LA RESERVA DE SOTOGRANDE, luxury venue for the return of the European Tour to Andalusia in a great tournament won by Italian Marco Crespi
The spell of the European Tour returned to enchant Andalusia, and did so in a course out of series: La Reserva de Sotogrande, which hosted the NH Collection Open. The Italian Marco Crespi took the victory in this newly created course.
The NH Collection Open said goodbye to La Reserva de Sotogrande with a brilliant last day in which the young Jordi García Pinto from Girona stood out in a special way. With only 24 years old and Challenge Tour card, the Catalan fought from one to one with the experienced group of players who were fighting for the trophy. A card of 66 strokes, two birdies for a bogey in the first round and five birdies without errors in the second round, took him to second place in the standings, tied with Richie Ramsay two strokes behind the winner, who won with a final round of 69 strokes for a total of 278 (-10). Felipe Aguilar and Matthew Nixon shared fourth place with 280 strokes.
Garcia Pinto started playing golf at the age of 4 thanks to his grandfather. He turned professional in 2008 and in 2012 joined the Challenge Tour where he achieved 8 Top-25s. Last year he won the Kenyan Open and finished 8 times in the top thirty, but did not achieve the card for the European Tour, his great goal, which after this week he has closer by placing second in the Challenge ranking. Adrian Otaegui also completed a sensational tournament and with 70 strokes on Sunday (282 in total) finished sixth tied with Marc Warren, Kristoffer Broberg and Oliver Fisher.
But the final victory went to the perseverance of Crespi, who at the age of 35 was playing his first season on the European Tour after eleven years as a professional. He was, in fact, the oldest winning rookie in the history of the Tour. His best result to date was a fourth place in South Africa.
The Italian, who started playing at the age of 13 because his father was caddie of a Milanese club, dominated to perfection the moving greens of La Reserva de Sotogrande and that gave him the victory. On Sunday he was also determined to take advantage of this opportunity he had been dreaming of for a long time and, very excited, he dedicated the victory to his wife and daughter.
Felipe Aguilar was his greatest rival, but his steam lasted until the 13th hole. Three consecutive bogeys by the Chilean on the 13th, 14th and 15th, and one more on the 17th left him out of the fight.
Crespi, ecstatic with his victory, summed up his last round at La Reserva as follows: “I started very well, I made birdie on the first and that gave me the confidence to continue, I just had to handle the pressure well on the back nine. Felipe was tightening up, but he made a couple of bogeys that made it easier for me”.
“I have been a professional for 11 years and this is my first season on the European Tour, even though I am 35! I have been looking forward to this moment for a long time, I am very happy and I dedicate this victory to my wife, Elena, and my daughter, Carlotta, 2 years old”.
“I started playing golf when I was 13 years old, my father was a caddie at the Milan Golf Club, where I train. My brother turned professional 15 years before me and for me it was always a goal. That’s how I started… and to this day.”
“Putting has been key this week. The course is in excellent condition, the greens are perfect and I’ve been putting with a lot of confidence, the ball was rolling perfectly.”
For his part, García Pinto recounted his experience:
“Today the putting worked very well, although I was more erratic with the drive. I’m very happy, I worked hard and things went very well, 66 strokes on the last day is a great result. I came here without setting goals, without expectations and things could not have gone better”.
“I’ve trained a lot over the winter because we’ve only had one tournament so far. When I train I spend up to 8 hours on the golf course and that gives for all facets of the game. Mentally I feel very good, so I don’t work on that part especially.
“This result is very important, but there is a lot of season left, I learned that last year, when I won in Kenya. We have to keep fighting and getting good results”.
Otaegui, for his part, described his last round as follows: “I played very well from tee to green, I made birdie on 2 and 4 after a bad start, I went to the bunker but I hit a great second shot to 4 meters and made birdie. I started very well and in the second round I made the wrong club on 2 and 9 and that cost me two bogeys. On the back nine I was not so good around the green and I only made birdies on 15 and 18”.
“I tried to go hole by hole until the end and I think I succeeded. I didn’t shoot for the flag on every hole because if you tighten up it can be worse, my goal was to go hole by hole and I did pretty well.”
“I’m leaving with a good feeling, being on top throughout the tournament means that the game is good, I’m looking forward to continue competing. My next tournament is in China and then the Spanish Open where I hope to do very well because I know the course and I like it a lot”.
Ramón Luengo, general manager of Sotogrande SA, and José María López-Elola, president of La Reserva de Sotogrande Golf Club, presented the trophies to the brilliant winner of the tournament in the presence of Juan Carlos Ruiz Boix, mayor of San Roque and José María Zamora, director of the tournament by the European Tour.
“THE TOURNAMENT HAS BEEN A GREAT SUCCESS”.
The director of La Reserva, Juan Álvarez Lozano, is very satisfied with how this first NH Collection Open went “because,” he says, “we can say that it has been a great success. The players, the press and the public have had a very pleasant impression of our golf course.
“As we expected,” he continues, “the course has lived up to our expectations, both in the technical aspect of the course and in maintenance. For us, the fact that players of this level have said that the course was in excellent condition is an incentive to continue presenting it as well or better for our clients.
“As for the turnout at the tournament,” he adds, “I have to say that it was very relevant, around five thousand people came throughout the week, which is certainly very good.”
“In La Reserva,” concludes its director, “we have been very happy with the tournament, and for Sotogrande the return of high-level golf to the area is also very important”.
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