Tag Archives: Alps Tour

Tournaments

Alps Tour – Mario Galiano Aguilar wins a shortened 2024 Hauts de France – Pas de Calais Golf Open

September 14, 2024 – Spain’s Mario Galiano captures his 1st Alps Tour title at the 2024 Hauts de France – Pas de Calais Golf Open with a two-round score of 4 under-par. Tied for 2nd place at 2 under-par: Spain’s Alvaro Hernandez Cabezuela, France’s Benjamin Kedochim, Nicolas Aparicio, and Aaron Van Hauwe (am), as well as Brandon Kewalramani from the United States of America.

Due to the delays and unfavorable weather forecast during yesterday’s round, the Tournament Committee of the 2024 Hauts de France – Pas de Calais Golf Open co-sanctioned event decided to reduce the tournament to 36 holes with no cut. Nevertheless, full points and prize money will be allocated as established.

Play was first suspended yesterday, September 13th at 12:05 p.m. during the morning wave of the 2nd round of the tournament due to unplayable course conditions. The play was then called for the day at 4:00 p.m. as the course remained in unplayable conditions.

The round resumed this morning at 8:15 a.m. for the players already on the course, and the second wave of Round 2 began at 9:20 a.m. with beautiful sunny skies and a brisk temperature.

The 2024 Hauts de France – Pas de Calais Golf Open is a co-sanctioned event between the Ladies European Tour Access Series (LETAS) and the Alps Tour. The event is being played on the same course with alternating tee times between the Alps Tour players and LETAS players. There are 66 players competing from each tour for two different dedicated prize funds and thus trophies.

Spain’s Mario Galiano, 29, captures his 1st Alps Tour title at the 2024 Hauts de- Pas de Calais Golf Open. He shot a first-round score of 1 under-par, 70, and today, he shot a 3 under-par, 68, making 5 birdies, which one on the 18th hole to secure his victory and 2 bogeys. Mario Galiano has earned various top-20 finishes this season but hadn’t been able to come out on top.

After his victory, Mario Galiano was very emotional, “I talked a lot with my team, and I knew coming into here I had to have a good finish. You never know what can happen in golf, but my objective was a top 5 this week and a good opportunity in Italy. This week was amazing. I played so well. It’s been about 1 month that I’ve been playing so well, and it’s incredible. I worked hard, and I can see the work I did. My goals heading into the last two events will slightly change.” 

Mario Galiano added: “I was on the lucky side of the draw this week, and I’m thankful for that. However, you know that’s golf; in one tournament, you have the bad draw, and in the next tournament, you are lucky with the draw, and this week was my lucky week.”  He also said, “To be honest, I was talking to myself during today’s round because I was in this position a while ago, and I’m telling you I was so nervous that I couldn’t handle the pressure. I practiced a lot and couldn’t put myself in position. However, I feel like my game is good enough to win tournaments out here, but one thing is saying and believing, and the other is being able to do it. Today was different, I was very nervous during the entire round but at the same time I felt very in control of myself I felt very good throughout the entire day and now I know I’m able to win out here.”  

Mario Galiano dedicated this win to: “My entire family, my girlfriends, all my friends, but for sure also for me. I put a lot of pressure on myself when I was still an amateur, and it was tough for me when I turned pro. To be honest, it’s really hard for me to tell you what I feel, but I feel so happy, very happy. I can’t wait to celebrate.” 

After the 2024 Hauts de France- Pas de Calais Golf Open, France’s Benjamin Kedochim still leads the current Order of Merit standings. Brandon Kewalramani from the United States of America remains in 2nd place, and Netherlands’s Vince Van Veen rounds out the top 3 spots.

In the LET Access Series event, Australia’s Kelsey Bennett secured her first tour win at the 2024 Hauts de France Pas de Calais Golf Open after winning a one-hole play-off.

The 24-year-old sunk a 35 foot birdie to take victory over Switzerland’s Anais Maggetti and England’s Billie-Jo Smith.  After her win she commented: “This win means a lot; I missed the cut at the Rose Ladies Open last week and I was wanting the week off but I spoke to my team and they pushed me to come and play this week because a win can give you so many points on the leaderboard.”

