Golf News - Andalucia Valderrama Masters 2018

The Andalucia Valderrama Masters strengthens investment in its future

by Max Phythian and Maria Acacia López Bachiller 

The Andalucia Valderrama Masters-Sergio García Foundation, is supported in its forthcoming fourth edition with new sponsors, greater institutional support and improvements to the course itself. The competition is one of Spain's most important golfing dates. From the 18th to the 21st of October, Valderrama Golf Club will once again be in the spotlight of the golf world and will showcase the Valderrama course in fantastic condition after having completed its ambitious improvement plan.

The event which was introduced to support Andalucian sport and tourism after the Volvo Masters moved to Dubai. It was held in 2010 and 2011, cancelled in 2012 and reintroduced in 2017 as part of a three year series.

The Department of Tourism and Sport of the Junta de Andalucía, is the main sponsor of the event, helping with an estimated 5m€ over the three years. This combined with support from the provincial government of Cádiz, the local government of San Roque and the Andalucia Golfing Federation, make up the institutional support for the event. There was a noticeable lack of private sponsorship in 2017 however this year support from Santander Private Banking, La Reserva de Sotogrande, Rolex, Heineken, Dubai Duty Free, Shell, Exterior Plus, Samsic Iberia, Only Water, Quirónsalud Hospital Group, Coca-Cola, Varma and Korporate and Technologies Group must have been welcome news to the event organisors.

In the formal event presentation at Valderrama Golf Club, which took place on 17th of September, it was made doubly clear by words rather than details how important this event is for showcasing golf tourism in Andalucia and being an important economic boost for the Campo de Gibraltar area.

Nuno de Brito e Cunha, President of Valderrama Golf Club: ´´Welcome everyone to a club that we are proud to be a part of, a Spanish and Andalucian club. Last year the Andalucia Valderrama Masters was a great success, ending with the victory of Sergio García; we have worked incredibly hard in order to grow and have enlisted various sponsors which assures us a promising future.

´´We would love for the tournament to start today, but we promise that the course will be in optimal condition, even better than last year thanks to the remodeling works of the nine second holes. Undoubtedly, it will be a worthy scene for the Andalucia Valderrama Masters 2018´´.

Antonio Fernández, General Secretary for Sport of the Junta de Andalucia, stepping in for minister Javier Fernández: ´´These huge international events are an ideal showcase of our land, and also help in making Andalucia be seen as synonymous with quality and excellence.

´´The fact that the Andalucia Valderrama Masters has been recognised as an event of ‘Special Public Interest' is not a coincidence and it is one of the best international events. It has all of the ingredients for this: one of the best courses (one has to stress the considerable effort of Valderrama in this respect), the greatest international players, the enjoyment of more than 40,000 people who come to the tournament, the weather and the light.

´´ Sport and tourism, tourism and sport, it is a perfect combination which leads to development and the generation of wealth. How much would it be worth to reach 400 million homes, which is precisely the reach of the Andalucia Valderrama Masters? Immeasurable. Therefore, the commitment of the Junta de Andalucia is clear: continue to support this tournament´´.

Mayor of San Roque, Juan Carlos Ruiz Boix: ´´The Andalucia Valderrama Masters brings us once again into the centre of the golfing world and is the best platform to promote the Campo de Gibraltar area, it also acts as a vehicle for the development of tourism and the economy.

´´Valderrama is synonymous with quality, and with the improvements that have been made to the course it will be even better. We are very grateful to all of our sponsors and institutions, like the provincial government of Cádiz who have joined us this year, for making a tournament grow and strengthening it in its fourth edition.

´´Seeing the figures from last year is enough to appreciate the importance of the tournament: 40,000 spectators, more than 200 credited journalists and 400 million viewers on television.

´´The Andalucia Valderrama Masters is an exclusive event which reaffirms San Roque as a unique destination and we are going to continue supporting it´´.

