9th July 2021 | Alps Tour Golf
Ryan Lumsden wins the Alps de las Castillas
The Scot Ryan Lumsden has prevailed over Manuel Elvira in an exciting final day of the Alps de las Castillas played at the Las Pinaíllas Golf Club, thus achieving his second victory of the season, and is now 3rd in the Alps Tour Ranking.
Lumsden arrived in Albacete with one goal: to win and climb the rankings to get closer to the Challenge Tour promotion. And he has achieved it, although the Cantabrian Manuel Elvira has not made it easy for him at any time. At one point it seemed that the Scot was going to repeat the history of last year’s Alps de las Castillas when he finished second, but the experience achieved last May at the PGA Tour’s AT&T Byron Nelson, where he played alongside the best golfers in the world, gave him the key to the victory he has achieved today in Albacete.
At Las Pinaíllas, Lumsden, 24, signed four birdies and a bogey for a 69 (-3) and a total of 14 under par. “It’s been an amazing tournament, three completely different days of play. The first day I played well but, as it has happened to me this year, it was not matched by the numbers on the scorecard. Yesterday’s round was the turning point I needed, I played well and carded a magnificent result that turned out to be the course record, and gave me hints that something good was going to come, and it has arrived today. It has been an incredible day, because Manuel (Elvira) has made it very difficult for me and has not let me breathe until the last hole.
The truth is that last year I really enjoyed coming to the Alps de las Castillas, I was remarkably close to winning and I have come back this year wanting to fight for the title, although I will recognize that, at some point, as Manuel played, I thought that history was repeating.
At the Northwestern University in the U.S. I won the Byron Nelson Award, an academic, athletic and social work award for which I was invited to play the AT&T Byron Nelson, and I was lucky enough to learn from the best players in the world. There I learned how important it is to have complete control of the irons, and that you should never lose sight of anything on the course. It was a great golf lesson that obviously helped me win this week. My goal now is to win a third tournament! I leave Spain with a lot of confidence, and hopefully keep my place in the ranking at the end of the year to get to the Challenge Tour.” With this victory Lumsden has climbed to 3rd place in the Alps Tour Order of Merit.
Manuel Elvira, 24, started the third round in 3rd position and finished 2nd after making a 69 (-3) with 6 birdies and 3 bogeys, for a total of 12 under par. “I’ve done everything I could to win, but Lumsden has played amazing. I started very well, although I was not making putts but on the 5th I sunk a great one that raised my spirit. On the 6th I hit a fat one and made bogey and started struggling, but from the 10th something clicked on my head and played brilliant. On the 15th I made a stupid three-putts and the last three holes I played very well. I’m very happy, I came this week without expectations after many weeks in a row on the Challenge Tour; I would have signed for a 2nd place before arriving here this week! I leave with a lot of confidence to follow my schedule on the Challenge Tour.” In 3rd place was Frenchman Romain Guillon, who finished with a 71 (-1) for a total 11 under par.
Angel Hidalgo Portillo, leader of the Order of Merit, did not have his best week in Albacete, but he managed to make the cut and, although he did not finish in the top positions, has maintained his lead in front of Italian Jacopo Vecchi Fossa.
The Alps de Las Castillas has been possible thanks to the union of the Federación de Golf de Castilla La Mancha and that of Castilla León, with the Real Federación Española de Golf. It has also had the support of the Las Pinaíllas Golf Club, the Albacete City Council, the Provincial Council of Albacete, the Junta de Castilla La Mancha, the Superior Council of Sports, Extrual, Allianz, AON, EDP Solar, Kyocera, Tag Heuer, as well as the collaboration of El Corte Inglés Albacete, Bodegas Ayuso, Panadería Alejo, Miguelitos Ruiz, NextCaddy. JGolf has been the organizing company of the Alps de Las Castillas, a tournament that supports the celebration of the Solheim Cup 2023.
Final round scores: click here or check on the Alps Tour Golf app.
7th July 2021 | Alps Tour Golf
Londot Lopes and Van Veen share the lead in Spain
Portugal’s Vitor Londot Lopes and Netherland’s Vince Van Veen are tied at the top of the leaderboard on six under-par (66) after the first round of the Alps de Las Castillas.
Las Pinaillas Club de Golf in Albacete, a beautiful and challenging course designed by the great Seve Ballesteros some 150 km west of Valencia, plays host to the ninth Alps Tour event of the 2021 season and the two players showed the finest form on the first day, although they are closely followed by a list of strong contenders, with 39 players returning an under-par scorecard.
