good memories. Played nine holes yesterday and the Pro-Am this morning, I can see all the shot I hit last year. Good memories only. It was pretty special walking down the golf course the last two days.” commented Matthieu Pavon. “I got my first win and it kind of opened the door to all the biggest events on the PGA TOUR, which was just unbelievable.”
Ryder Cup star Tommy Fleetwood (pictured) is making his second appearance this week at the ACCIONA Open de España presented by Madrid, returning as an Olympic Silver Medalist from the 2024 Paris Olympics. The Englishman finished tied for 39th the last time he competed at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid and is excited to be back in the city of Madrid.
TOMMY FLEETWOOD, PHOTO: ALVARO DIAZ / ACCIONA OPEN DE ESPAÑA
“It’s really nice to be back. I think whenever we get a chance to come back and play in a major European city and an historical tournament that has been such a big part of this tour, it always gives us guys such a warm, lovely feeling when we come back,” said Fleetwood. “I think this showcases everything that is great about Europe and about this tour, and it’s always a pleasure to come back and play in front of so many fans that love golf, so many great players. And you see so many great faces that you’ve known for such a long time, and everybody’s always so great and so kind to us and very excited about being back.”
Major champion Shane Lowry is set to make his debut at the ACCIONA Open de España presented by Madrid, marking his return to the city of Madrid for the first time since 2009. This season the Irishman has achieved five top-20 finishes on the DP World Tour and seven top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour, including two 6th place finishes at major championships, the PGA Championship and The Open Championship.
“It’s great. It’s my first time here at Club de Campo. We get so used to playing golf courses that are wide open and long, and so to come here and play golf courses like this is refreshing, where you need to hit the ball on the fairway and small greens. I’m excited for the week. I’ve been here a couple of days now. Madrid is obviously a beautiful city, so getting to explore that a little bit. All in all a great week so far,”said Lowry.
The ACCIONA Open de España presented by Madrid continues to lead the way in sustainability, implementing various measures to reduce the event’s carbon footprint, which ACCIONA offsets as well as planting trees to create a positive environmental impact. It is also the first ever Water Positive sports event in history, with ACCIONA contributing a positive water footprint, 10% higher than the tournaments total water consumption. When speaking to the media Shane Lowry emphasized the importance of sustainability in the game of golf.
“I think it’s very important that we have companies like Acciona coming in and sponsoring golf, and then going along with what they want to do and what they want to achieve which is a lot to do with sustainability and reducing the carbon footprint. I think what they have been doing this week, during the initiative this week is all water, and what I think they are doing is pretty cool and it’s great to be a part of that,” added Lowry.
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