Pictures: ©Federico Capretti

Tournaments

Alps Tour – Spanish amateur player Albert Boneta wins the 2024 Alps de las Castillas at Lerma Golf

July 13, 2024 – Spanish amateur player Albert Boneta captures the 2024 Alps de Las Castillas with an incredible total score of 25 under par. In 2nd place, the winner of the 2024 Gösser Open, Maximilian Steinlechner from Austria, with a three-day score of 22 under par. In 3rd place, the first-round co-leader and the tournament course recorder holder, French amateur Nathan Legendre, with a score of 20 under par. Italy’s Filippo Bergamaschi concludes the tournament in 4th place with a three-day score of 18 under par.

The final round of the 2024 Alps de Las Castillas began at 8:30 a.m. local time from the 1st and 10th hole. The leaders group teed off at 9:58 a.m. local time from the 1st hole. The players competing at Golf Lerma disputed today’s final round under a sunny sky, some light winds, and a warm temperature.

Spanish amateur Albert Boneta, 22, who has been in the lead since the opening round of the tournament, comes out on top to earn the 2024 Alps de Las Castillas title. He followed his incredible opening round of 12 under-par, 60, with a 6 under-par, 66 in yesterday’s round 2, and today he shot a 7 under-par, 65 to conclude the tournament with a three-day total of 25 under-par. Boneta, in today’s final round, made 1 eagle, 7 birdies, and 2 bogeys.

His opening round tied the tournament course record set at Golf Lerma. He recently graduated in Finance and Psychology at New Mexico University and plans to turn professional later this year. After his win, Boneta was very emotional but happy:

“It was an unexpected win, I played last week’s tournament, the Alps de Andalucía and learned a lot and that helped me a lot this week I must say. I’m very happy; it’s the beginning of my life as a professional player, and that’s always been my dream. There is no way better to start than with a win amongst the professionals. I was quite relaxed from the beginning of the tournament, and then I had a big advantage because I started very well, so I was not nervous, I must say.”

He added that: “I was very calm from the beginning of the tournament. I knew my game was good, and I was very relaxed the entire time. The best thing has been the putting, it’s what I’ve been working on the most lately and it’s been phenomenal. It’s what has helped me to win because in the end, to make minus 25, no matter how well you hit the ball, you must make quite a few putts.” 

Boneta wants to “dedicate this win to my parents. They have supported me and have always been with me from the start. They came as they wanted to watch me play today, so this win is for them.” Winning this tournament has a big meaning for Boneta: “shows me that I am able to compete amongst the professionals, and this week allowed me to secure my card for next year, so it’s great.”

Austria’s Maximilian Steinlechner,24, winner of the 2024 Gösser Open, shot a final round of 8 under-par, 64 to conclude the tournament in 2nd place with a three-day total of 22 under-par. He made 4 birdies on the front nine holes, and once he made the turn, he made 2 birdies and 1 eagle to conclude the tournament.

RESULTS

After the 2024 Alps de Las Castillas, the Alps Tour Order of Merit rank has Benjamin Kedochim from France still in the lead with 21,016.65 points. Brandon Kewalramani from the United States of America remains in 2nd place with 17,885.81 points. Italy’s Edoardo R Lipparelli is in 3rd place with 15,646.50 points. Théo Boulet from France is in 4th place with 15,531.75 points, and Aymeric Laussot from France rounds out the top 5 with 14,438.25 points.

The Alps Tour players now have a few weeks off before the next scheduled event which gets underway from September 5th-7th at UGolf Longwy International in France for the inaugural 2024 Longwy Alps Open. 

Tournaments

Alps Tour – France’s Tom Vaillant wins back-to-back weeks, with the the 2022 Aravell Golf Open by Crèdit Andorrà

June 18, 2022 – Tom Vaillant wins the first edition of the 2022 Aravell Golf Open by Crèdit Andorrà with an outstanding 6 shots margin and a three-day score of 22 under-par. Eemil Alajarvi concluded his tournament in 2nd place with a total score of 16 under-par. Tied for 3rd place, you could find Vince Van Veen and Daniel Berna Manzanares, round 1 & 2 at 15 under-par.

The players had another beautiful summer day with perfect scoring conditions and a very hot temperature that reached near 40* for the final round at Aravell Golf & Country Club near Lleida, Spain. Play began at 8:00 am and the leaders group teed off at 9:28 am.

French amateur, Tom Vaillant has won back-to-back weeks on the Alps Tour schedule. He won last week at the 2022 Open de la Mirabelle d’Or after a sudden-death playoff, and won this week by an outstanding 6 shots margin. He concluded with a three-day score of 22 under-par which included a bogey-free 8 under-par final round.