Vitor Londot Lopes, who will celebrate his 25th birthday in just ten days, was 2nd one month ago at the Open de La Mirabelle D’Or in France and is presently 10th in the Order of Merit. The Portuguese golfer from Vilamoura played a solid bogey-free round: “It was a good day on the course and I had the privilege to mark an eagle-3 on hole 11, and four birdies. Of course, we golfers are never fully satisfied and always want something more, and I feel I could have saved a couple more shots, but the conditions of the course were very good, with some tricky wind that could come from all directions. I stuck to my game plan, and I think I did it ok. Hopefully, I will keep on making the good decisions and hit good shots in the next two days” said Londot Lopes.
Alongside Londot Lopes at the top of the standings is Netherland’s Vince Van Veen, 25, who is playing in his third Alps Tour season and is currently n. 53 in the ranking. He carded 8 birdies and two bogeys to earn his share of the lead.
“It’s been a bit of an up-and-down round, I did not get off to a good start and I fought to find my way round this golf course, then after probably six-seven holes I settled my golf swing and started hitting better shots, and obviously some quite good putts went in for my 6-under” said the Dutch player who has a 9th spot as his best performance up to now. “I did find myself in this position in the past, actually it happened on the previous tournament we played in Italy, so now I’m getting more familiar with being on top of the leaderboard and I start feeling more confident. I like the course very much, it is challenging and although it’s not particularly long, the greens are demanding and sometimes if you are on the wrong side of the fairway you cannot hit it close to the flag. Basically, that is what I’ve been trying to do today, find the good spots on the course and I did it properly. I feel my game is improving and I like where I’m standing now”.
The Alps de Las Castillas can count on a field of 130 players from 15 countries, and on the sponsorship of the Royal Spanish Golf Federation, the Federation of Castilla La Mancha and the Federation of Castilla León, and the support of the Golf Club Las Pinaíllas, the City of Albacete, the Provincial Council of Albacete, the Junta de Castilla La Mancha, the Consejo Superior de Deportes, Extrual, Allianz, AON, EDP Solar, Kyocera, Tag Heuer, as well as with the collaboration of El Corte Inglés Albacete, Bodegas Ayuso, Panadería Alejo, Miguelitos de la Roda, NextCaddy. JGolf is the organizing company of the Alps de las Castillas, a tournament that supports the celebration of the Solheim Cup 2023.
First round scores: click here or check on the Alps Tour Golf app.
4th July 2021 | Alps Tour Golf
Spain to welcome 9th tournament of the 2021 Alps Tour Season
In just a few days, the battle to conquer the top spots on the Alps Tour Season Ranking will resume in Spain on a new venue for this Tour, at Club de Golf Las Pinaillas (Albacete) in the region of Castilla La Mancha, some 150 km west of Valencia. It is a crucial stop in the year of the 20th anniversary for the Alps Tour, which moved its first steps in 2001 and has been a fundamental training ground for a number of talented players, like Englishman Matt Wallace, one of the best players in the world, or Adri Arnaus, who will represent Spain at the Olympic games in Tokyo, or Spaniard Santi Tarrio – leader of the Challenge Tour OoM, and tenth of winners in the European Tour like Italian Guido Migliozzi and Frenchman Antoine Rozner, just to mention the most recent ones.
At Las Pinaillas, a demanding course designed by the great Seve Ballesteros, seven of the top ten players in the Order of Merit will be fighting to keep or improve their position, including leader Angel Hidalgo Portillo from Spain, winner in Egypt of Ein Bay Open in May and in June of Memorial Giorgio Bordoni by AON in Italy; a third win this season would grant him direct access to the 2022 Challenge Tour!
Italian Jacopo Vecchi Fossa, number 2 in the ranking and winner in April of Abruzzo Alps Open, is also in the field, as well as Frenchman Pierre Pineau, third, who has collected two 2nd spots but still has to grab his first win as a pro.
With six more tournaments in the 2021 schedule after Alps de Las Castillas, the Alps Tour members will have to focus on different goals: in addition to the top positions for a 2022 Challenge Tour cards, the top 50 in the Order of Merit who have played at least 6 tournaments in 3 different countries, will gain a full category for next season and avoid a return to the Qualifying School.
