A total of some 130 players turned out to play, on a beautiful Autumn day, in Tenerife at the fantastic golf tournament sponsored by Spring Hoteles who operate the Arona Gran Hotel, the Bitacora and the Vulcano. The venue was the wonderful Golf Las Américas Golf Course where the greens staff pulled out all the stops to get the course in fantastic condition for this Tournament.

On arrival all players were given a goodie bag containing a polo shirt , a cap and golf towel and this was to start off a fantastic day’s golf and fellowship for all the players.

The Arona Gran Hotel supplied the luxurious buffet and drinks at the 9th hole which was a very welcome site to all the players as their pastry chefs had made some fantastic home made pastries and cakes.

With some of the best amateurs in Tenerife, playing competition was stiff. There were3 classifications of males and two female categories. Cat 1 Male was won with 39 points by Alexjandro Grande playing off 3 handicap. Cat 2 Male by Tomas Aramas with 40 points playing off 18 and Cat 3 Male by Andres Guerra with 42 points playing off 20. The girls Cat 1 was won by Maria Jerez with 39 points playing off 11 and Cat 2 winner was Karin Beels with 37 points off 22. A lovely glass trophy was given to each winner and a luxury watch was given to Alexjandro for also winning the top scratch prize.

The prize giving and cocktail party was held at the Arona Gran Hotel later that evening with most of the competitors and their partners coming back to join in the fun and enjoy the lovely food and drink on offer. Spring Hoteles had also organised a fantastic raffle with super prizes, one being a trip to the UK for 2 people and a week’s stay.

Well done to Bernardo, Stanni and Bea from Spring Hoteles and Brendan and Joan from Golf Las Americas for the smooth running of the day and the evening reception… we all had a super day and look forward to next year.

Title: El Medano Triathlon
Location: From Playa El Medano
Link out: Click here
Description: The 16th annual triathlon and a great setting to push yourself to the limit at swimming, cycling and running. Starts at 4.30 pm, inscriptions can be made at www.fecantri.com
Start Time: 16.30
Date: 2011-07-23

Even for non golf fans day two of the Tenerife Ladies Match Play tournament proved a gripping cliffhanger with Becky Brewerton and Laura Davies, two of Britain’s top golfers, tied after 18 holes and onlookers holding their breath as they waited to see who would prevail.

For 2011, this prestigious addition to the Ladies European Tour moved from last year’s course at Buenavista Golf, beautiful but remote, to the stunning greens of Golf Las Américas where a birdie on the course could just as well mean a swan or an emu as much as playing a hole in one under par.

The Tenerife Ladies Match Play teed off on Thursday with a pro-am tournament which, apart from being fun, allowed the 32 professional golfers to get a lay of the land. Their comments should have Golf Las Américas preening proud as peacocks.

‘I like the course. You can hit a lot of drivers out there and there are tiny greens, which I love, because that’s good for the better players,’ commented one of the tournament favourites Becky Brewerton whilst Beth Allen remarked: ‘It’s in really good condition, so I’m impressed. I like it.’

The pro-am tournament was won by England’s Danielle Montgomery. We won’t mention what position Tenerife Magazine’s John Beckley, playing in Spring Hoteles colours, ended up.

Day one of the Match Play tournament saw last year’s winner Trish Johnson knocked out in the unforgiving but exciting matchplay format which sees golfers go head to head in a winner takes all competition. The knock out format was generally given the thumbs up by Europe’s lady golfers who seemed to think it as exciting as us onlookers.

Day 2 of the event drew a juicy head to head battle between Becky Brewerton and Laura Davies, both of whom were tipped as having a good chance of winning the competition. It was a pairing that didn’t disappoint as the 18th hole came and went with both players all square. The exciting play off saw Becky Brewerton show nerves of steel as she pulled off a 12 foot birdie to progress to the next round.

On the final day of the Tenerife Ladies Match Play tournament the eight remaining players – Becky Brewerton (Wales), Carlota Ciganda (Spain), Nikki Garrett (Australia), Rebecca Hudson (England), Lydia Hall (Wales), Lee-Ann Pace (South Africa), Frances Bondad (Australia) and Danielle Montgomery (England) – took to the greens on a beautifully sunny Las Américas morning to compete for the glory and €40,000 first place reward.

Becky Brewerton continued to show the form that had taken her through to the final by leading the field by hitting an impressive 3 under after 7 holes with Spain’s young prodigy Carlota Ciganda (in her first pro tournament), Lydia Hall and Nikki Garrett hot on her heels at 1 under par.

By the 17th hole the tension reached nail biting levels with Becky still holding onto the lead at 3 under but with both Rebecca Hudson and Nikki Garrett breathing down her neck at 2 under par.

With the pressure on, Becky kept her cool to hole a birdie on the 18th and finish 4 under. After that all she could do was watch from the sidelines as Nicky Garrett and Carlota Ciganda closed the gap by going 3 under at the 16th and 17th respectively to set up the tensest of finishes to what had been an outstanding tournament.

However, Ciganda putting a ball into the water at the 18th ended the young Spanish player’s chances of catching Becky, leaving Australia’s Nicky Garrett as the only serious threat.
But the birdie required to tie the match proved too elusive resulting in Becky Brewerton being the deserved winner of the Tenerife Ladies Match Play tournament.

Congratulations to Becky and everyone involved with what has been an outstanding tournament in every way.

I’m John Debnam and I’ve been the tennis coach at the Los Gigantes Tennis Centre since 1986.
Tenerife has one of the best, year round climates in Europe for tennis players coming here on holiday and for those who live here.

