Estanislao Goya eager to make his return to the Madeira Islands Open
Estanislao Goya will make his return to the Madeira Islands Open – Portugal – BPI, as he confirmed to participate in this year’s edition of the event. Madeira Islands Open is the same event that saw him recording the biggest victory of his career in 2009.
He is now confident add another European Tour event to his resume, when he tees off at the Clube de Golf do Santo da Serra this month.
Talking to the European Tour’s official website, he said that he never played on the venue course before. However, he always likes to play on the Portuguese soil, and is confident to make a strong run in the event.
“I am really looking forward to going back,” he said. “For the few years after winning it I was focussing on Wentworth at that time of the year, but now I cannot wait to go back”.
“It’s a different course and I’ve never played this one before, but it’s the Portuguese air and that’s been good to me before so it should be fun,” he added.
He also remembered the last moments of the 2009 edition of the event, when Scot Callum Macaulay made a strong charge on the leaderboard, thanks to his flurry of birdies. Yet, Goya managed to finish the tournament one stroke better than his rival.
“There were nerves alright,” said Goya, whose girlfriend is Scottish Ladies European Tour golfer Carly Booth. “Down the stretch I missed a couple of drives and there was a lot of pressure”.
It was his rookie season on the European Tour. According to him, his performance in the first round of the tournament gave him confidence, which in turn, allowed him to post a decent score in each of the four rounds of the tournament.
After winning the tournament, he failed to keep the momentum going into the next events, and never managed to return to the European Tour’s winning circle again.
Ricardo Santos, in the meantime, is looking forward to defending his title at Clube de Golf do Santo da Serra.
It was his victory last year that allowed him to become the European Tour’s Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year.
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