David Drysdale doesn't feel quite at ease for this

year's Andalucia Open (he was 2nd last year)

FROM THE HERALDSCOTLAND WEBSITE
By Douglas Lowe
The Andalucia Open was the tournament that made David Drysdale’s season last year when he was runner-up to Dane Soren Kjeldsen, but the high-flying Scot has been feeling strangely disorientated as he launches his bid to take that tantalising final step into the winner’s circle.
The European Tour at last arrives in Europe after stops in South Africa, the Middle East, the US, India, Malaysia and Morocco, but the tournament has been moved this year by 120 miles from Seville to the coast at Malaga where the Parador course is unfamiliar to the Dunbar man who finished top Scot at No.48 last year on the Race to Dubai order of merit.
“There is a strange sort of feel about this week. The Spanish Open in Seville in five weeks’ time probably will feel more like the tournament I did well in last year,” said Drysdale, who turned 35 last Friday and is still looking for that elusive maiden European Tour triumph.
“This is a very different golf course. It’s shorter than Seville and narrow. It’s like a small version of Penina in Portugal. There’s not a lot of rough but there are big trees that could be a problem although I generally hit the ball pretty straight, so it should be right up my street.”
Parador is one of the original Spanish courses, designed in 1925 by Harry Colt, also creator of the West Course at Wentworth, home of the European Tour flagship PGA Championship.
“I haven’t played a tournament on this course before, but the holes are all straight in front of you,” he said. “The fairways and greens are pretty decent and I think the scoring will be low. You’re hitting a lot of short clubs into the par-4s.”
Drysdale’s preparations have been hampered by a cold he picked up last Sunday on the final day of the Hassan II Trophy in Morocco and he had to withdraw from yesterday’s pro-am. However, he is playing in the last group out today at 2.20pm which will give him extra time to recover.
His practice has been restricted to nine holes on Tuesday which means he has been unable to play the entire course, but he is undaunted by the lack of familiarity. 

“I was talking to Soren yesterday and told him I hoped we’re in the last group again on Sunday this year. If I get into the same position, I’ll be better equipped to deal with it. I did have a half-chance in India [third in the Avantha Masters in Delhi last month] but didn’t putt very well. I just have to keep getting into these positions and, hopefully, one day I’ll get over the line.
“But I have to eliminate the kind of silly mistakes I was making last week [tied 29th in Morocco]. I’d say 70% was pretty good and 30% was inconsistent. I was making wrong decisions at key moments, picking wrong clubs and being too aggressive.”
A total of 13 Scots are in the field this week including veteran Andrew Oldcorn, who qualifies as the winner back in 1993, and current South African Open champion Richie Ramsay, who is out today in one of the marquee groups alongside Welshman Rhys Davies, last week’s winner, and French Ryder Cup player Thomas Levet.
The others are Marc Warren, Steven O’Hara, Gary Orr, Paul Lawrie, Andrew Coltart, Stephen Gallacher, Peter Whiteford, Scott Drummond, Alastair Forsyth, and Andrew McArthur.
Elsewhere, Spaniards Pablo Martin and Miguel Angel Jimenez will have a distinct home advantage.
Martin, winner of the season-opening Alfred Dunhill Championship in South Africa, lives right next to the course that he played regularly as a junior, but it will be a bitter-sweet return following the death of his father in January.
“I took a few weeks off and tried to regroup. I’m getting there again. I’m just trying to enjoy every day,” said Martin, who was the first amateur to win a European Tour event, the Portugal Open three years ago.
The event is being co-promoted by Jimenez’s management company, MMI. He, too, is a Malaga native, and four of his 16 European Tour victories have been in Spain, including the 1999 Andalucia Open on this course during which he set a course record 10-under-par 62.
The world’s top 50 after this week will be invited to play in the Masters, which is now just a fortnight away. Four of the field are already there – Jimenez, winner of this year’s Dubai Desert Classic, fellow Spaniard Alvaro Quiros, Kjeldsen and Italy’s Francesco Molinari.
No Scot is able to make it into the top 50 this week, but Swede Alex Noren at No.66 and South African Louis Oosthuizen, No.60, could make it with a victory, depending on results elsewhere in the world.