The Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters, a DP World Tour event to be held from October 13th at Real Club Valderrama, will once again be the tangible proof of the union between Andalucía and golf, a close and fruitful relationship that has been going on for decades. The Spanish tournament with the best purse in the international schedule will once again bring together a stellar field, welcoming fans that will be able to enjoy the wide range of leisure, tourism and sporting options offered by this Spanish autonomous community, and who can purchase their tickets at experiences.dpworldtour.com/edam.
Andalusia, a leading golf destination and a world reference for anyone who wants to enjoy this sport, has more than a hundred golf courses (the largest offer in continental Europe), first class facilities and a powerful business model based on quality, prestige and diversity.
Andalusia has hosted 63 top international men’s tournaments, the region in continental Europe with the most DP World Tour events. Since 1966, this community has welcomed 21 Volvo Masters, 11 Open de Andalucía, 11 Spanish Open, 8 Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters, 3 Volvo World Match Play Championships, 3 World Cups, 2 World Golf Championships and four other Open tournaments. As the icing on the cake, the 1997 Ryder Cup, also played at Real Club Valderrama, in which the European team beat the American team led by Tiger Woods thanks to the talent of its players and, above all, Seve Ballesteros, its captain. The 1997 event served to bring Andalusia to millions of homes around the world, in the same way the Solheim Cup, the women’s team championship between the United States and Europe, will do it in 2023. This event will be played at Finca Cortesín, Málaga, and will once again be a turning point for Andalusia and a focus of attention for fans and spectators.
Golf is an essential tourist and sports industry for the region, and for this reason the Junta de Andalucía consider it fundamental in its strategy. This activity attracts around 600,000 travellers a year, has great potential for development and has established itself as one of its economic driving forces. Precisely, its capacity to attract foreign visitors and its suitability for going beyond seasonal tourism and get quality tourism favour the creation of attractive products within the promotion and marketing programmes.
Within this framework, the golf promotion of this segment includes, together with the sponsorship of major tournaments such as the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters (which the Junta has supported since its first edition), other actions such as communication campaigns and agreements with tour operators.
The Junta’s Counsellor of Tourism, Culture and Sport, Arturo Bernal, said that the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters will once again bring together “some of the best players on the DP World Tour in a unique setting, helping to showcase the enviable Andalusian climate, the quality of our courses and our wide and diverse complementary offer”.
Bernal emphasized that this great event “will once again put Andalusia in the world golfing spotlight” and will contribute “to consolidate golf tourism in a region which, today, is an indispensable destination for any player and spectator”.
The Royal Andalusian Golf Federation, an essential link
In addition to the efforts of the Junta de Andalucía, the Royal Andalusian Golf Federation is also working to promote the sport, and that’s why Andalusia is one of the main breeding grounds for talent and has the second largest number of licences in Spain, according to the latest data published by the RFEG.
Among the almost 50,000 active golf licences, more than thirteen thousand are women’s, (almost 26%), making golf the leading sport in terms of the number of women’s licences in Andalusia. In addition to the mixed events promoted by the RFGA, the Women’s Committee successfully organises the Andalusian Women’s Circuit and an Andalusian Ladies’ Trophy to promote the sport exclusively among Andalusian women.
The RFGA collaborates with the RFEG in activities such as the Friends Cup; in initiation campaigns for different groups; or in the “golf in schools” initiative, thanks to which this sport reaches the students as part of the Physical Education subject. In addition, a programme of subsidies has been set up for children’s golf schools in Andalusia whereby clubs receive financial aid for each federated child they have in their golf classes.
As a symbol of institutional collaboration and a breeding ground for sportsmen and women, the community has three facilities belonging to the Junta de Andalucía: La Cartuja in Seville, La Garza in Linares and El Toyo in Almería. There are also other municipal public courses ceded to clubs, such as La Cañada, Pozoblanco, Parador de Málaga de Golf, Alborán Golf, or the Angel course (Marbella).
The Boys and Junior Committee is another essential body for promoting grassroots sport, and in addition to organizing various Andalusian Championships and other events, it is worth mentioning their Circuito Juvenil y Benjamín (aimed at children who already have a national handicap) and, above all, the Pequecircuito, the gateway to golf for the youngest players. Players of the stature of Ángel Hidalgo, Enrique Marín, Scott Fernández, Mario Galiano, Álvaro Quirós, María Parra, Ana Peláez, Noemí Jiménez and Azahara Muñoz, all fully established among golfing elite, started on the Andalusian Pequecircuito.
This year, the finals of the Circuito Juvenil y Benjamín and the Pequecircuito will be held for the first time at Real Club Valderrama, an unforgettable experience for all the children who qualify for the 11th December grand final. In addition, the RFAG will once again have two tee-times in the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters Pro-Am, so some of their promising players will be able to enjoy the venue of this DP World Tour tournament in advance. On the other hand, the amateur Ángel Ayora, a budding star from La Cañada who finished second in 2022 at the U18 Spanish International, the Spanish Amateur Championship and the Spanish Individual Championship, will be playing against the “seniors” and will face the tournament’s qualified field from October 13th.
Enjoying Angel Ayora’s play and the rest of the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucia Masters field is quite easy, since individual day tickets, weekend tickets, for season tickets for the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucia Masters are on sale at experiences.dpworldtour.com/edam. Fans are encouraged to purchase their tickets before midnight on Wednesday 5 October to save up to 20% per ticket.
The Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters, an event in the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai made possible by the essential contribution of the Real Club Valderrama, is sponsored by Estrella Damm and the Consejería de Turismo, Cultura y Deporte of the Junta de Andalucía, jointly funded by the EU and was declared Event of Exceptional Public Interest by the Government of Spain.
