The Costa del Golf is once again showing its credentials to the world of this sport by hosting, from May 18 to 21, the Andalucía Costa del Sol Match Play 9, a tournament within the European Challenge Circuit that will bring together players from 28 countries.
La Cala Resort will host one of the most important golf championships of the year. Located in the municipality of Mijas, this resort has three golf courses. The Asia course will be the setting for this novel competition that combines two days of stroke play (36 holes) and two days of match play, with the last two days being played by the 32 players best classified at the end of the second round. Match play will be played over nine holes. This week 156 players are competing, 27 of them Spanish and 10 of them Andalusian. The prize money will be 200,000 euros and the event will be valid for the ‘Road to Oman’.
The promotion of new professional and amateur tournaments has been key to consolidate the growth of golf as one of the most important tourist segments of the Costa del Sol, where it moves about 900 million euros annually between direct and indirect income.
The Andalucía Costa del Sol Match Play 9 is one of the two events of the Challenge Tour to be held in Spain throughout 2017 along with the Challenge of Spain. The tournament has the main support of Turismo Andaluz, Turismo y Planificación Costa del Sol, Acosol, the Royal Spanish Golf Federation and the Royal Andalusian Golf Federation. It also has the support of the Consejo Superior de Deportes, and collaborate Reale, Solan de Cabras, Titleist, Kyocera, Ping, Holiday Golf Estates and Callaway. JGolf18.0 is the promoting company.
This noon has taken place the presentation of the tournament, which was attended by, on behalf of Turismo Costa del Sol, the director of the Tourism Marketing Division, Antonio Diaz; by the Junta de Andalucía, the delegate counselor of Culture, Tourism and Sport, Javier Carnero; by the City Council of Mijas its mayor, Juan Carlos Maldonado; and by Acosol, public company of the Commonwealth of Municipalities of the Costa del Sol West, its CEO, Manuel Cardeña.
During the presentation, which was attended by leading golf authorities, such as the deputy director of the Challenge Tour, José María Zamora, the president of the Royal Andalusian Golf Federation, Pablo Mansilla and the director of JGolf18.0, Javier Gervás, Antonio Díaz stressed the importance of holding the tournament in May, because “it shows that the province of Malaga also competes and in what way when the weather is already favorable throughout Europe”. It should be remembered that the high season for golf in the destination is precisely in the colder months, which is when there is less competition.
In the presence of Noemí Román, commercial director of La Cala Resort, Antonio Díaz took the opportunity to praise the Mijas facilities: “a fabulous example of the extraordinary preparation of our facilities for this sport,” said Díaz.
In the same way he has valued the environment of Mijas: “it is a real pride that the Andalucía Costa del Sol Match Play 9 stops in Mijas, a wonderful landscape not only for golf, but for much more in the context of our province,” he stressed.
Antonio Diaz has stressed the role that the organization of such events. “It harmonizes with the Sport Destination brand, which seeks to turn the Costa del Sol into a reference destination in Europe for the celebration of major sporting events.”
To assess the role that golf plays on the Costa del Sol both as a sporting and tourist reference, Antonio Diaz has remarked that it is “thanks, on the one hand, to the professionals of the sector, who work continuously to offer excellent courses; and on the other, to the joint work of public institutions, which have rowed together to promote the golf segment, which brings so many benefits to our destination.
The director of the Tourism Marketing Division of Costa del Sol Tourism has recalled, not in vain, that “from Costa del Sol Tourism we have been betting on the golf segment for a long time. We have more than 70 courses and we are the most important destination in Continental Europe. The bet is clear. Golf also breaks the seasonality. We have carried out a study and we know that one of the things to do when betting on this segment is to bring tournaments of this category”.
In fact, the top 15 countries by number of federated players are the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, Scotland, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Ireland, Denmark, Finland, Austria, Norway, Italy, Switzerland and the Czech Republic, “precisely the markets to which Costa del Sol Tourism pays special attention,” said Antonio Diaz.
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Statements
Noemí Román, commercial director of La Cala Resort, opened the event, expressing her “pride in hosting one of the two events that the Challenge Tour will develop in Spain this year. We have worked with enthusiasm to offer the best facilities. At La Cala Resort we are committed to quality and we are proud to be part of the prestigious group of the six best golf resorts in Europe”.
José María Zamora, deputy director of the Challenge Tour, wanted to insist on the novelty and attractiveness of this tournament: “the first thing is to thank the mayor of Mijas for hosting this Challenge Tour event. It has been a long time since we had a Challenge in Andalusia, and now we have it thanks to the efforts of many. The Andalucía Costa del Sol Match Play 9 is an idea that was forged six months ago. It is an initiative with which we want to show that in golf it is not necessary to spend six hours playing a tournament. This match play 9 is a novelty and has created a lot of interest around the world. Being the pioneers is one more point for this tournament, and Andalusia is a venue that is always up to the task”.
Manuel Cardeña, CEO of Acosol, stated that “we support golf, we believe in golf as an environmentally friendly industry that creates many jobs. The courses are irrigated with recycled water. This industry generates employment and is absolutely environmentally friendly. We will continue to strengthen and improve the facilities and we hope to see us again promoting top-level tournaments”.
Javier Carnero, CEO of Tourism and Sport of Andalusia has stated that “from the Junta de Andalucía we were clear about the importance of participating in this event, to reinvent ourselves, to change the strategy of promoting our courses outside our borders and bet on the realization of top-level tournaments in our land. And Malaga is the potential of golf in Andalusia. However, we must not forget that we are the second community in number of licenses behind Madrid. The Open de España Femenino to be played at Guadalmina and the Andalucía Masters at Valderrama, together with this Challenge that we are presenting today, are proof that with the effort of all of us we can bring top-level tournaments. They are three bets that place Andalusia in a very important showcase for all those who visit us”.
Pablo Mansilla, president of the Royal Andalusian Golf Federation has confessed that “I am very excited that this tournament has gone ahead. An idea that was born from many heads and I think it will be a success. We have to thank the institutions that support sport and tourism, two aspects of golf. It will be a new showcase for Andalusia. It is the first of the three great events of professionals that we are going to have and that undoubtedly make golf grow in our land. La Cala Resort, which has been the home of the Alps Tour School for the last five years, is going to be a challenge this week. There are millions of little tragedies in every shot. Players should not be overconfident. It’s a course that’s going to be conducive to the show and it’s set up for that.”
Finally, Juan Carlos Maldonado, mayor of Mijas Town Hall, closed the ceremony by expressing “my thanks to the institutions and identities that have made it possible for this tournament to be in Mijas, for the importance it has for Mijas and for the Costa del Sol. I congratulate La Cala Resort for the work and for hosting the tournament. Golf represents an opportunity and offers the destination. From Mijas, looking for the perfect ally with the Costa del Sol, we will work together so that tourism is strengthened and loyalty”.
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