In the latest instalment of Life on Tour presented by Buffalo Trace, Ángel Hidalgo shares the brilliantly distinctive, deeply personal and often hilarious stories behind his rise to the DP World Tour.
A golfer shaped by family, superstition and a lifelong love of the game, Hidalgo reveals that he learned English on Tour, still calls his mother on the first tee, believes he was born in the wrong era, and sleeps more than almost anyone in professional sport. Within minutes, you realise he is quietly one of the most fascinating characters playing golf right now.
It doesn’t take long to get a sense of Hidalgo’s engaging personality. As he opens up about his life and his route to his breakthrough victory at the Spanish Open, he reveals a mix of humour, vulnerability and self‑awareness that makes him instantly memorable.
Now 27 and a winner on the DP World Tour, he jokes to host George Harper Jnr that he already feels “old”. It’s a throwaway line, but it sets the tone for a conversation full of honesty and heart.
During their conversation, Hidalgo and Harper explore:
• His family’s unconventional introduction to golf, beginning with a pair of stolen clubs
• Growing up 200m from a driving range and starting the game at just two years old
• His obsessive love of golf — playing almost every day, even on holidays
• Choosing golf over football after breaking both arms as a teenager
• The deep bond with his parents — including the first‑tee phone call he never misses
• The struggle of stepping up from elite amateur to professional golf and carving out a career on the Alps Tour, alongside his now caddie and now coach
• The moment he gained his Tour card
• Averaging 12 hours of sleep a night, even during tournament weeks
• His long list of superstitions, from pocket routines to never removing a sweater mid‑round
• The incredible story of how he met his caddie Gonzalo — first at age two, then again years later, and finally playing against him on the Alps Tour
• His breakthrough Spanish Open victory over Jon Rahm
• The emotional crash that followed — and why winning again immediately felt impossible
Before the podcast even properly begins, Hidalgo reveals that every bit of English he speaks was learned on Tour — a confession delivered with the same self‑deprecating charm that runs through the entire conversation. Moments later, he’s talking about how much he simply loves golf.
That love stems from a family connection that began when his great‑grandfather, working as a caddie, stole a couple of clubs and passed them down to Hidalgo’s grandfather and father. With his father also a professional, Hidalgo grew up around the game and developed a passion for it at the age of two that has never faded.
“It’s what I do since I’m two,” he explains. “I can’t imagine my life without playing golf. Even when I’m on holidays, I fly with the clubs and play with friends, that’s what makes me happy.”
He laughs as he recalls how rarely he took a day off when the season took a break.
“Probably the only day I didn’t play golf over the holidays was the first of January. Some days I just putt, some days I hit balls, but every day I do something. And if not, I’m chipping in my house.”
Hidalgo's path from two-year-old to decorated amateur was a straightforward one: he claimed two Spanish Amateur titles, three European Amateur Team Championship appearances (including a win in 2017), and represented Europe in both the Bonnallack Trophy and St Andrews Trophy. When he turned professional in 2018, he presumed he was ready for the step up.
He wasn’t.
“It was quite tough for me," he says. "I was inside the top ten in the world as an amateur. But when I turned pro, I went to [DP World Tour] Q School and didn’t qualify — not even for the Challenge [Tour]. I had to go to the Alps Tour.
“You think, OK, I’ll go to the Alps and win three easy. Then I’ll go to Challenge and fight. And I missed seven out of the first eight cuts. I said, ‘Oh my God, we are in trouble.’”
He finished fifth in the final event just to keep his card. The following year, COVID meant only three players graduated — and he wasn’t one of them. But in 2021, changed everything: two Alps Tour wins, Challenge Tour invites, and then a Challenge Tour victory.
“That’s when everything started to feel like I could be on Tour," he adds. "Because for two years, I was thinking, maybe I’m not good enough.”
The biggest moment came for him in 2022, when he secured his status on the DP World Tour at Valderrama.
"I always say that day is more important than my winning," he says.
"That year I started the year playing Challenge Tour. When I was a kid, [it was] always my dream was playing on tour. And of course, win is like insane. But that day in Valderrama, I make my dream true. And it's what I say. Obviously, to win a tournament, win a Major, play the Ryder Cup is like goals. But be on tour and playing with the best players in the world is like a dream come true. So that day I cry 1000 times more than in Madrid."
A lot has changed since then.
Two of Hidalgo’s closest friends from the Alps Tour are now his coach and his caddie — and the story of how he met Gonzalo, his caddie, is one of the most remarkable parts of the episode. They first crossed paths when Hidalgo was two years old, met again years later, and eventually competed against each other on the Alps Tour before becoming a team.
Yet one thing that hasn’t changed is his closeness to his family, or his long list of superstitions. Arguably one of the standouts among them is his unwavering ritual of speaking to his mother on the first tee of every tournament.
“I’m really close to my mom," he says. "I need to call her every morning on the first tee. Don’t care which country I am, don’t care what time it is in Spain.”
The one time he didn’t need to call? When she was there to watch him win.
“She came to Madrid on Sunday morning. I saw her on the first tee.”
Winning his national open, beating Jon Rahm in front of friends and family, was everything he had dreamed of.
“Unreal, not going to lie," he says. "You always dream to win a Major, obviously, but without a Major, which one is the favourite tournament you would like to win? Your home.
"It was everything, you know. It was like the dream for a kid. Win that tournament the way I did with all my family and friends there. Against Jon. Obviously it was emotion, was 99% like really happy, but to beat one of the best players in the world. It's like extra, definitely."
One of the most intriguing parts of the story is not only what happened before his victory, but what happened next.
He slept for 12 hours the night before the final round, something he reveals is an average for him. He also read David and Goliath in bed, a mark of just how grounded Hidalgo is.
And then, the week after his win, he stood over a putt on the Old Course at St Andrews and felt... nothing.
“I said to my caddie, ‘Mate, I have a problem. I don’t care if I hole it or not'," he reveals.
It was an emotional crash he never saw coming, and one he speaks about with striking honesty.
"I was struggling a lot last year, especially at the Irish Open," he says. "I was in contention until the 18th. But I'm trying to enjoy a little bit more on the course because I think after Madrid I pressured a little bit myself to keep going and try to be more in contention more often.
"So probably was a year to learn and I feel really, really prepared and I mean, a good point to have a good year now. I'm hitting good and I feel confident. I just need to be there on Sunday. I don't need to be winning by five."
That pressure, that release, that sudden emptiness, and now the positivity looking forward. It’s all part of Hidalgo’s story.
And it’s what makes him such a compelling guest on Life on Tour.
