This Thursday marks the start of the final tournament of the Alps Tour. It is the Regione Lazio Alps Tour Grand Final. Beyond knowing who will win the tournament, the most important thing is to find out which five players finish highest in the ranking and, therefore, earn the HotelPlanner Tour card. Three have already secured it, while another twelve will compete over three days for the other two spots.
The tournament is played north of Rome. It features the top 50 in the ranking, although this time there are only 49 because the Spaniard Rocco Repetto has already secured his promotion to the HotelPlanner Tour by winning the tournament at Sancti Petri and is in China fighting for his promotion to the DP World Tour. Well, out of those 49, three have already secured promotion: the Spaniard Javier Barcos, the Italian Jacopo Vecchi Fossa, and the Frenchman Quentin Debove. There are two others who currently have the spot but still need to defend it this week. They are the Irishman Ronan Mullarney and the Spaniard Asier Aguirre. From there, there are another ten players with chances of finishing in the top five depending on what happens in Italy over the next three days without a cut. Among them are three other Spaniards: Álvaro Hernández, Javier Calles, and Jorge Maicas.
These are the calculations for the three to have a chance of finishing in the top five. We do not count Asier Aguirre because obviously, there are no calculations that matter; he has to finish as high as possible to not be overtaken by those coming from behind. From there, Álvaro Hernández is hot on his heels. For the Tenerife native, unless he finishes in the last positions, it would really suffice, at a minimum, to finish ahead of Asier, so the tournament could be an interesting duel between the two. The difference is minimal.
As for Javier Calles, he is already a bit further away. He must aim to finish in the top 10. At a minimum, he needs an eleventh place, but it is usually not enough. Meanwhile, Jorge Maicas should finish at least in fourth place tied with another player. That would give him a chance, albeit a very slim one. To have more assurance, a solo third place would be ideal.
In any case, the success of Spanish golf in the Alps Tour this year looks to be historic. Two have already been promoted: Javier Barcos and Rocco Repetto. Additionally, there are four others with chances. All four will not make it, but as soon as one more is added, it would be historic. There are 13 Spaniards who have been promoted from the Alps Tour to the HotelPlanner throughout history, but never more than two in a single year.
2005 – Francis Valera
2013 – Jesús Legarrea
2014 – Borja Virto and Borja Etchart
2017 – Adri Arnaus
2018 – Santi Tarrio and David Borda
2019 – Sebas García
2020 – Jordi García del Moral and Lucas Vacarisas
2021 – Ángel Hidalgo and Víctor García Broto
2023 – Quim Vidal
