Miguel Angel Jimenez from Malaga, responsible for the organization of the Open de Andalucia Costa del Sol to be held at Aloha Golf, in Marbella, from March 15 to 18, wants to offer an opportunity to those under 25 years old. Anyone who wants to participate in the tournament and meets the requirements, will have the chance to get a place as a prize of a preliminary, which will be played 36 holes Medal Play at Alferini Golf Club on 11 and 12 March. All professional players who meet the following requirements may take part in this preliminary: be 25 years old or younger (born on or after January 1, 1987), be in possession of a license issued by the Royal Spanish Golf Federation, and hold Spanish nationality.
In addition to the professionals, and under the same requirements, five amateur players with exact handicap plus 0.1 or higher, belonging to the Andalusian Golf Federation, which collaborates with the Open de Andalucía Costa del Sol organizing this event, may also register in the preliminary round.
The winner of the preliminary will get as a prize a place to play the Open de Andalucía Costa del Sol 2012. In the event that the number of professional players registered exceeds 15, there will be two places at stake. There will be no cash prizes. The preliminary will be decided by 36 holes Medal Play during the 11th and 12th and will be played at the Alferini Golf Club course in Los Flamingos, a very demanding course of 6,700 meters with wide greens and very moved, where precision is essential, and where players like Simon Dyson or Lee Slattery, both winners on the European Tour, train quite often.
Miguel Ángel Jiménez: “The youngest players need an opportunity and a lot of support, especially those who have not been able to get their card and do not have many possibilities to compete. I think they deserve a chance and for this reason we are going to organize a preview, with the invaluable collaboration of the Andalusian Golf Federation, in which the prize will be an invitation to play the Open Andalucía Costa del Golf in Aloha.
“I will never forget my early years when we friends went to compete all over Spain, five of us in a small car with suitcases and bags of sticks! Then everything was very different, small and very familiar, only four of us cats played, but what we would have given to have an opportunity like this.
“The future of Spanish golf is more than assured, there are many young people who are pushing hard -but quiet, let me a little more, I think I can still give war!- and maybe they need the help of a little boost to achieve their dream. I had dreams when I was their age, too, and some of them have come true.
The Open de Andalucía Costa del Sol has the main sponsorship of the Consejería de Turismo, Comercio y Deporte de la Junta de Andalucía, the Patronato de Turismo de la Costa del Sol, the Diputación de Málaga, ACOSOL, the Mancomunidad de Municipios de la Costa del Sol Occidental and the Ayuntamiento de Benahavís. Kyocera, Ocho Golf, Ping, Srixon, Luxury Spain, AMG, Hotel Barceló Marbella and Helicópteros Sanitarios are official suppliers, and Urania and Hummingbird are also collaborating. The Malaga champion Miguel Ángel Jiménez is a promoter of the tournament, through one of his companies of the MAJ Group.
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