He managed to remain bogey-free the entire week! During the three tournament rounds, he had 20 birdies and 1 eagle. Vaillant has become the new Order of Merit Leader. After his victory, he proudly commented: “I’m playing really solid. Everything went really well today especially towards the end of the round, when the majority of the putts dropped. I knew I had a few shots lead heading into 18 but I wanted to play smart. Two wins in a row, confirms all of the hard work I’m doing with my staff and family so it’s great.”

When asked about his amateur status, Tom responded: “I’m definitely remaining amateur as of right now because I have some goals I want to achieve with the French National Team this year. I’ll probably turn pro at the end of this year.”

Eemil Alajarvi, who has been all week near the top of the leaderboard, concluded his tournament in 2nd place with a three-day score of 16 under-par. He had one of the highlights of the round today, with a hole-in-one on the par 3 9th hole. “It was a good week, I am very happy. My golf was very good all week. I will be competing next week and I’m looking forward to it. I want to improve my rank in the coming weeks and see what happens.”

There was a two-way tied for 3rd place at 15 under-par that included, Netherland’s Vince Van Veen and Spain’s Daniel Berna Manzanares. Gary Hurley who was in 4th place entering the final round, concluded his event in 5th place, 8 shots back of the win. France’s Julien Sale, amateur shot a final round of 7 under-par to move into 6th place.

Arthur Ameil-Planchin and Eemil Alajarvi had the highlight of the day by both making a hole in one during today’s final round. Arthur made a hole in one on the par 3, 12th hole and Eemil made a hole in one on the par 3, 9th hole.

Tom Vaillant is the new Alps Tour Order of Merit Leader. Koen Kouwenaar has moved into 2nd place and Italy’s Gregorio De Leo remains in 3rd place.

Tom Vaillant of the inaugural 2022 Aravell Golf Open by Crèdit Andorrà, earned 6,525 Order of Merit points. As, Tom is an amateur player, the winners check of €5,800 was earned by Eemil Alajarvi.
For the Final Round Leaderboard click here.

The Alps Tour moves to Ayamonte, Spain for the 12th event of the season, the 2022 Alps de Andalucia. The event is schedule from June 23rd- June 25th at Isla Canela, Golf Club Valle Guadiana Links.

The tournament this week is promoted and organized by Spain’s José Manuel Lara. A former DP World Tour player with two victories (Hong Kong in 2006 and Austrian Golf Open in 2010) in his professional career.

The title sponsorship of this week’s event, belongs to Crèdit Andorrà. It is an Andorran banking house which was founded in 1949 and has its headquarters in Andorra la Vella.

Golf Courses and resorts, Tournaments

Alps Tour – Aravell Golf Open by Credit Andorrá , a new event added to the 2022 Alps Tour schedule

May 18, 2022 – The Alps Tour has announced the addition of a new tournament to its 2022 schedule. It will be a first, both for the Alps Tour and for the Aravell Golf & Country Club in Aravell, Lleida, Spain, thanks to the promoter and former European Tour player and multiple winner José Manuel Lara, who had the idea of starting this new collaboration and celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the course in style.

The Aravell Golf Open by Credit Andorrá will take place from Thursday 16th June until Saturday 18th June, with a field of 144 players – 94 Alps Tour players, and 50 National players and invites – and a purse of €40,000. Even more importantly, the 11th tournament of the season, with six more to go before the Grand Final, will distribute 45,000 pointsfor the Order of Merit. There will be two pro-ams for this tournament, the opening pro-am, on Wednesday 15th June with approximately 23-25 teams and the closing pro-am on Sunday 19th June with around 23-25 teams where the tournament winner will be playing.

“This event confirms the solidity of the Andorran golf project, promoted by the FGA (Andorran Golf Federation) together with the Credit Andorrá”, says José Manuel Lara, 44, winner of one Challenge Tour and two European Tour titles between 1998 and 2010. “FGA and Credit Andorrá are working together to promote and grow the game of golf in Andorra, and I believe this is a goal that fits very well with the Alps Tour claim, ‘Raising Golf Stars’, growing a quality professional game with the backing from national golf federations of host countries”. 

