WELL DONE, THE PARADOR

Despite the unrelenting deluge of rain over the past few months  – the Costa del Sol’s wettest winter since records began
the Parador’s Royal Málaga Golf Club produced a golf course in excellent condition for the Open de Andalucia last weekend.

Those of us who had played the course just a few weeks ago could not believe that the course could be presented in a good enough state to be able to host a European Tour event. Despite the absence of the top stars who were preparing for Augusta’s Masters, Miguel Angel Jimenez, the promoter and host of the Open de Andalucia, attracted a strong field, as witnessed by some spectacular scoring. 17-under-par may not sound special by today’s standards, but Parador’s normal par was reduced from 72 to 70 for the event, as the first and sixteenth, par fives on the score card, became par fours.  Louis Oosthuizen recorded his maiden tour victory, but may not be able to defend his title next year, as incredibly, Miguel Angel was unable to find a sponsor to support his own efforts, which reportedly cost him      personally 750,000 pounds. Congratulations are also due to our own Paul Neale, who works in the Golf Leisure Breaks office with Julie. Paul (handicap 7) was a member of Alejandro Cañizares’ team which tied first in Wednesday’s pro-am event with Darren Clarke’s team on 18-under-par.

Congratulations are the order of the day, this time going to Vic Tapp, who holed his tee shot at Sta. Maria’s 12th. hole during Monday’s Golf Leisure Breaks competition. This was Vic’s second hole-in-one and was rewarded with the presentation of a “King-holer” necktie.

Tags: Costa del Golf, Costa del Sol, Parador Golf