Desert Springs Resort to host 2019 PGA Europro Tour Championship, Europe’s Leading Development Tour

 

Desert Springs Resort to host

2019 PGA Europro Tour Championship,

Europe’s Leading Development Tour

 

Desert Springs Resort in Andalucía Spain will host the end of season Tour Championship for the fourth year between Wednesday 30^th October – Friday 1^st November.

Desert Springs Resort has played host to three previous Tour Championships and is Europe’s only international award-winning luxury family resort and championship desert golf course situated in the Almanzora region of Almeria, south east Spain.

The resort has created some of the finest memories for many such as Jordan Smith winning the 2015 Tour Championship on the fourth extra playoff hole having carded a final-round 64, eight-under-par.

Only the top 60 golfers on the tour’s Race to Desert Springs Order of Merit after the final event of the regular season at Newmachar Golf Club qualify to play the Tour Championship on the Indiana course over three days, which carries an increased prize fund.

The Indiana Course has it all with every hole having a different feature that could be brought into play whether it be: the springs, watercourses, dry river beds, rock and cactus areas, and bunkers. Sat within cascading mountain ranges the course captures it all with its unique charm wherever you are.

The best players on Europe’s leading developmental tour will be competing to seal their place in the top five of the Race To Desert Springs at the end of the week and earn themselves a Challenge Tour card for the 2020 season.

The event will be filmed for a two-hour highlights package to air on Sky Sports in the UK in November, and on networks worldwide to over 500 million homes.

Simon Coaker, Director of Golf at Desert Springs Resort, remarked: “Desert Springs Resort is both delighted and honored to have been invited to be host to the Tour Championship for what is now the fourth occasion.

The PGA EuroPro Tour has played a vital part in the early careers of some of the biggest names in golf who have gone on to great success, paving the way for Ryder Cup Players, Major Winners, and European Tour Winners.

For Desert Springs Resort and the Indiana course to be part of the journey that the best players in Europe travel, is a factor of both benefit and prestige to all at the Resort.”

Daniel Godding, Chief Executive Officer of the PGA EuroPro Tour said: “We are so excited to be heading back to Desert Springs for the fourth time. 

We’ve witnessed some brilliant moments there and because of the immense success, we’re ready to go there and witness the household names of the future take on the Indiana course. 

It really is a gem of Europe and I’m confident that the team at Desert Springs Resort will ensure that we have a successful Tour Championships as they have done in the past.

 

NOTE TO EDITORS

About Desert Springs Resort

Opened in 2001, Desert Springs Resort quickly established an international reputation for outstanding quality, attracting discerning golfers, international elite amateur teams and professionals, as well as major international events, including two Spanish Amateur Opens, host to the 2015, 2016 & 2018 PGA Europro Tour Championships and the 2017 & 2018 2nd Stage of the European Tour Qualifying School.

Resort accommodation is provided in the villas, apartments & townhouses available for holidays and short breaks at Desert Springs Resort. Meals are served in the resort’s Croc Restaurant, part of the family-friendly Crocodile Club that is geared up for a wide variety of leisure activities and the award-winning El Torrente Restaurant at the Club House.

Visiting golfers benefit from resort gated security and full management and services that ensure all aspects of a golfer’s stay are taken care of. These include airport transfers, food hamper deliveries, babysitting and both resort and off-resort restaurant reservations.

• For details of Cricket & Sports Training Camps, Corporate Golf Events and Meetings at Desert Springs call 01242 680 116 or visit the website, desertspringsresort.es
• To find out more about the Desert Springs Resort click HERE.

 

Additional background Information

Warm weather winter training camps at Desert Springs

Desert Springs, Europe’s only international award-winning luxury family resort and championship desert golf course, is already known as a resort specialising in family holidays, however it has rapidly gained popularity as a centre for warm-weather training for cricketers, athletes, and footballers, as well as golfers and is proving to be one of the most popular destinations for sports warm weather winter training camps.

All sports camps to Desert Springs are bespoke. If desired, the programme can include time away from the resort for some local sightseeing in what many regard as ‘the real Spain.’

