Europe’s four main professional golfing tours will be teeing it up to Spain this year, although some of the dates and venues are still to be confirmed.
European Tour: The Andalucía Valderrama Masters returns to Sotogrande from 18 to 21 October, following Sergio García’s victory last year and Jon Rahm’s professional debut in Spain – ultimately unsuccessful (he missed the cut), although he subsequently redeemed himself with victory in the season-ending World Tour Championship in Dubai.
There is also a free date on the schedule from 12 to 15 April (one week after the U.S. Masters) at a European venue to be confirmed, with speculation in the Spanish press that it will be taken up by the Spanish Open (which wasn’t held last season) at a Madrid club, possibly RACE.
Ladies European Tour: Founded four decades ago in 1978, the tour has struggled in recent seasons to offer a full schedule and solid prizemoney funds but, according to executive chairman Mark Lichtenhein, the LET is hoping to be able to take advantage of a “major tailwind behind women in sport at the moment”. Last week he confirmed, “As things stand, we are nearly over the line with two European tournaments and we should be making an announcement to that effect later next month. So far, we’re on target to have 20 tournaments this year as against the 15 of last year. In other words, things are looking up.”
No events have been officially announced past the current co-sanctioned Australian swing, followed by South Africa and Morocco in March and April, respectively, but presumably one of the “20” will be the Spanish Women’s Open, which has been held in Marbella the past two seasons, and won on both occasions by local star Azahara Muñoz.
The 2018 schedule for the LET Access Series (the tour’s second-tier circuit) has not been released yet. Last season there was one tournament in Spain: the Ribeira Sacra Patrimonio de la Humanidad International Ladies Open at Augas Santas Balneario & Golf Resort (Galicia) in July.
European Challenge Tour: In what has been dubbed by the tour as the first-ever “Iberian Swing”, the Challenge de España will be held at Izki Golf in Álava (Basque Country) from 3 to 6 May followed by the Open de Portugal (10-13 May at Morgado in Portimão, Algarve) and the Andalucía-Costa del Sol Match Play 9 (17-20 May), which was held at La Cala Resort (Mijas) in 2017 but doesn’t yet have an officially confirmed venue for this year.
Staysure (European Senior) Tour: Meliã Villaitana Golf Club in Alicante will host the first edition of the Costa Blanca Benidorm Senior Masters from 29 November to 1 December. U.K.-based insurance company Staysure is the title sponsor of this year’s tour.
Pictured: Natasha Fear (home page intro) and Gemma Fuster Anglada (above) are among 21 Spanish players who have membership for this year’s Ladies European Tour.