Pablo Mansilla, President of the Golfing Federation of Andalucia: ´´Once more, and for the fourth time, Andalucia and Valderrama Golf Club will be the best possible hosts for a great golfing event, considered this year as an event of Special Public Interest.

´´The tournament has enormous importance and impact on tourism for us, and therefore I want to stress what the support that comes from our public institutions means for the golfing sector - and especially from the Department of Tourism and Sport, which lends itself to these great tournaments. The backing of its celebration is the best promotional campaign for our area, allowing us to show Andalucia from one extreme to the other, displaying quality and variety of our golf courses and our magnificent offer to visiting golfers.

´´Last year, more than 400 million homes on five continents were able to enjoy the tournament and the public that came to the course buzzed with the victory of the host of the competition, Sergio García, who this year will defend his title. I thank the institutions and sponsors who have made this great celebration of golf in Andalucia possible, in our home, and I encourage all of those enthusiasts to come to the event so that, once again, this event will be a complete success´´.

Simon Alliss, Director of the Andalucia Valderrama Masters: impressed the journalist present with his opening remarks in well rehersed and pronounced Spanish. ´´It is always a privilege and a pleasure to come to Valderrama, thank you for looking after us so well.

´´The European Tour enjoys a special relationship with our sponsors and associates, given that they bring a unique personality to this sport. We feel very fortunate to have such a close relationship with the Junta de Andalucía, whose support is immeasurable. I would also like to thank the provincial government of Cádiz, the Andalucia Golfing Federation and the local government of San Roque for their constant support.

´´It is a complete honour for me to be involved in this tournament. We have always enjoyed and had fun with Spanish golf, and we want to show the world that it will continue to boom. We are very lucky to have a great family of partners: La Reserva de Sotorgrande, Heineken, Dubai Duty Free, Santander Private Bank, Rolex, Shell, Exterior Plus, Samsic Iberia, Only Water, Quirónsalud Hospital Group, Coca-Cola, Varma and Korporate Technologies Group.

´´In our battle against plastic on golf courses we have the support of Only Water, a Málaga based company which sells water with innovative packaging. In our world we can no longer ignore environmental problems and we are delighted that the Andalucia Valderrama Masters has become, most likely, the first European Tour event which invests in sustainability. This is our first step towards recycling and we are confident in improving even more in the future.

´´We are also dedicated to showing how beneficial golf is for one´s health, since there is nothing better than walking round the golf course. In collaboration with Quirón Salud, we are pleased to present a new initiative: a day of Walk and Win in which we encourage the public to enjoy the golf and discover how healthy it is to walk around in the fresh air ... with the chance to win interesting prizes.´´

Javier Reviriego, General Director of Valderrama Golf Club: ´´In March we completed an ambitious improvement plan with the goal of presenting the course to the same level as those of the best tournaments in the world.

´´We have renovated all of the greens of the course. It has been an agronomical change and we have just increased the size of the green on the 11th hole, par 5, in order to take it back to its original design in keeping with the guidelines of Kyle Phillips. We have also carried out important improvements to the edges of the greens, where we have replaced grass which had been contaminated by different species with Festuca. With this improvement we will achieve greater uniformity and consistency; above all it will be a fairer ground.

´´The height of the cut around the greens will depend on weather conditions, it is something that we will now assess with the European Circuit, but with these changes which have more room for work on the greens.

´´Finally, on the 17th hole the location of the buggy path has changed which was close to the lake, which will allow more players to try to tackle the green´´.

Tickets for the Andalucia Valderrama Masters, with the Sergio García Foundation, which takes place from Thursday 18th October to the final round on Sunday 21st October are available online (Thur 20€, Friday 20€, Sat 30€, Sun 30€, all week 65€) here or on the day at (Thur 25€, Friday 25€, Sat 35€, Sun 35€, all week 85€). Tickets are free for those up to 14 years old as long as they are accompanied by an adult.

Note: The organisors previously announced a record 41.000 spectator-days (ie average 10.000 ticket entrances per day) for the 2017 event which is misquoted above as ‘more than 40 thousand spectators'.