Masters champion Sergio Garcia hopes to complete a Spanish hat-trick this week by lifting the Claret Jug.
Spanish golf is in rude health after recent successes for Jon Rahm at the Irish Open and Rafa Cabrera-Bello at Sunday’s Scottish Open.
Indeed for the first time, the Iberian country has three golfers in the world’s top 20 with Garcia, Rahm and Cabrera-Bello ranked fifth, seventh and 17th respectively.
Garcia would love to continue his nation’s dominance at Royal Birkdale this week.
He said: “That would be amazing.
“We had Garbine Muguruza winning at Wimbledon too so it is a good time for Spanish sport.
“Between the PGA Tour and the European Tour, this has probably been Spanish golf’s best year for wins.
“It is exciting to see guys you’re friendly with and fellow countrymen doing great things so we’re going to try to keep that going.
“The weather in Spain obviously helps us as it is one of the countries where you can play throughout the year.
“But I think it is the combination of talent, the charisma and passion we have that makes the difference.”
Garcia was regarded as one of the greatest modern golfers to never win a major until he ended his wait at the Masters earlier this year.
But would he swap his green jacket for the Claret Jug?
He replied: “That’s difficult because they’re both amazing.
“At the moment the green jacket means more because I have it but everybody knows how much I love the Open championship. I would love to have at least one of them before I hang up the boots.
“It’s definitely something I would like to achieve and we’re going to give it a shot this week.
“But that’s like saying, who do you love more, your dad or your mum? It’s a difficult question to answer.”
Whatever the outcome at Royal Birkdale, July is set to be an eventful month for Garcia with the 37-year-old is due to wed fiancée Angela Akins next week.
But Garcia says there is no chance of his attention drifting towards his upcoming nuptials.
He said: “Don’t worry, my focus is on the Open. It’s going to be where it has to be this week.
“Angela has been doing a great job of getting everything ready for the wedding and we’re really excited for next week.
“But we have something that we’re also extremely excited about this week.
“We will be giving everything we have and hopefully be in with a chance on Sunday.”
