How lucky can members at La Cala Golf be ? Well, the aim of the newsletter is to report on our club competitions, social events and assist our international members keep up to date on all the news while they are away in their home countries or travelling the world. This month, due to volume of news, you lucky members are going to receive two newsletters...so here is the first one which allows us the opportunity to provide more coverage of the Cudeca Cup!
We start with the results from the Stableford competition held on 31st May as due to the amount of news from the May Festival Week we were unable to fit it in last month.
Playing on Asia a number of ladies, always open to something different - decided to play from the Green Tees for a change - with the corresponding handicap cuts of course. Reports reaching the Scribbler suggest that this will not be the last time that some ladies will take on the challenge..apparently it was a fun, relaxing day and the ladies all played to their handicaps with the lowest score from the green tees being 35 points. However, it was Ineke de Kloe who took top spot, from the red tees, with 40 points and earned herself a -0.7 cut to 18.1. Wendy Warren was cut -0.4 to 24.5 with her posted 37 points, and took 2nd place on handicap from Marie Wilson who received an adjustment of -0.2 to 25.3. There was no adjustment ..yet...for Loraine Enriquez Murphy for her 37 points in 4th place. It is good to see all the handicap adjustments each week and it has not gone unnoticed that our Lady Captain Kate Bradley received a -0.5 cut to take her out of the frozen zone and is on her way back down !
On any other day 39 points could be good enough to win but not today.! Today 39 points only managed to get David Lansdowne into 5th place (receiving a -0.5 cut to 22.1) and pipped by JP Karlsson who took 4th place on his lower handicap of 6.5. 40 points should have seen celebrations..and be more than enough to win - but today Matti Kaarnakari Kari only managed to get into 3rd place and receive a -0.7 cut to 19.8 as Alan Jewett pipped him into 2nd place..and received a -0.6 cut to 12.7 ! It took a brilliant 44 points from a delighted Richard Hinds (who saw his handicap slashed by -2.4 taking his new handicap to 21.9 ) to get onto the winners podium - Great golf - Well done gentlemen !
XXVIII LA CALA CUDECA CUP
To change the process of dying to a process of living. Although we cannot add days to life, in Cudeca we try to add quality of life to days through our “special kind of caring”.
On Saturday 4th June, La Cala Resort hosted a very special day in collaboration with the Cudeca Foundation. The aim of the event was to raise funds to support Cudeca and allow them to continue with their special welfare community work and way of caring. The XXVIII La Cala Cudeca Cup coincides with the 30th anniversary of the Foundation and La Cala resort members have been supporting Cudeca since the beginning.
Who better to give an overview of the competition and the work that goes on behind the scenes in the run up to the big day than our Lady Captain Kate Bradley
"An incredible total of 86 golfers (plus guests for lunch) turned out in support of this wonderful local charity. It was a very pleasing result, especially as Cudeca are celebrating 30 years on the coast.
Derek & June Steele, accompanied by her sister Jean Rowland, were at the club bright and early to sell tickets for the "carpark raffle" and a beautiful box of cava & glasses was the prize. They then also set up all the prizes for the Tombola and Raffle for which they, together with a number of members, have collected over the last few months. Judi Lentelink had her jar of "shrapnel", which she had collected over the year and helped by the large jar donation by Richard Ledgard there was both a "Guess the Weight" and a "Guess the Amount" competition. Robert Mitchell welcomed all the participants and thanked them for their support of Cudeca. All the players went to their respective buggies and were led to their tees by the buggy desk staff for a silent shotgun start.
Damien Murphy Jr. was waiting on the 16th Tee for those who wanted to challenge and "Beat the Pro" - and win a sleeve of golfballs...Thanks to the generosity of the players 355€ was raised by Damien and only a few people managed to "Beat the Pro" ! After golf everyone was seated in the new terrace area and the merriment began. The Tombola stall was busy with people racing up to check if they had a winning ticket - there was a great selection of items to be won and the amount of 371€ was raised ....well done the Steele family as always.
It was a beautiful sunny day but, as can happen, the wind was blowing pretty hard so it made for a difficult day of golf, for some, and some shaky blinds on the terrace later!. The raffle ticket numbers were called out as people were being served the barbecue and there were some "oooos" and "aaaaaas" as the lucky winners names were called. Marie Wilson had been selling raffle tickets for months, with some help from Loraine and Judi, and on the day Marie was able to announce that she had collected over 1,500€ ……..absolutely fantastic!!! Rafa (Peter & Janice Marler´s dog) managed to raise over 100€ when he allowed Janice to sell off a selection of golf balls he had found on his daily walks ! Woof ! Every little helps !
It was then time to open the big event of the day - the Auction. Kate had difficulty keeping all the prizes on the table at times as the wind gusts were extremely strong however she and Damien got right into it. Damien, as always, was determined to get the best money from the crowd for each item and as there were some wonderful items available including holidays, green fees at some of the best courses and dinner vouchers for some of the best restaurants on the coast it didn't take too long for the bidding wars to start.
Janice Marler was the very determined winner of Max the Bear and she immediately handed it to Esther where it will take pride of place in the new Cudeca Pediatric section that is almost ready to open. The totals are not yet finalised as there is still money coming in from members for the Tee Sponsorship and additional donations but, just the auction on the day raised more than last year and will be over 6,000 Euros. Thank you everyone !
