Spanish golf and Madrid golf in particular are in luck thanks to the young Alejandro del Rey and his spectacular gold medal in the Absolute World Championship that has been played these days in the Irish course of Carton House Golf Club, where he won the bronze for Spain along with Victor Pastor and Angel Hidalgo. Four dream rounds for the player from Madrid, highlighting the 64 of the second day and the 65 with which he closed the tournament.
Both -8, as it was played in two different courses, were a sample of what Del Rey’s game is, a birdie machine that bases its strategy on attack, looking for every flag, and when the putt goes with the results come. 25 birdies for two solitary bogeys in the four days took him to the top step of the podium and to be the main pillar of the Spanish team to get the bronze medal along with the Andalusians Ángel Hidalgo and Víctor Pastor, captained by Luis Méndez and Salva Luna.
Alejandro del Rey: “Going into the last round we went out to play knowing that we had to make very few and we had to take advantage of the fact that it was played on the easiest course. I started very well, with four birdies in the first six holes, which helped me to calm my nerves and let the round flow because I was very comfortable. To see that I only made two bogeys in four days without giving up playing on the attack shows me that my game is going up a level.”
It is enough to go back four years ago to find a similar feat, as Jon Rahm, current number 5 in the world, achieved the same achievement as Alejandro del Rey, winning the individual competition and the team bronze. This Absolute World Cup or Eisenhower Trophy is a tournament that any amateur golfer has marked in red in his calendar, as it has been won by great players such as Rickie Fowler, Ryan Moore or Jack Nicklaus himself.
“In my head was present all the time during the last lap that Jon Rahm had won in 2014 with -23 and I had to match him.. Sabía que debía hacer -8 y cada birdie que lograba lo iba descontando de esa lucha, y eso me ayudó mucho a seguir haciendo birdies. Ahora mismo estoy que no me lo creo, ser campeón del mundo es algo increíble y todavía sigo en shock sin saber muy bien lo que he conseguido. Necesito una semana para asimilarlo y empezar a disfrutar de lo que esto significa.”
The team competition went to the Danish team thanks to a total score of -39, beating the United States by one stroke and the Spaniards by three. At times, during the last day, the Spaniards came to be leaders and we could dream of a milestone never achieved in the national golf, but the good work of the Hojgaard brothers in the last holes made the gold went to Scandinavian lands.
Alejandro del Rey (15-2-98) was a member of the seventh promotion of the CETEMA program of the Madrid Golf Federation, through which students combine their academic training with high performance golf. He is currently a student at the University of Arizona States where he is in his third year of Business Administration and Communication, and will complete his university education in June 2020.
The Madrid-born player boasts an extensive track record that includes the 2008/9 Spanish Benjamín and Alevín Pitch&Putt Championships; the 2013 Spanish Cadet Championship; the 2014 Biarritz and Lacoste Promesas Cup; the Spanish U-18 Championship in 2015 and 2016; the gold medal at the 2017 European Absolute Team Championship and the Maui Jim Intercollegiate NCAA; in addition to his two latest achievements: bronze medal at the World Team Championship and 2018 World Amateur Champion.
“The first year in the United States it took me a while to adapt because of the English and because of the laundry, which cost me God and help, it was a world for me. Now I am very happy and I play a lot of golf. Sometimes I have been compared to Jon Rahm, but when they see him, who is almost two meters tall, and me, who is 1.70 meters tall… it is not the same. Americans like Spanish players very much, they say that we all have a very good short game. Jon Rahm, Alejandro Cañizares, Carlota Ciganda and Azahara Muñoz have played at my University. I have trained a lot to get where I am, working hard and training is essential, you have to give everything, nothing is achieved without effort.
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