Author Archives: Blanca

The 2020 winner of the Women’s Andalusian Cup is Ana Peláez from Malaga. The four-day tournament was played on Atalaya Golf & Country Club’s championship Old Course from Thursday the 9th through Sunday the 12th of January. More than 80 lady amateurs from Spain, Europe and the UK participated.

Peláez finished a very challenging Day One round in First Place on the leaderboard. Carding 69 points, she never looked back. She maintained her commanding position and remained in the tournament’s top slot throughout the next three days of play. She scored another 69 on Day Two, a 73 on Day Three, and again a 69 on Day Four. Amazingly, the rising star played under par on three of the tournament’s four days. Her consistent play provided her with a very impressive four-day total score of 280 strokes.

Almeria’s Marta López walked away with the tournament’s Second Place honours. López, after six birdies and only one bogey, signed a spectacular final-round card of 67 strokes and finished the championship only four strokes behind Peláez. Her total score was 284 strokes. López’s strong finish is testimony of her unyielding determination to win.

The podium’s Third Place was captured by France’s Orphee Burgnard. Carding 71 strokes on the final round, Burgnard’s four-day total score was 285, merely five strokes more than that of champion Peláez.

On Day One after a disappointing bogey on the first hole, tournament champion Peláez was quick to assure that this setback was her only mistake of the day. She proved her point by capturing four birdies and finishing the round with 69 strokes, three under par.

On Day Two Peláez once again carded a three under par score of 69. With a two-day six under par score of 138, she started her third round with a four point advantage over her closest opponent, Huelva’s María Teresa Toscano.

Unfortunately, Day Three turned out to be less than sterling for Peláez. She signed a 73-stroke card. Although unhappy with her errors and especially her double bogey on Hole Two, she hung on to her number one position on the leaderboard and started her final round two strokes ahead of the Basque Oihana Etxezarreta.

Day Four clinched the tournament win for Peláez. She again carded a very impressive 69 strokes, with five birdies and two bogeys.

Peláez is a student at the University of South Carolina in the United States. Before this most recent Women’s Andalusian Cup win, she placed first at the 2016 Madrid Women’s Championship held at Golf Santander and received as a college freshman in 2017 medallist honours at the NCAA Columbus Regional. She also contributed significantly to the triumph of Spain in the European Under 18 in 2015 and, more recently last summer, to the silver medal in the 2019 European Team Absolute.

The best of aspiring amateurs from Spain, Europe and the UK participate in the Women’s Andalusian Cup. The tournament provides these young golfers the opportunity to earn points in both the Amateur World Ranking and in the Absolute, U18, and U16 Women’s National Rankings. According to Pablo Mansilla, President of the Royal Andalusian Golf Federation, the Women’s Andalusian Cup attracts a very strong field. The tournament is Andalucia’s second most important and prestigious tournament for lady amateur golfers.

Atalaya Golf & Country Club proudly hosted a leg of the 2019 Heineken Circuito Mediterráneo on Saturday, the 30th of November. The 18-hole Pairs Better Ball Stableford event was held on the club’s classic Old Course.

The tournament is open to all federated golfers 18 years of age and older with handicaps of 26.4 and better for the men and 36 and better for the ladies. A Scratch Division is also offered.

The Heineken circuit travels throughout the east of Spain from north to south, stopping at the finest of courses each area has to offer. At the end of the series, all of the winning pairs from the tournament’s various stops will compete in the Grand Final and the 2019 Circuito Mediterráneo champions will be crowned.

Throughout the circuit, five Euros of every participant’s green fee is donated to the Luchadores AVA Fundación, a non-profit organisation “…born to give hope to all of those people with neurological disorders and their families through comprehensive care.” At Atalaya a total of €540.00 was collected in support of this very worthy foundation.

Before the start of the competition all players received a “welcome pack”, and after play everyone gathered at the newly refurbished Ventanas de Atalaya restaurant for a cocktail. Some 30 prizes were raffled off to tournament participants in addition to the normal awards provided to the day’s winning pairs. The ladies and gentlemen who captured “longest drives” and “closest to the pin” were also honoured.

{gallery}TorneoHeineken2019{/gallery}

Atalaya Golf & Country Club hosted the grand final of the 12th+1 season of the Golf Meliá Circuit on Friday and Saturday, the 22nd and 23rd of November. Played on Atalaya’s traditional and challenging Old Course, 18 finalists and 82 sponsors and VIP guests competed in the two-day event.

Created by Meliá Hotels International, each year’s series consists of six qualifying events and a grand final. Played on primer courses scattered throughout the whole of Spain, the tournament has gained the reputation of being arguably one of the country’s best circuits for amateur golfers. Marking the 13th consecutive year that the series has been played, Atalaya Golf & Country Club is honoured to have been chosen to host the 2019 tournament final.

The fight to reach first place was in no way inhibited by the unscheduled Friday rain, and competitors remained committed to skilfully demonstrating their fine-tuned golfing talents until the very end of the 36-hole Stableford event.

On Saturday evening Meliá’s newly renovated Sol Marbella Estepona Atalaya Park hotel was the venue for the tournament’s gala dinner and prize-giving ceremony. Attendees enjoyed magnificent catering and delightful festivities in the hotel’s appealing and welcoming atmosphere.

The series began in May when the 12th+1 circuit made its first stop at the Real Sevilla Golf Club. June found the tournament in Madrid at El Encín Golf. July’s qualifier was played in Galicia at La Zapateira – Real Club de Golf de La Coruña. In September the tournament travelled to the Basque Country to the Real Golf Club de San Sebastián’s Jaizkibel course. Next, Buenavista Golf at Meliá Hacienda del Conde in Tenerife hosted the tournament’s fifth qualifier. And finally before stopping at Atalaya Golf & Country Club for the 2019 grand final, the sixth leg of the 12th+1 series was played in October in Mallorca.

{gallery}FinalCircuitoMelia2019{/gallery}