Pablo Larrazí¡bal was born on this day in 1983, in Barcelona, Spain. He attended high school in the United States and returned to Spain in 2002 with the intention of turning professional but his father made him work on the family fish farm to understand the value of money. He eventually turned professional in 2004.
In his rookie season on tour, Larrazí¡bal played in 28 events and made 17 cuts. Larrazí¡bal won his first title on the European Tour at the Open de France where he led after all four rounds. He also had an impressive finish at the Madrid Masters where he finished in third. Larrazí¡bal recorded three top 10 finishes and 7 top 25 finishes. He finished in 18th on the Order of Merit, earning €960,858. This propelled him to the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year award.
Larrazí¡bal started the 2011 season in good form with a fifth place finish in India at the Avantha Masters before finishing third in his home country’s national tournament, the Open de Espaí±a finishing three strokes behind the winner Thomas Aiken. A month later he finished fourth at the Saab Wales Open shooting a 67 during the final round to move through the field and into the top five. In June 2011, Larrazí¡bal won his second European Tour title at the BMW International Open in Munich beating compatriot Sergio García in a sudden death playoff. Both men entered the final round trailing by two strokes, but fired rounds of 68 to finish on sixteen under par. Larrazí¡bal had a putt to win outright at the 72nd hole but that slipped by, allowing García to birdie the last to take them into a playoff. After both players made birdies at the 18th, on the first and second playoff holes, they advanced to the par three 12th and the par three 17th, where Larrazí¡bal let two more ten footers slide by for the championship. However at the fifth extra hole, the par five 18th, García ran his eagle putt four feet past, with Larrazí¡bal two feet away in three. García’s birdie putt then lipped out and Larrazí¡bal holed out for victory.
This win came three weeks after Larrazí¡bal had missed out in a playoff himself in an Open Championship qualifier at Sunningdale, but the win has ensured himself of a place at the 2011 Open Championship at Royal St. George’s. Larrazí¡bal ended the season ranked 17th on the Race to Dubai, his highest finish to date.
