The tournament
• Tenth edition of the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters, played for the second time at the Real Club de Golf Sotogrande.
• The winners include Adrian Meronk (2023), Adrián Otaegui (2022), Matt Fitzpatrick (2021), John Catlin (2020), Christiaan Bezuidenhout (2019), Sergio García (2018, 2017, 2011), Graeme McDowell (2010).
• It is the second event of the Race to Dubai 2024 on Spanish soil following the Acciona Open de España presented by Madrid last month.
• The Real Club de Golf Sotogrande has a long history as a venue for prestigious events such as the Copa Sotogrande, European Nations Championship. Its winners include major champions Padraig Harrington, Rory McIlroy, and Shane Lowry, four participants in this week’s event (Marcel Siem, Todd Clements, Adrien Saddier, and Guido Migliozzi), as well as tournament director José María Zamora (1995).
• The Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters is the penultimate event of the Back 9 phase, which will conclude next week with the Genesis Championship. These final tournaments of the official season, besides being crucial for players fighting to retain their card, are the last chance to get into the top 70 of the Race to Dubai to participate in the DP World Tour Play Offs.
The players
• Jon Rahm, a two-time major winner, is one of the home players arriving in Sotogrande in search of his first victory in this tournament.
• Ángel Hidalgo will tee off on Thursday as the latest Spanish winner on the DP World Tour following his victory at the Acciona Open de España presented by Madrid. The 26-year-old from Málaga claimed his first title at the Club de Campo Villa de Madrid after defeating Rahm in a playoff.
• Other recent DP World Tour winners participating this week include Niklas Norgaard, Betfred British Masters champion, Matt Wallace, who claimed his fifth DP World Tour title last month at the Omega European Masters, and Amgen Irish Open champion Rasmus Højgaard.
• The 2022 champion Adrián Otaegui is also among the seventeen Spaniards entered, along with well-known names such as Rafa Cabrera-Bello, Pablo Larrazábal, Jorge Campillo, Adri Arnaus, Nacho Elvira, Álvaro Quirós, and David Puig.
• Five of the top ten in the Race to Dubai will compete this week: Thriston Lawrence (2nd), Rasmus Højgaard (4th), Niklas Norgaard (6th), Matteo Manassero (8th), and Jesper Svensson (9th), all with chances to secure a PGA TOUR card for the next season.
• There are four Spanish participants ranked among the top fifty in the Race to Dubai: Hidalgo, Elvira, Otaegui, and Rahm.
Estrella Damm
• Estrella Damm, the premium lager beer brand of the Spanish brewing company S.A. Damm, remains the main sponsor of the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters 2024.
• This marks the sixth year of Estrella Damm’s sponsorship of the Andalucía Masters, and the event continues to grow year after year.
The course
• In 1963, the design of the Real Club de Golf Sotogrande was commissioned to Robert Trent Jones.
• The iconic clubhouse, inaugurated in 1964, was designed by Madrid architect Luis Gutierrez Soto.
• This was the first golf course built in Sotogrande and the first design by Robert Trent Jones in Europe.
• The founder of Sotogrande, Joseph McMicking, decided that Trent Jones should personally choose the location of the golf course within the extensive estate grounds.
• In 1994, the King of Spain granted the Sotogrande Golf Club the title of Real, and it became known as the Real Club de Golf Sotogrande.
• The Real Club de Golf Sotogrande, along with the nearby San Roque Club, has hosted the DP World Tour qualifying school final on several occasions. For example, in 1996, players like Ian Poulter, Justin Rose, and Nicholas Colsaerts earned their cards there.
• Restoration work on the Real Club de Golf Sotogrande course was completed in 2018.
• Although the Real Club de Golf Sotogrande is renowned for hosting prestigious amateur tournaments, it also boasts professional winners in its history. In 1966, Argentine Roberto de Vicenzo won the Spanish Open, and twenty years later, Seve Ballesteros triumphed in the Spanish Professional Championship.
Golf for good
• “Golf for Good” is the name that encompasses the European Tour group’s commitment to promoting golf sustainably from a social and environmental perspective, aiming to generate a positive long-term impact on the golf courses, countries, and communities we visit.
• Through our competition brands: DP World Tour, Challenge Tour, Legends Tour, G4D Tour, and Ryder Cup, we are committed to operating responsibly by collaborating with our host venues, partners, promoters, media, and fans in the following areas:
• Environmental responsibility. Through our Green Drive initiative, we strive to achieve climate neutrality when organizing our tournaments anywhere in the world. We are members of the United Nations Sports for Climate Action initiative, committed to reducing carbon emissions by 50% by 2030 and reaching net-zero carbon by 2040.
• Social inclusion. We support and promote diversity and inclusion by presenting golf as a sport everyone can enjoy. Our financial and operational support for the G4D Tour (adapted golf) and our ongoing collaboration with women’s golf through the creation of innovative mixed tournaments are directed towards this goal.
• Community legacy. We aspire to leave a lasting legacy to the communities we visit through our charitable initiatives and educate new generations about the benefits of golf through our Golf Futures program.
Golf for Good at the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters
Balls for Birdies
• In March 2024, DP World launched its Balls for Birdies initiative, which involves donating golf balls to grassroots golf associations to promote golf and make it more accessible.
• The total number of balls will be delivered to the selected beneficiaries at the end of the Race to Dubai 2024 through its global logistics network.
• The number of balls donated will be a direct result of the achievements of DP World Tour members: one for each birdie, two for each eagle, and one hundred balls for an albatross.
Green Drive
• For the first time in professional golf, players and spectators at the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters will be able to calculate and offset their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from travel to the tournament.
• Thanks to this new tool, players can easily locate, calculate, and offset the greenhouse gas emissions related to their travel between tournaments.
• This proposal is part of the circuit’s Green Drive initiative, with the commitment to reach net-zero carbon by 2040.
• Spectators will also be able to use the tool this week and participate in a draw for a VIP package. They will also find tips and suggestions to reduce emissions generated by their travel. High-quality certified carbon credits can be purchased to offset travel emissions that cannot be avoided or reduced.
• The Real Club de Golf Sotogrande has also been praised this week for its environmental awareness, highlighting the annual Sotogrande beach cleanup, birdlife census, and reaffirmation of its commitment to the environment through GEO (Golf Environment Organization) certification.
Inclusivity: G4D Tour @ Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters
• The G4D Tour @ Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters has been the eighth event of the G4D Tour (adapted golf) season.
