The beautiful Parque Torre Leonera in Benahavís (Málaga) set the scene for the launch of the Club Ambassador Programme, an initiative linked to the Solheim Cup 2023 that brought together 40 Solheim Cup ambassadors. For the first time in the tournament’s history, this international team competition will pit Europe against the United States on Spanish soil, from 18 to 24 September 2023 at Finca Cortesín (Costa del Sol, Andalusia).
The programme aims to bring the Solheim Cup closer to golfers all over the world and gives participating clubs and organisations a wide range of benefits for promoting it (for example, a travel package on special terms for the Solheim Cup 2021, played this year in the United States). To do this, the role of Solheim Cup 2023 ambassador has been created, recognising those players and club members with a special gift for inspiring, mobilising and communicating, all essential qualities to spread the importance of, and the pride in, hosting the Solheim Cup in 2023.
Having secured the unanimous support of the Spanish and Andalusian institutions (all of them represented at Parque Torre Leonera), the Solheim Cup 2023 is now strengthening its ties with the golfing community through this initiative. That was clear at the ceremony in which the ambassadors received their credentials, chaired by the mayor of Benahavís, José Antonio Mena, with speeches also from Ángeles Muñoz, mayor of Marbella, José Carrasco, mayor of Casares, and Pablo Mansilla, president of the RFGA. The event was attended by 40 ambassadors of ten different nationalities, the first representatives of a group that already has members in Spain (led by Ana Belén Sánchez, who played in the 2003 Solheim Cup) and across the Atlantic (such as the Andalusian professional Belén Mozo, now based in Colombia, and Azucena Maldonado, president of the Latina Golfers Association in Los Angeles, USA), and whose enthusiasm and motivation were plain to see throughout the ceremony.
José Antonio Mena, mayor of Benahavís and host of the event, stressed in his speech how important the Solheim Cup 2023 is for Benahavís and the Costa del Sol, and highlighted the key role the ambassadors will play in making the Costa del Sol, Andalusia, Spain and the whole world breathe golf from now until the 2023 edition.
“The event that will take place in just over two years is of fundamental importance for the Costa del Sol, so the call being made with the launch of this programme is hugely important. I wanted to use this occasion to thank Montse, María, Rocío, Lola and all your fellow ambassadors. You, the ambassadors, are the ones who, over these years, will make this event and its setting, the Costa del Sol and Andalusia, known, at a time when these efforts are more necessary than ever to show everything the south of Spain has to offer,” said José Antonio Mena.
For his part, Pablo Mansilla, president of the RFAG, underlined how excitement drives an international event of this kind, and the essential role of women golfers with a federation licence in building an initiative of this scale.
“The Solheim Cup isn’t only important for tourism, which it is, but also for sport. It will be the first time we have a Solheim Cup here in Spain, something hugely important for sport in Málaga, on the Costa del Sol, in Andalusia and in Spain… and above all for women’s sport. And you have to get across what the Solheim Cup is going to be everywhere (Andalusia, Costa del Sol, Marbella, Benahavís, Casares), because the Solheim Cup has to be felt everywhere, and you have to make a lot of noise. The way it’s done at the Solheim Cup: with great respect, but so that everyone knows we are here, that golf is a wonderful sport, the number one sport for women’s licences in Andalusia, and that there need to be many more of us,” said Pablo Mansilla.
The Solheim Cup 2023, an event of exceptional public interest whose official venue is Finca Cortesín, is sponsored by PING, Costa del Sol and Rolex as global partners, and by Andalucía, Acosol, Marbella City Council and Benahavís City Council as official partners. Solán de Cabras, Eversheds Sutherland and Casares City Council are official suppliers. Marca and Radio Marca are the official media. LET, LPGA, RFEG, RFGA and Deporte & Business collaborate in its organisation.
Report: Andalucía Golf