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Garrido: should look on bright side

Maybe with a little bit of pasta and Proscecco inside him John Daly will go out and produce a wonderful performance!

Mark Roe
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It would be very easy for Ignacio Garrido to look back on last weekend in Spain and be hugely disappointed.

He had a wonderful start with rounds of 66 and 63 at the Open de Espana, but he may remember those final two level-par rounds of 72 and feel like an opportunity was lost.

But the very nature of the way he played on the last day means he could reverse that emotion and look at things very positively. I say that because he was out of the championship after nine holes and came back with a tremendous fightback.

In making that putt at the last from 30 feet, I think he should walk away with his head held high and realise he is somebody who is very capable of winning golf tournaments.

For the best part of his career he's been incredibly inconsistent. He had a great year in 1997 (when he won the German Open and played in the Ryder Cup) and also in 2003 when he won the PGA Championship - but in between his performances have been mixed.

He's only had six top-10 finishes in the last five years and he's finished outside the top 100 in the Order of Merit for three of the last four seasons. I hope he can look at last weekend as the start of something much better.

As a tournament professional golfer you have to try and find those positives. A caddie once said to me, you have to pick yourself up, dust yourself down and get on with it and that's very true of what Garrido's got to do.

He made a big cheque in Spain and a big move up the Order of Merit and I think when the dust settles he can take the positives out of the tournament and use that as a springboard to get in the winner's circle very soon.

Congratulations

Overall it was a wonderful Spanish Open, which had everything and huge congratulations are due to the quiet man of Irish golf.

Peter Lawrie is a lovely gentleman, who is almost shy and retiring at times, but he goes about his job in a very professional way. He is hugely talented and the finish was absolutely sensational - three birdies in the last four holes and the bunker shot he played at 18 from the fairway trap was simply world-class.

So while it's sometimes easy to talk about the loser, we must also celebrate a fine winner who made it a hat-trick of wins for Ireland after Darren Clarke and Damien McGrane.

I know Peter and Damien spend a fair amount of time together and I'm sure Peter will have looked at Damien's win and realised he was capable of that as well. That may have had something to do with his victory.

Irish golf is clearly enjoying a strong period, but as we move on to the Italian Open thoughts turn to the state of golf in Italy.

Francesco Molinari won here two years ago and at that time I felt Italian golf was in great hands, although I always thought his brother Edoardo might be the one to come through and become the next Italian superstar.

He won the US Amateur Championship and then won twice on the Challenge Tour in 2006 and I really rated him, but then it all seemed to grind to a halt.

I think there will be an awful lot of frustration in the Molinari camp because I expected him to come through on the main Tour and it hasn't happened yet.

He's still young enough to come through, but questions need to be asked as to why his development has stalled.

I'm looking to both of them for big performances this weekend and they should be able to do well on a course where Francesco has obviously already won.

Immaculate

Castello di Tolcinasco is a beautiful golf course and it's one where you can shoot low scores because the greens are always immaculate and in great condition.

I'm looking forward to seeing John Daly again after he missed the cut in Spain, but on a golf course like this he may find some form. There are a lot of par-fives there that are reachable for the long hitters and it should suit Daly.

Maybe with a little bit of pasta and Proscecco inside him he'll go out and produce a wonderful performance!

It'll be great to see Constantino Rocca back as well after his success on the Seniors Tour. Perhaps the greatest ever Italian golfer he's a very engaging personality, wonderfully animated and great to watch.

It's going to be interesting to see how much form he can find because it still takes a good solid golf game to win on the Seniors Tour. There will be lots of faithful fans out there watching him.

And of course Garrido will be straight back into action in Italy this weekend. I just hope he will go into it with confidence