The official presentation of the Alps de Las Castillas has been hosted by the City Council of Albacete on June 30th. The tournament was presented by Emilio Sáez Cruz, mayor of Albacete, Santiago Cabañero, president of the Provincial Council; Carlos Gutiérrez, president of the Golf Federation of Castilla-La Mancha; Diego Martínez, representative of Las Pinaillas Golf Club; Javier Gervás, CEO of JGolf, promoter of the tournament; Vicente Casañ, deputy mayor of Albacete, and Modesto Belinchón, councilor for Sports, among other representatives of the Corporation.
An amazing summoning for a common goal, “raising golf stars”!
“To become Jon Rahm, recent winner of the US Open and number one in the world, you need to be talented, but also to be able to show your talent, and this type of tournaments are fundamental for this purpose“, stressed Emilio Sáez, who added: “I think about the dozens of golfers who have gained experience through this tour and, thanks to it, have been able to fulfil their dreams“.
The Alps de Las Castillas will be played by 136 players from 17 countries, from July 7th-9th, with 38 teams in the Pro-Am on the 6th, thanks to the sponsorship of the Royal Spanish Golf Federation, the Federation of Castilla La Mancha and the Federation of Castilla León, and the support of the Golf Club Las Pinaíllas, the City of Albacete, the Provincial Council of Albacete, the Junta de Castilla La Mancha, the Consejo Superior de Deportes, Extrual, Allianz, AON, EDP Solar, Kyocera, Tag Heuer, as well as with the collaboration of El Corte Inglés Albacete, Bodegas Ayuso, Panadería Alejo, Miguelitos de la Roda, NextCaddy. JGolf is the organizing company of the Alps de las Castillas, a tournament that supports the celebration of the Solheim Cup 2023.
Entry list: click here or check on the Alps Tour Golf app.
3rd July 2021 | Alps Tour Golf
Alps de Las Castillas, Strength in Unity
18th June 2021 | Alps Tour Golf
Angel Hidalgo Portillo Comes Through to Claim Victory
June 18th, 2021 – Como, Italy. Angel Hidalgo Portillo went right down to the line today but pulled off his second Alps Tour victory of the year to raise the trophy of the Memorial Giorgio Bordoni on -14 (196) at the GC Pinetina.
It was not all plain sailing for the Spaniard though as he got off to a wobbly start: “I started well, made two solid putts and then on the fourth I don’t know what happened. I hit a straight shot OB and I started to feel not nervous, but the feeling was not solid. Then I made a bogey on the seventh. At that point I said to myself whoa, I need to start to make a few birdies”.
At this stage after the double bogey and bogey Hidalgo was sitting -10 and the tournament looked to be slipping through his fingers as he had fallen back to fourth place, three strokes behind the leader. But he remained focussed and turned the tide: “I made a good birdie on the tenth and from then I felt better. I’ve played the back nine really well all week and today I had two great putts for birdie on the sixteenth and seventeenth.”
With four birdies under his belt, he headed to the eighteenth green on -14:” I had my eye on the leader board a lot of the time, but it was funny on the 18th fairway as I saw that the Italian guy (Giovanni Manzoni) was 14 under and I said, okay, I just need to make par and maybe go to a play-off but that’s okay. So, I focussed on just making par and when I got to the green and was looking at the slope my caddy said, “two putts is enough” and that’s what I did”.
Indeed, the Italian amateur Giovanni Manzoni had played a dream round today with a perfect card bearing 7 birdies and sitting fourteen under on the eighteenth. But his sole bogey of the day stole victory from him giving him a more than respectable joint second place on -13 (197). His compatriot Leonardo Rigamonti and fellow amateur player played a solid round with five birdies and one bogey to tie for second.
In joint fourth place on -12 (198) were Victor Garcia Broto, yesterday’s runner-up and the French player Romain Vallaeys. The Spaniard had a fault-free round, but two birdies proved insufficient. Vallaeys topped the leader board at one stage lying -13 at the fifteenth tee. Unfortunately, despite a birdie on the last hole, the two bogeys on sixteen and seventeen sealed the deal.
With a brace of victories in his bag, Hidalgo now leads the Order of Merit with 20,578 points. Jacopo Vecchi Fossa from Italy moves back to second place with 18,152 points and the Frenchman Pierre Pineau remains third on 11,897.
After two back-to-back competitions the players now have a bit of respite before heading to Spain for the Alps de Las Castillas from 7th to 9th July at the Club de Golf Las Pinaillas.
Final Results: click here
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