A plot twist. It has been 25 years since the first time the Swiss Challenge was held back in 2000, and the Armada is looking to turn the tables on a situation that has gradually become more complicated in what is now called the HotelPlanner Tour.
A total of 20 editions of the tournament have been held. Well, in the first five editions, there were no less than three Spanish victories. Specifically, in the inaugural edition with the triumph of Álvaro Salto, in the third with Francisco Cea in 2006 —after a five-year break without the tournament— and in 2008 with the triumph of Rafa Cabrera Bello. Three victories in five editions. It seemed like an idyllic tournament for our golfers. However, since then, no medals have been won in transalpine lands.
It’s not that the Armada hasn’t won since the Canary Islander did in 2008, it’s that since then no Spaniard has finished among the top three in the tournament. In 2010, the event moved to Golf Sempach in Lucerne and started a curse that has now lasted fifteen years. Winning is difficult, but not even achieving a podium finish is striking.
In the last 17 years, the Armada has accumulated just nine players among the top ten in the tournament, and in no edition did two Spaniards do it together. Notable are the fourth places of Pedro Oriol (2013), Sebas García (2015), Adri Arnaus (2018), and Iván Cantero (2023), and the fifth place of Jorge Campillo (2009).
This week, ten of our own are in Lucerne with the intention of ending these more than three decades of drought: Quim Vidal, Adri Arnaus, Santi Tarrio, Víctor Pastor, Borja Virto, Sebas García, Eduard Rousaud, Álvaro Quirós, Javi Sainz, and Carlos Pigem. The latter secured his spot at the last minute thanks to the fifth place obtained last week at the Challenge de Cádiz.
Rocco Repetto Taylor will not be participating, who precisely after his victory a few days ago in Sancti Petri has made his way into the top twenty of the year and would have access to one of the DP World Tour cards. Víctor Pastor will indeed try to reaffirm the great sensations obtained with the second place in the Challenge de Cádiz.
After four years in Saint Apollinaire, the tournament returns to Lucerne. As a curiosity, at the beginning of the year, this club inaugurated state-of-the-art indoor training facilities, allowing golf to be played year-round in Switzerland. The indoor putting greens are interactive and allow for precise target lines to be created; there are also areas for chipping and approach. Additionally, a complete swing analysis is offered, and even a moving floor that simulates the slopes of golf courses worldwide.
When stepping outside, the backdrop is the Alps and two 18-hole courses, including the Woodside course, where players will compete this week, making Golf Sempach one of the reference facilities in Europe.