During their stay attendees have opportunities to swim, play tennis and use the gymnasium, trim trail, jogging tracks, paddle tennis and beach volley ball courts.

Desert Springs is easy to reach from the UK, thanks to three international airports. They are: Almeria Airport, around 40 minutes away by road; Murcia International Airport, 70 minutes by car, and Alicante Airport which is a drive of less than two hours. Airlines currently flying to the region from the UK include British Airways, EasyJet, Ryanair, Jet2, and Fly Thomas Cook.

The Desert Springs Resort & Golf Club

Facilities already completed and in use at Desert Springs Resort include:

• The Indiana course, a par 72 -18-hole USGA specification golf course, designed by former Great Britain and Ireland Golf Team Captain Peter McEvoy who was inspired by the desert courses of Arizona and California;
• a golf academy whose PGA qualified teaching professionals cater for several international teams, for many of the English County Union’s elite squads; PGA European Tour, PGA Europro Tour and LET players.
• two tennis courts, two padel courts, beach volley ball and two football pitches – one is a full-size grass pitch; the other is designed for five-a-side games;

• a cricket ground with an eighteen (18) wicket square, constructed to ECB standards and specifications open all year round. Complimented by a Marquee pavilion, sightscreens, scoreboard, sprint strips, and associated facilities, it provides an outstanding facility to practice and play cricket.

• a Cricket Academy with facilities that comprise; twenty-four (24) grass wickets and run up with nets, one artificial wicket with nets, a full length artificial grass wicket, a Professional Bola Bowling Machine with 28 ball feeder, requisite training equipment and a specific hard standing area, which provides outside space for facilities such as a free weights gym, stretching mats and a medical area.
• a Spanish colonial style Golf Club House with a lounge, bar, restaurant, locker rooms, TV and reading rooms, and a Ralph Lauren Golf Boutique;
• The Crocodile Club which provides family fun at the heart of the resort with pools, equipped sand play areas, a kid’s battery powered John Deere Gator circuit as well as a Jacuzzi, sun lawns and a pool bar;
• a health and fitness club and spa.

Awards

Desert Springs Resort was awarded Best Golf Resort for Groups in Europe by the 2016 European Group Travel Awards (EGTA). The Indiana Course at Desert Springs Resort has also been recognised as the 6th Best Golf Course in Spain, based on the reviews of players who rated the course on the Leading Courses website. Out of the 345 courses present on this ranking the Indiana Course at Desert Springs occupies 6th place with a score of 8,8/10, and awards Desert Springs Golf Club with the “Outstanding” badge. This distinction is only given to the best 10 courses in the country.

Desert Springs Resort has been awarded the Daily Mail Best Almeria Award and the Bentley International Property Awards for the Best Spain Development and Best Architecture, as well as the Spanish National Madera Verde Prize for Environmentally Sensitive Development, the SICTED award for the distinction of “Commitment to Tourism Quality” and Andalucía’s Premier Tourism prize for 2017, the coveted and prestigious ‘Excellence in Management’ Award.

El Torrente Restaurant has received the New Millennium International Gastronomy Award for the Tourist, Hotel and Catering Industry. This award was created by the Trade Leaders Club with the aim of distinguishing companies from all countries, for the outstanding quality of their products or services.

The climate of the Almanzora coastal region

Desert Springs takes its name from the region’s desert microclimate, which is unique in Europe. It has the warmest winter weather on the continent with an annual average of more than nine hours of daily sunshine and maximum daily temperatures of between 16°C (60°F) and 30°C (86°F) throughout the year. Annual rainfall is less than 200 mm. The Almanzora coastal waters are among the cleanest and warmest in Europe, attracting both fish and diving enthusiasts.

 

Reader enquiries: NOTE: High Resolution Images available upon request.

Simon Coaker The Almanzora Group Ltd The Manor, Boddington, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire GL51 0TJ Tel: +44 (0) 1242 680116 Mob: +34 678 235 716 e: scc@almanzora.com www.desertspringsresort.es