Juan David Carretero Castillo, Fernando Vega Alonso, Salvador García Ramírez, José Luis Rodríguez Rodríguez and Antonio Javier García Frías are the five deserved and lucky winners of the five trips to the Mexican Caribbean that were decided in the grand finale of the Andalucía Golf Challenge Destino Riviera Maya Golf Club Bahía Príncipe. The magnificent Alferini course at the Villa Padierna Golf Club in Costa del Sol was the setting for the competition, in which more than a hundred players participated: the top five in each category plus the scratch winner of each of the ten tournaments that this year made up the ninth edition of the circuit organized by the Andalucía Golf / España Golf magazine.
It so happens that the winner of the first category, Juan David Carretero, was one of the five players who last year won the circuit and enjoyed on that occasion a splendid trip to the Dominican Republic, with a stay at La Romana Golf Club Bahía Príncipe and play on that course, at Dientes de Perro and Punta Espada.
This year, the five final prize winners will travel to the Riviera Maya on October 27, stay for a week on an all-inclusive basis at the five-star Sian Ka’an at Bahia Principe Riviera Maya Resort and play golf at three exceptional courses: Riviera Maya Golf Club, El Camaleón Mayakoba and Playa Paraíso.
Juan David Carretero won in first category with a score of 42 points, two more than the second classified, Fernando Vega. In the second category, Salvador García won with 41 points, and José Luis Rodríguez was second with 39 points, who had the same score as three other players but a better handicap. The scratch winner was Antonio Javier García, who totaled 31 points, one more than Carretero.
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Anecdotes
An anecdote of the tournament was that of Alberto Luis Alfonso Álvarez, who could have won one of the trips to the Riviera Maya (he would have scored 39 points and had a better handicap than Salvador García in the second category) but was deprived of it for having made a mistake with the wrong ball without realizing it in a shot of the game and he himself had notified it. In recognition of his sporting behavior, he received a standing ovation from all those attending the gala dinner that, at the magnificent D-Wine Restaurant in Marbella, put the finishing touch to the ninth edition of the Andalucía Golf Challenge Circuit.
Another anecdote had to do with Diego Hidalgo, who was getting married that same evening, at six o’clock, and who due to the time pressure was forced to withdraw from the tournament before finishing his match. Another player who was also waiting for something very important outside the competition was Joaquín Obispo: a possible phone call to tell him that his daughter had made him a grandfather.
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Gala dinner
About 150 guests attended the gala dinner, enlivened by a group of mariachis in honor of the host country of the winners of the IX Andalucía Golf Challenge. D-Wine, located between Puerto Banús and San Pedro Alcántara, is one of the restaurants with the largest number of wine references in the world. Not in vain, it has been awarded by Wine Spectator “for having one of the most spectacular restaurant wine lists in the world”, and also has the Jury Award “The World’s Best Wine Lists” of The World of Fine Wine. As for its cuisine, it stands out for the quality of its products and the careful preparation of the dishes. For example, the exquisite meat served at dinner required six hours of baking at low temperature.
The awards ceremony of the Circuit, conducted by Luis Navarro and Antonio Sánchez, from Andalucía Golf, counted with the presence and intervention of sponsors and collaborators of the Circuit, among them Elena Cuberos, on behalf of the real estate developer Exxacon, Javier Pérez Ximénez, for Reale-Galpe Seguros, Stefan Tjellander, for Holiday Golf Group, and Gabriella Jones, for fairway+blue. Exaccon, one of the three main sponsors of the IX Andalucía Golf Challenge along with Bahía Príncipe and Reale-Galpe Seguros, proceeded to raffle a prize of a weekend in a European city among the participants in the Circuit who had previously registered for it. There was also a raffle among all the finalists, with prizes such as Ecco shoes, Ofelia T bags and vouchers worth 100 euros for the fairway+blue store in Puerto Banús.
The five winners of the final prize of the Circuit were delighted with the prize to the Riviera Maya and highlighted the good organization and atmosphere of the Circuit tournaments they have played. All of them showed their interest in participating in the tenth edition of the Andalucía Golf Challenge, which celebrates its tenth anniversary next year and whose final prize would also be a trip to an idyllic world-famous golf destination.
This year the Circuit has been played in a dozen great courses in Spain. It began at Golf Santander (Madrid) and continued in Guadalhorce, Los Lagos de Mijas Golf, Santa Clara Marbella, RCG Sotogrande, RC Valderrama, San Roque Old Course, Valle Romano, Flamingos and La Reserva Club Sotogrande, plus the final at Alferini.
{gallery}AG Tournaments 2019/Alferini AG Tournament 2019{/gallery}
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