Our Golf Director Robert Mitchell then began the prize giving ceremony and it was good to see a mix of La Cala members and guest participants being victorious.
The winners were in 3 categories: Category Two (Men) was decided on handicap with both players carding 43 points - 1st Place went to Seamus Neary with 2nd place going to Job David. 3rd place went to Leonardo Franco with 41 points. La Cala however was able to raise a cheer for Timothy Kellerman (Buggy Desk) who scored 40 points and held on to 4th Place (also on handicap) by pushing our Men's Captain Peter Bradley (also with 40 points) into 5th place. Well done gentlemen !
The Category One (Men) section was very tight indeed but we needn't have worried. The winner taking 1st place and the Cudeca Cup for 2022 was La Cala resident : Martin Dawkins with 43 points. 2nd place also went to a La Cala resident - Alan Jewett who carded 42 points (a winning score most days!) - In 3rd place was Jacopo Montaruli, 36 points, 4th Place was Steven Paul Brown on 34 points and in 5th place was long time Cudeca supporter Simon Rivers on 32 points. Welcome back Simon and well done to everyone.
The players in the Ladies Category were not behind the door in showing their commitment either with 4 of the top 5 places going to La Cala Ladies! In 1st place with 41 points was Loraine Enriquez Murphy, 2nd place went to Marielouis Boxtel with 40 points. Maria Gardemyr scored 36 points to take 3rd place, just pipping Lady Vice Captain Janice Marler into 4th place on handicap with Wendy Warren taking 5th place with 35 points. Well played Ladies !
Captain Peter Bradley thanked everyone for coming and expressed to Esther from Cudeca how pleased we all were to again be assisting Cudeca. He then thanked Robert Mitchell and all his staff for their tremendous effort in making it such a special day. (Especially as there was another event taking place, also with 100 people attending !) - It is great to see the club busy and starting to do well again.
The final total raised will be confirmed in the next newsletter as we wait for the final sums of money to be transferred to the bank but all in all it was a fantastic day for a superb cause."
BATTLE LINES DRAWN ON EUROPA
The morning of 7th June dawned bright and sunny as the members made their way to battle it out on Europa. And a battle of sorts it was but with Jill & Roy Davies claiming both the Ladies and Gents top spots it was kept nicely in the family !
1st Place - Jill Davies 42 points - cut -0.9 to a new handicap of 18.6. - In 2nd place was stalwart Pauline Hilliard with 36 points and earning a cut of -0.3 to take her to handicap to 20.9 nudging Annamaria Van Anderlecht into 3rd place. Also with 36 points and (finally) earning a cut of -0.3 to reduce her handicap to 28.7. Just one off the prizes in 4th place with 35 points was Loraine Enriquez Murphy whose recent good form has finally see her receive a -0.7 cut to a new handicap of 25.3. It will be interesting to see if the fine weather over the summer brings more downwards adjustments !
Photo: L-R : Annamaria Van Anderlecht, Jill Davies, Pauline Hilliard
There were quite a few handicap calculations required for this week's prize giving - 39 points was the winning score, again tied on handicap, so giving 1st place to Roy Davies (cut -0.6 to 15.9) from Louis Lentelink in 2nd place and a -0.9 cut to 20.3. Hans Linderborg produced 38 points (no adjustment...yet) and then it was a five man tie..all on 36 points for Gerry Rippinger (cut -0.2 to 18.9), Campbell McGarvie (+ 0.1 to 19.7), Pat Reid (finally with a decent cut of -0.7 to 25.7)... with a warm welcome back to Sten Valentin and another steady round for Erling Johnsen..both in the frozen zone with no adjustments....yet !
Photo: L to R: Gerry Rippinger & Roy Davies
Golf Course Maintenance Schedule
Saturday Fever has begun as from now until end August all our weekend competitions will be held on Saturday - and we will be on America & Asia during the month of July and then America & Europa in August as the maintenance teams work on preparing the courses for the busy autumn and winter season.
AM / AM on ASIA
The heat has arrived ! - A very hot and sticky morning saw just 7 teams make it to the starting tees on Saturday 11th June - 35º was forecasted so shade and a cool breeze was hoped for... there was a lot of laughter heard around the golf course and everybody arrived back into the clubhouse in great form - The AM/AM format - two stableford scores to count - was enjoyed by everyone but...now that the summer is here..many are also looking forward to some Mid Summer Madness ...or not !
Linn Grant - One to watch !
It would be remiss of us to end this special edition of the newsletter without making any reference to Linn Grant . The DP World Tour's first ever female winner who blew the field apart to win with a nine-shot lead over legend Henrik Stenson. Grant, who only turned professional late last year, entered the tournament ranked as the women's world 156 and fired in 26 birdies and an eagle on the way to her sixth win this year.
Photo: L-R Swedish legends Annika Sorenstam and Henrik Stenson (right) with winner Linn Grant
ADMIRATION FROM AFAR
A busy month, a busy twosome. Scribbler appreciates more than most what is involved in producing the newsletter and, being in his Hampshire home for the first time in almost three years, is more than thankful for not having to worry about anything so far this month. In people terms it has been a very rewarding stay, albeit a relatively short one, but almost everything else has been frustrating, time consuming, and disruptive. Focusing on the newsletter would have been impossible. Grateful thanks therefore to Loraine and Dorothee for stepping into the breach - and doing such a fine job.!