“We are very honored to be received for the very first time at the Aravell Golf Club, renowned for its design by José María Olazábal and the quality of its course and facilities”, says Alps Tour CEO Estelle Richard. “We sincerely thank Credit Andorrá for having made this European sporting event possible. It is a great privilege for the Alps Tour to include a new destination in our calendar.

The Aravell Golf Open by Credit Andorrá will also be an opportunity to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the golf course, much to the delight of golf lovers in the region.

I would like to express my sincere thanks to promoter José Manuel Lara, who has been able to convince the partners and participants to make this competition an essential event of the season”.

Aravell Golf & Country Club, only 13km from Andorra Principality, is an 18-hole course designed in 1987 by José María Olazábal, a two-time Augusta Masters Champion. The course will be played as a 6,155 meters, Par 71. It is located in a large valley, 700 meters above sea level, surrounded by the Pyrenees and with iconic views of the Cadi Mountain. Aravell Golf & Country Club is designed to be a compact and fun layout course with narrow fairways, relatively small greens and spacious rough making it a challenging course for the players especially due to the river and lake that cross the course.

The Aravell Golf Open by Credit Andorrá will be played thanks to the full support of Credit Andorrá.

Professionals, Tournaments

Javier Ballesteros turns professional, starting in the Alps Tour’s Qualifying School

Javier-Ballesteros-1

November 14, 2014 – Javier Ballesteros, Severiano Ballesteros’s eldest son, has taken the decision he has been considering for some time. He has formally turned professional at the Spanish Golf Federation.

The young Spanish golfer, born in Santander the 20th of August 1990, says: “I’ve taken the decision of turning professional. This is something I’ve always wanted. Whether I’ll succeed or not, time will tell; however, I don’t want to regret not having tried my best, and must give it a go”.

“I know it won’t be easy and I’m aware of the hard work required, but I must try”.

His father had a long and difficult start in golf. “Mine is a bit easier, although I have a disadvantage in that sense: everyone will always compare us and will expect from me, not what my dad achieved but half of it……. which is already a lot”, adds Javier Ballesteros.

“I have set myself no goals. I’ll go step by step and will start at the Alps Tour’s Qualifying School. As we say in golf: one shot at a time and living the present. I am very motivated and convinced that I’ve taken the right decision. I have a lot of self-confidence”.

“Today, my dad comes specially to my mind. He taught me everything or almost everything I know about golf, and I would have loved him to see me turning pro. I’m sure he would be very proud and happy”.

Javier Ballesteros, with the support of his brother and sister Miguel and Carmen, is the patron of Seve Ballesteros Foundation.

Picture: ©FernandoHerranz.

Cleveland Golf, Srixon, Tournaments, What's in the bag…

Srixon – Borja Virto sealed second title at Alps Tour Golf wining in Italy

Borja-Virto-Alps-Tour-Italia

September 7, 2014 – Spain’s Borja Virto sealed his second title of the season at the Alps Tour Golf wining the Open La Pinetina Memorial Giorgio Bordoni held in Italy. And he did it in a admirable way, as he holed three meters putt on last green to avoid a play-off.

Borja-Virto-2The Srixon-Cleveland Golf Spanish player scored 69 for -12 total and win with one shot margin over three players, Italy’s Federico Maccario, Spain’s Carlos Balmaseda and England’s Tom Shadbolt. It was a very tough day for the players last Friday.

Rain felt almost all day long and is was a real battle of nerves. After front nine, Borja Virto was already one shot clear of Molteni, Balmaseda and Shadbolt. He admitted it was hard because of his poor start with two bogeys. But the young Spaniard shown cold blood and stayed focus on his goal, and almost has secure his card for the Challenge Tour 2015.

“This win is maybe better than the one in Spain because I really had to go and catch it”, said Borja Virto, who played three years for Iowa State University. “I wanted to confirm my Alps Tour ranking and to be sure to play the Challenge Tour next year. I knew I could not get to the green on the last hole. When I saw this putt, the only thing I was able to think is -You have to hole it-.”

Like winning the Alps de las Castillas, the golfer from Navarre played with Srixon Z-STAR XV golf ball, Cleveland Golf Forged 588 MB irons (6-PW, KBS shaft) and 588 CB Forged irons (3-5, KBS), and Cleveland Golf RTX Chrome wedges (52º and 58º, True Temper Dynamic Gold S400) in his golf bag.

Pictures: Agathe Séron.