Quiros skips US for Italian job

BIG-HITTING Spaniard Alvaro Quiros could have been playing in one of golf’s richest events this week, but believes he has done the right thing both for his health and his career in turning it down.

Instead of competing for a first prize of over £1.1million at the Players Championship in Florida, Quiros is at the BMW Italian Open in Turin where the winner on Sunday will receive less than £200,000.

“I decided not to go because I’ve had too many trips to the States and didn’t want another just yet,” said the world number 26.

“Here I can rest more or less. I hope to have many more chances to play at Sawgrass.”

He is not the first to opt for Italy rather than America, and last year it worked wonders for Robert Karlsson.

The tournament started a run of three successive third places for the Swede, followed by a runners-up finish in Wales and then fourth in the US Open.

With his confidence boosted by that superb spell, Karlsson went on to win twice and become European number one for the first time at the age of 39.

Quiros, 13 years his junior, won the Qatar Masters in January but came down to earth with a bang on his US Masters debut last month when he missed the cut by no fewer than eight shots.

“It hurt and I want my revenge,” he commented with his customary big smile.

“In the last four years it’s the most disappointing result I’ve had. I was waiting for Augusta for a long time, but now I know you need to learn a lot of things to play there.”

It could be quite a sight today and tomorrow when Quiros goes head-to-head in the first two rounds with former Open champion John Daly.

Quiros won Europe’s driving distance category in 2007 with 308.2 yards and last season increased that to 309.7, over six yards longer than anybody else, while Daly has averaged more than 300 yards every year in America since 1998.

“I’ve heard he hits it a mile,” said Daly, who last Sunday finished 31st at the Spanish Open in his first tournament of the year.

The 43-year-old American, now in the last month of a six-month US Tour ban, is also playing the Irish Open, BMW PGA Championship and the European Open before returning home.

Quiros is not currently entered for next week’s Irish Open and is not seeking an invitation, although a top 10 finish this weekend would qualify him for the event.

He added: “If I do that and feel fresh I’ll probably go.”

Darren Clarke and Colin Montgomerie are also in this week’s field, neither having qualified for The Players.

Ryder Cup captain Montgomerie is looking to hit back from an 81 last Friday which matched his worst round in Europe for five years.

Clarke, meanwhile, decided to add the event to his schedule after pulling out of one in South Korea two weeks ago. The Ulsterman wants to be at home for his older son Tyrone starting boarding school.