Adilson Da Silva
The defending champion, Adilson da Silva, returns fresh from his recent win in the OFX Irish Legends at Seapoint Golf Links last month.
The Brazilian will be one of the favourites around this course again this year: “We just can’t stop saying how nice it is here, you look around and you see a beautiful spot – then you look the other way and see another beautiful place, I don’t think there’s many golf courses like this. You look forward to coming to a place like this, it’s such a treat for us to be here. I think this is such a great golfing spot to be. It’s just, absolutely a treat.
“After Ireland I went home and took a couple of days off, so I haven’t really practiced a lot, but now I’m here it feels all right. I feel good about it. I get here, to this place, and it just feels comfortable for me – it’s just the whole shape of the golf course sometimes suit you better and this one does for me.
“It’s not a long golf course, but I think your tee shot and some of the putts are quite demanding. The par 3 holes have small greens so you’ve got to hit the target because the surrounding grass can be quite tricky. If you miss the greens on the wrong side it is going to be very hard, but the greens are running so nice this week – if you get the line going, you can put a good score together.
“Returning to somewhere you have won, you can tend to put too much of a high expectation on yourself – so, you have got to hit shot by shot and try not to get ahead of yourself.”
Michael Campbell
Major winner Michael Campbell is one of the star attractions in the 60-man field in Switzerland, while he sees this event as one of the star attractions of his year: “This is a week I really enjoy, it is a great little golf course with an on-site hotel that is also amazing.”
The 2005 US Open Champion has been struggling in 2024 with injury but is hopeful this week is the start of a return to fitness and form: “My back is much better now, I’ve being suffering with my lower back for the last six weeks or so and missed out on three tournaments, hopefully this will be a good week for me.
“You look around here, the mountains, the golf course – it is all fantastic once again. The people here very enthusiastic and very encouraging for all the players to play well.
“It’s not a long golf course, you’ve got to shoot the ball right to left. I’m practicing my draws on the on the driving range. It’s all about working your ball around this golf course. It’s a tricky little golf course, the greens are soft, so it spins more – which means you have to learn to spin it less than normal, take maybe one club more and swing slowly.”
James Kingston
South Africa’s James Kingston was runner-up in this event last year – finishing two shots short of the 15-under-par score posted by Da Silva. He’s eager to have another go at this course and, hopefully, another run at the title too: “I think this is one of the nicest spots on our schedule, one of the nicest venues to come to. The golf course is in beautiful condition, just look at the scenery – it really is such a special place.
“I’ve been playing decent, had a few good finishes and had a couple of days off too so I am ready to rock and roll. It’s one of those courses I come to where I think my game’s sort of fun and I find my game on this golf course. I feel comfortable on it, so it is a week that I always look forward to. I think it is a good driver’s golf course, there are a couple of quirky holes too where we’ve got to hit the ball a little right to left, a bit more than we normally do.
“I enjoy taking on some shots and trying to then create those opportunities, better opportunities than when you just hit the ball down the fairway conservatively and play it conservatively.”
Simon Khan
Simon Khan has had a steady start to his season, but is excited about the week ahead, not least for this course being one that fits his eye: “I got here a little bit earlier this week, but you know if you’re driving it decent, you know you can have a lot of wedge shots into the greens. It’s about preparing well for that and getting your numbers really spot on. Here I think that is the key to it and then reading the greens is important too as they are quite subtle in places.
“I’ve changed the setup in my bag this week a little bit and I’ve put an extra wedge in just to fill that gap. I had a little bit of a gap between a couple of clubs and that just feels like it’s helping with certain distances because the greens have some tight landing areas and they’re quite soft this year, spinny, so you’ve got to get those numbers right.
“This is probably our favourite venue of the year. It’s just a pleasure to come back here. We played in Switzerland for a long time on the DP World Tour up in the mountains at Crans-Montana, but I think this is just as beautiful. There are really nice and special views across the Crans-sur-Sierre golf course, but here at Golf Club Bad Ragaz it is just stunning everywhere you look, I don’t think photographs do it justice – it’s just a 360-degree view, everywhere you look. The golf course is enjoyable, I like it, it’s a bit shorter and your little wedges are important, scoring can be quite good, but it’s still got its challenges.
“It does help, you know, watching the ball fly against that sort of backdrop is pretty special. I’ve always like golf courses like this where you’ve got that visual aspect to it with the trees, and you’ve got it here against the mountains – it’s amazing playing here.”
Golf Club Bad Ragaz
The 2024 Swiss Seniors Open has a €300,000 prize fund and gets underway on Friday 12th July at Golf Club Bad Ragaz in Switzerland.
