Just a year ago, he lifted the champion’s trophy at Guadalhorce for the Andalusian Cup. But today he has not played at La Cañada, where the 2024 edition is being held, and it was not the downpour that suspended the first day that was to blame. He will not be there tomorrow either. Or the day after. Or on Friday. José Antonio Sintes has not started January on the right foot, although the bad luck was unforeseen. The Gran Canarian, who turned of age just a week ago, was supposed to fly last Sunday from Las Palmas to Seville at 9.40 in the morning, then a taxi would pick him up at San Pablo airport and take him straight to the Campo de Gibraltar to start defending his title from Tuesday, but… he was grounded by the Iberia strike.
The operators of Vueling, the company with which he was flying to the Andalusian capital, warned him that the bag of clubs had to be checked in and would not arrive at the destination until four or five days later because there were more than 2,000 suitcases at the island airport waiting to be sent due to the protest by the Iberia group workers. A nuisance. He tried to get them to let him take it on the plane as hand luggage. When he insisted, they referred him to the flight commander to make the final decision. In vain. He did not make an exception for the young Gran Canarian golfer with the argument that the casuistry of special situations is enormous, that distinctions could not be made between passengers and that everyone had to comply with the same rules. To add insult to injury, he could not recover the money from the tickets because he could only claim them, curiously, if he flew, not if he stayed on the ground. He also could not recover the first night paid at the Cadiz hotel. Everything went wrong.
“It’s been a nuisance, to be honest,” admits José Antonio Sintes from home, “because another Gran Canarian girl who caught another flight was allowed to take the clubs on the plane as hand luggage.” Ana Cumplido was able to travel to the mainland and is participating in the Andalusian Cup being held at La Hacienda Links, although the inaugural day was also suspended due to heavy storms.
Although in principle José Antonio had not planned to compete in this tournament in the calendar because he had taken out the Alps Tour card, the request from the Spanish Golf Federation for him to attend meant that he finally agreed and received an invitation. He was motivated to defend the title he won in 2023 tooth and nail: “I was really looking forward to it, I was really excited and this has really upset me, yes. But I can’t do anything, just think about the next tournament, an octagonal match at the end of January in Costa Ballena,” he explains.
Bad luck also struck the islander in his previous tournament, the Final of the Alps Tour School. After being exempt from the first phase for finishing tenth in the La Gomera tournament last year, he went to Italy with the Spaniards Rubén Lafuente and Pedro Gallegos, but only Sintes made the cut after the first two rounds. In the third and final round, his driver broke and the round went awry. He finished in 70th place. Even so, he has picked up an intermediate category, between the top finishers in the final and those who did not pass the cut, to compete in the Alps and, what’s more, he is registered for the event that opens the season on 20 February in Suez. “We are waiting to see what the situation is in the area when the time comes to see if he goes or not, although he would love to play,” admits Iñaki, the young golfer’s father. The first three tournaments of the course are in Egypt. In any case, there are several stops on the calendar in Spain and Sintes hopes to compete in all of them.
Where he has committed to play is in the tournaments organised by the Spanish Golf Federation. He has missed the first one of the year, the Andalusian Cup, where a year ago he hit bingo. The year has not started in the best way, although there are 50 weeks ahead in the calendar from next week and Sintes will surely try to get another victory in his already successful amateur career.