For a small island the tennis here is pretty good and although we are in Spain, the variety of nationalities playing here is amazing. For example, our club in Los Gigantes is comprised of players from Spain, England, Germany, Belgium, South Africa, Italy, Uruguay and Argentina.

No matter where you live on the island, there will be a club and a coach near you and over the coming weeks I’m going to be reporting on:

• upcoming tournaments
• tips to help improve your game
• where to find your nearest Tenerife tennis club

But to finish today I thought this may be of interest to any of you from the Costa Del Silencio area.
Last weekend was the Palacio De Isora Alcalá tennis competition and the losing finalist in the over 50/55 competition was Michel Cleemput who runs the Happy Days Tennis and Bowls Club.

I spoke to Michel after the presentation and he told me that after being on Tenerife for some time now, this was his first singles tennis trophy, at the age of 61.
Well done Michel, and I think you give us all a bit of hope, whatever our ages.

Have fun!
JTC

2011 is an exciting year for Tenerife’s golf scene and for Tenerife Magazine as we are proud to be one of the official media partners for the Tenerife Ladies Match Play to be played from the 9th -12th June 2011 on the prestigious Golf Las Américas course in Playa de Las Américas.

Sponsored by Turismo de Tenerife, this year’scompetition will take a brand new match play format  in which just 30 of  Europe’s top ranking professionals and two invited players will pursue the title.
Day One (June 9th) will tee the event off with an exciting Pro-Am competition and then the tournament will begin with two days of match play eliminators. After the knockout rounds the remaining 8 players in the competition will play 18 holes stroke play on June 12th to decide the title.

TenerifeMagazine.com will be joining the players and organisers before, during and after the event to keep fans up to date with the state of play, conditions, the leader board and all the glamour and buzz both on and off the course.

With Golf Las Américas as our base, the new Match Play format and the weather set fair for June, it promises to be an exciting start to the summer for Tenerife golf.

Title: Vilaflor Downhill Cycle Descent
Location: From Jama to Valle San Lorenzo
Description: This is extreme cycling, pitting yourself against hills and the stopwatch. Starts at 10 am, you wont need your little bell and saddlebag, just lots of nerve. If you feel up for it call Edgar on 649347634.
Date: 2010-08-01

It went right to the wire between English woman Trish Johnson and the French girl Virginie Lagoutte-Clement.

Trish  won by just one shot over the 4 days of play, her first win since 2007, earning herself a tasty 41,250 euros. It was only her 6th start this year due to an elbow problem but this win assures her a place in the prestigious Evian Masters later this month.

The 44 year old English veteran of some 19 wins on the Ladies Tour, had some luck on her side as she hit a ball out of bounds from her drive on the 16th over a small wall, it landed on the path and bounced back into play. Great ball striking and some marvellous shots over the day, she holed a beauty out of a bunker which kept  her in front. Johnson slipped to second place behind the French woman on the 13th but fought back with 2 birdies on the 14th and 15th to regain the lead.  She pared 16 and 17 to take a 2 shot lead going down the 18th.

But there was nearly an upset as Lagoutte-Clement almost holed an eagle putt on the last which would have meant she would have tied for the lead but the ball just dribbled past the hole leaving Johnson a simple par on the 18th for victory.

There was a large crowd gathered round the 18th green to watch the climax and you could see Johnson was glad to get to the final hole as the other two in the group were so close on her heels it really could have gone either way.

A great end to the four days’ play and all the competitors agreed that Buenavista Golf Course was a fine course for the event to be played; the scenery and the condition of the course were World Class.

Well done Tenerife and to all involved.

The final results :-

1 274-14 Trish Johnson (ENG)

2 275-13 Virginie Lagoutte-Clement (FRA)

3 276-12 Anne-Lise Caudal (FRA)

4= 279-9  Lee-Anne Pace (SA)

4= 279-9 Anja Monke (GER)

4= 279-9 Veronica Zorzi (ITA)

Corriesande Lee, the girl Tenerife Magazine were following, ended up at +7 for the tournament and was placed 56th. I spoke with her afterwards and she said, “ I wish I had taken  a caddie for the last two days just for a little bit of help and reassurance on the greens. Anyway I’ll know for next time.” She earned her first ever professional cheque for 920 euro’s which will go some way towards paying her week’s expenses.

Trish Johnson

The Weather on the third day is super for golf; not too hot, about 21°c with a moderate wind blowing off the sea. The greens are running very fast today so I think we will see a lot of three putts and  a little frustration creeping in from the players.

England’s Melissa Reid is starting the day as leader of the field at -8, in second place is the French girl Virginie Lagoutte-Clement at -7. They both have a later tee time today at around 12.30 and the wind is picking up here on the course for the afternoon.

I should have had no fear in these ladies’ talent. Trish Johnson who was behind at the start of the day, has just walked off the course at the 18th with a blistering score of 66 with 7 birdies in her round today making her the new leader at -12. Trish is 3 shots ahead of the French girl Lagoutte-Clement who finished at -9 and Melissa Reid shot a level par round to keep her at -8.

Coriesande Lee, the “Rookie”who we are following, had a bad day yesterday carding a 4 over par. I spoke with her after the round and she said “I was just trying a bit too hard, I had made my first cut so I thought I would go for it, but my putting let me down. Anyway there’s always tomorrow and I feel there are birdies out there to be had. “

Today’s round for Trish Johnson was a remarkable round by any standard. The 44 year old veteran English woman, who tells me she’s an Arsenal supporter for her sins, carded 7 birdies and only one bogie on the way to her round of 66. Last week she was runner up in the Portuguese Open and is the winner of some 18 tournaments over her career. If I was a betting man Iknow who my money would be on for the final day tomorrow.