Spanish golf heroines Azahara Muñoz and Carlota Ciganda will make a welcome return to the Ladies European Tour when they compete in the Tenerife Open de España Femenino at Golf Costa Adeje from September 18-21.
With the sponsorship of Tourism Promotor de Canarias, Tenerife Tourism and Reale Seguros, the popular and glamorous tournament will be the ideal vehicle to promote tourism in the Canary Islands.
The Spanish Open will return to Tenerife following the 2012 edition at Golf Las Américas, which concluded with Australian Stacey Keating collecting her first title after an exciting play-off against German Caroline Masson.
Gonzaga Escauriaza, president of the RFEG, is confident that, as happened in the recent men’s Spanish Open, the national title will go to a home player for the first time. He said: “We have been fortunate to see Miguel Angel Jimenez win in Girona, and considering that Azahara Muñoz and Carlota Ciganda will be playing, we hope to see one of our girls win in Costa Adeje, a spectacular course.”
Gonzaga Escauriaza recalled that, “Some time ago, the girls from Spain won all the titles at the amateur level, but not at the top professional level. Now it is different, there are many players that play in the U.S. each week and are able to win there, which is an additional incentive for this tournament.”
At a press conference, Paul de Sterck, Manager of Golf Costa Adeje, said he was excited by the challenge of hosting the best players on the continent. “Not the first time we have a top calibre tournament at our course, and I assure you that we love to host them for many reasons. Among them, because it encourages our staff to give their best. For the tournament we will have a couple of changes to the course, we have two new tees for women to make the course even more beautiful and give another view,” he revealed.
Meanwhile, Miguel Angel Santos, CEO of Tenerife Tourism, stressed, “the commitment of Tenerife to golf, which has been evident for years. It reminds 200,000 players who visit us each season to play our courses and enjoy our climate in winter and in summer, and that whatever the time of year we are fortunate to be able to offer an unbeatable climate,” he said.
This same line of argument followed Ricardo Fernandez de la Puente, Minister of Tourism for the Canary Islands. “Recently, at the Harbor Fred. Olsen Challenge of Spain, the same thing happened that always happens in the Canary Islands. We held a premier tournament and the players came out happy. I’m sure the Tenerife Open de España Femenino will be the same. It will be a great tournament, we guarantee it,” he proclaimed.
Following his speech, the official presentation was completed with a video in which Azahara Munoz and Carlota Ciganda emphasised that “Hopefully a Spanish player will win this tournament for the first time in the history of this competition.”
The Tenerife Open de España Femenino will be the 17th tournament on the Ladies European Tour 2014 calendar.
Golf Costa Adeje will host the for the Open de España Femenino first time in its history, although it hosted the men’s category in 2003, as well as the Tenerife Ladies Open in 2005, 2008 and 2009 – therefore the LET players will know it well. With the same number of par 3, 4 and 5s, the opening hole is a long par 5 of 510 meters.
Designed by the renowned Jose Gancedo, over half a million square meters of stone walls of ancient agricultural terraces were restored and there are spectacular views of the sea, the island of La Gomera, Playa de las Americas and the mountains of Adeje along its entire length.
The Canary Islands in general and Tenerife in particular are considered preferred golfing destinations for players globally. Tenerife offers nine golf courses scattered throughout the North and South of the island, designed by internationally renowned golfers such as Seve Ballesteros, Jose Maria Olazabal and Dave Thomas. There is a huge range of hotels of 4 and 5 star standard with all the accompanying services that a golfer might require.
Tournament Highlights
Golf Costa Adeje
Opened in 1998
Address: Calle Alcojora, s / n, 38670 Adeje, Santa Cruz de Tenerife
Telephone: 922 71 00 00
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.golfcostaadeje.com
Director: Paul de Sterck
Designer: José Gancedo
Number of holes: 18
Tournament Web: www.openfemenino.com / www.rfegolf.es
Promoter: Royal Spanish Golf Federation
Main sponsors: Tourism Promotor Canary and Tenerife Tourism
Sponsoring companies: Kyocera, HOSPITEN, Hotel Suite Villa Maria and Golf Costa Adeje.
Organiser: Deporte & Business
