{"id":7293,"date":"2012-09-12T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-09-11T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beta.golfinspain.es.local\/b\/2012\/09\/12\/end-of-era-at-valderrama\/"},"modified":"2019-11-07T11:01:47","modified_gmt":"2019-11-07T10:01:47","slug":"end-of-era-at-valderrama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.golfinspain.com\/b\/2012\/09\/end-of-era-at-valderrama\/","title":{"rendered":"End of Era at Valderrama?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Junta in hot water with European Tour\u2026 Sergio Garc\u00eda on the way to victory in 2011 (Photo: Fernando Herranz)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

By Pedro Bolichero<\/address>\n

Valderrama\u2019s pre-eminent role on the Spanish golfing scene could have come to an undignified end after the effectively 11th hour cancellation of the third edition of the Andaluc\u00eda Masters, due to be held from 18 to 21 October.<\/p>\n

The decision was expected after the Socialist Party was forced into coalition with the Izquierda Unida (United Left) party following regional elections in March, and one of its members (Rafael Rodr\u00edguez Berm\u00fadez) became the new minister for tourism and commerce and implied there would be new budgetary priorities: i.e. not major investments focused on just one golf event. (It is understood the Junta\u2019s investment in the tournament totalled \u20ac3 million.)<\/p>\n

\n\"\"<\/a>\n

Graeme McDowell won the first Andaluc\u00eda Valderrama Masters in 2010 (Photo: Golffoto)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The dire financial situation in Andaluc\u00eda, as in the rest of the country, would also have had a significant influence on the Junta de Andaluc\u00eda\u2019s decision but none of that appeased the European Tour \u2013 peeved more than anything else about the late timing of the announcement.<\/p>\n

In a statement, the tour noted, \u201cThe Junta de Andaluc\u00eda confirmed this decision by letter, which they also announced by a press release on Monday 10 September. Despite discussions with the Royal Spanish Golf Federation, and a formal legal agreement with the Junta de Andaluc\u00eda, the tournament, won in 2011 by Sergio Garc\u00eda, will not take place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tour executive director George O\u2019Grady added, \u201dThis is extremely disappointing news to receive, especially at such a late date. We have been long-term partners with\u00a0the Junta for over 25 years. In that time we have been together with many other events: the Volvo Masters staged in Andaluc\u00eda from 1988-2008, two American Express World Golf Championships, won by Tiger Woods in 1999 and Mike Weir in 2000, and the jewel in the crown, the 1997 Ryder Cup played at Club de Golf Valderrama.\u00a0We have worked together to promote the region, and the Junta de Andaluc\u00eda and the European Tour have enjoyed an exceptionally strong and committed long-term partnership.<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n

Valderrama\u2019s iconic 17th<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cWe feel the disappointment not only for our members and all committed to broadcasting and reporting this tournament and the region on a global scale, but also for the many visitors, especially from northern Europe, who coincide their vacations with the tournament.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will work with the Junta to rectify this situation both now and in the future\u201d.<\/p>\n

With Valderrama\u2019s new membership and management committee seemingly less enthusiastic about hosting major events, the 2011 Andaluc\u00eda Masters \u2013 when Sergio Garc\u00eda became the first Spaniard to win a tour event at Valderrama \u2013 could be the club\u2019s swansong on the international stage, at least at the same level.<\/p>\n


\nOriginal post<\/a> reproduced with permission from ozinspain.com
\n<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Junta in hot water with European Tour\u2026 Sergio Garc\u00eda on the way to victory in 2011 (Photo: Fernando Herranz) By Pedro Bolichero Valderrama\u2019s pre-eminent role on the Spanish golfing scene could have come to an undignified end after the effectively 11th hour cancellation of the third edition of the Andaluc\u00eda Masters, due to be held […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mbp_gutenberg_autopost":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[585,586],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-int","category-facebook"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.golfinspain.com\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.golfinspain.com\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.golfinspain.com\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.golfinspain.com\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.golfinspain.com\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.golfinspain.com\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7293\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.golfinspain.com\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.golfinspain.com\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.golfinspain.com\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}