Álvaro Quirós: “I haven’t had fun playing golf for six years”

There was a time when Álvaro Quirós It was the main source of pride for the Spanish Golf Federation. “We have a golfer who hits more than Tiger Woods,” said the late president Emma Villacieros proudly.

Of the few players raised in public fields, at the La Cañada School, which once a year visited the home of the rich, the Real Club de Golf de Valderrama due to the generosity of Patiño, Quirós embarked on a meteoric career in the first decade of the 21st century that took him to 21st place in the world ranking. He also won seven tournaments on the European Tour, to play the big ones.

Twelve years later, Quirós, the same tanned skin, two children with the woman of almost all his life, “a trunk full of toys”, he reflects at the end of the third round of the Acciona Open de España. He has thrown 66 shots, as on Thursday, which does not leave him far from even fighting for the title. At another time he would have, not now. “No chance. I’m realistic,” he ditches.

And begins his particular personal punishment that only slows him down to see that others also suffer. “It’s not a result, it’s the sensations. Before, I had fun and, except from the water, I thought about each shot that could leave it close to the flag. Now I’m always tense. From the first shot off the tee on Thursday until the Sunday’s last.”

The man from Cádiz denies the style he has now. “At another time, with the punch I have, I could make this course eight under par” and describes his game at times as “creeping. That’s not being competitive. Shooting to not miss is not playing golf,” he releases, without giving so much importance to the fact that he has only committed three bogeys in the entire tournament. “I have to go back to a virtuous cycle and not a vicious one to see the positive things.”

golf and gallantry

“It’s not nice to play like this,” he repeats“You don’t have to look at how many I do. It’s just that doubts remain there. I don’t know what will happen tomorrow. Golf is played with gallantry and I lack it. What I do is battle and battle”.

In position 164 of the general of the DP World Tour he needs good performances to keep the card. A line that separates being a golfer from not being one. “But even if I managed to secure it tomorrow, the sensations there are going to continue. Because I’ve gotten used to thinking like that and it’s not easy to get out of that way. My life is at stake in each blow. Each one of them has a responsibility, when it’s not because the ball is unplayable, I start to think that I can’t birdie anymore… That’s the reality.”