Diego Borrego

A former Spanish and Italian national amateur champion and European boys titleholder, Diego Borrego was earmarked in his teens as a star of the future. He gained his playing card for the European Tour at the Qualifying School in 1993 but was only able to finish 150th in the order of merit and was unsuccessful in retaining his playing privileges at that year’s school. This meant a return to the Challenge Tour in 1995 and he won his second title, the Perrier European Pro-Am in Belgium (in 1993 he won the Leman Pro-Am in Switzerland), along the way to third place in the final money list. With the top 10 earning cards for the main tour he qualified easily for a return in 1996 and made sure of at least a two-year exemption by securing his debut triumph, at the Turespaña Masters in Valencia in April - the first victory by a Spaniard since Ballesteros in the 1995 Spanish Open in May. Borrego finished the 1996 season in 30th place in the money list - but sank to 117th in 1997 and 151st and back to the Qualifying School in 1998. He regained his card at the school and in 1999 completed a solid season 72nd in the order of merit, gaining two fourth places along the way. In 2000, he slipped to 106th - his best effort a share of fourth in the Volvo Scandinavian Masters - but this was enough to enable him to retain his card among the top 115. He struggled again in 2001 to avoid the qualifying school, but retained his card with fine performances in his last two events of the season.