The Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters, a spectacular tournament fully established in the DP World Tour calendar, changes its venue and arrives at the Real Club de Golf Sotogrande. The historic club, inextricably linked to the development of golf, hosts the ninth edition of a tournament that will take place from 19 to 22 October and won last year by the Spaniard Adrian Otaegui.
In the demanding greens of the Real Club de Golf Sotogrande has graduated the highest level of continental golf, as the jewel of Sotogrande hosts the prestigious Sotogrande Cup whose winners include players of the stature of Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry, Padraig Harrington and Francesco Molinari. Undoubtedly, the location in the calendar of the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters, in the decisive phase of the Race to Dubai, will allow a good number of golfers who faced the Real Club de Golf Sotogrande in their amateur days to meet again with its spectacular presentation.
In addition, the pedigree of the Real Club de Golf Sotogrande also extends to the professional field, as explained by Mr. Jaime Salaverri Aguilar, president of the Real Club de Golf Sotogrande.
“First of all, I would like to thank the DP World Tour for inviting us to host the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters. Although our focus as a club is eminently amateur -we have been hosting the prestigious European Nations Championship for over 50 years: Sotogrande Cup-we are delighted to return to professional golf that we were able to enjoy in the early years of this club with Roberto de Vicenzo’s victory in the 1964 Spanish Open and, later, with Severiano Ballesteros’ victory in the 1987 Spanish Professional Championship,” the president tells us.
“We are very excited about the possibility of showing golf fans, both those who can attend the event and those who can follow it on television, the magnificent design of Robert Trent Jones -his first work in Europe- set in a magnificent cork oak grove located 150 meters from the Mediterranean Sea, in the incomparable setting of the Strait of Gibraltar overlooking two continents. Our club was at the origin of the urbanization of Sotogrande and its course was the first American style course to be built in Europe. It has wide fairways and elevated and wide greens whose soft molding allows a speed that, together with the prevailing winds in the area, contains the greatest difficulty of the course”.
The Real Club de Golf Sotogrande, about to reach its sixtieth anniversary, arrives at the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters in an impeccable state thanks to the work of the team led by its head greenkeeper Patrick Allende and the work carried out during the last decade.
“Between 2015 and 2017, the 18-hole course and the rest of the playing and practice facilities underwent a complete restoration with the advice of American architect Roger Rulewich, who for years worked with Robert Trent Jones, and his colleague David Fleury. The restoration kept the original design with minimal changes and recovered the traditional quality of its Bermuda 419 grass on tees, fairways and roughs and Agrostis Penncross on the greens”, concludes Mr. Jaime Salaverri.
The great line-up, the novelty of the spectacular stage and the location in the calendar are assets that, once again this year, will serve as a magnificent attraction for the public that comes to enjoy the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters, a unique and ideal show for all audiences.
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