Ireland’s Reeve Whitson has won the Copa del Rey golf title by beating England’s Neil Raymond 4-3 in the final at La Manga Club in a tightly contested match in which the winner was almost always ahead of his opponent.
This international competition, reserved for amateur players, was played on the South course of the Murcian complex and in the final Whitson dominated his rival from the 13th hole on a 36-hole course.
The King’s Cup experienced a British final. The Spanish players ran out of title options very quickly, as the last to fall, who was the Navarrese Borja Virto, was eliminated in the quarterfinals against the French Adrien Saddier.
In the semifinals, the winner beat Saddier 5-4, while the runner-up edged Switzerland’s Edouard Amacher 2-1.
In a championship that has been played since 1911, with the exception of the interval between 1935 and 1941, Whitson succeeds the Englishman Jack Hiluta, who won last year, then at the Mallorcan course of Alcanada Golf.
QUEEN’S CUP
On the other hand, the Danish Emily Pedersen has been proclaimed winner of the Copa S. M. La Reina after beating the Swedish Linnea Strom by 5 to 3 in the final, a competition of the highest international prestige, similar to the British Ladies Amateur, which has been played in the Mallorcan course of Pula Golf.
Emily Pedersen is the first Danish golfer to win this more than centenary competition -its first edition took place in 1911-, succeeding the German Karolin Lampert in a select list of winners that also includes, among others, the Spaniards Adriana Zwanck (winner in 2003), Beatriz Recari (2004), Carlota Ciganda (2005 and 2006) and Nerea Salaverría (2010).
The Danish player, very firm throughout the five days of competition, did not give the slightest option to her rival in the final duel despite the Swedish Linnea Strom, with a birdie on the first hole, took the lead in the scoreboard at the beginning of the final.
However, Emily Pedersen reacted with speed and determination, winning the next two holes with birdies that allowed her to take the lead on hole 3.
The spectacular give and take was also reproduced on hole 4, when Linnea Strom made another birdie -four between them in the first 4 holes! – which brought the match back to even par.
After two holes where both registered the same number of strokes, the turning point of the playoff occurred, a double bogey by Linnea Strom on hole 7 -after losing the ball to the left on the tee with the driver- which was immediately taken advantage of by Emily Pedersen to put the game back on track.
Imbued in the heat of the fight, on hole 9 Emily Pedersen wanted to place the ball at a good angle to attack the par 5 of two, but threw it into the water, leaving a good opportunity for the Swede to tie the match, which however she did not take advantage of, as she sent her ball into the trees on her third shot, undoubtedly one of the defining moments of the final.
A new advantage for the Danish player on holes 9, 12 and 13 left the elimination almost ready for sentence, a resounding outcome that took place on hole 15, when a new birdie by Emily Pedersen definitively ended the resistance of the Swedish Linnea Strom.
Interestingly, the two finalists, both 16 years old, have played together in the Orange Bowl in 2012 and in the Annika Invitational in the USA in January 2013, forming a pair of Junior Ryder Cup foursomes. This was the first time they had met in a Match and both are among the favorites to be part of this year’s Ping Junior Solheim Cup team, both highly ranked in the world.
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