I’m surprised I’m allowed on a golf course after the amount of balls I redistributed from the course in Oxford not far from my home. It was a sort of service that a few of us young lads carried out, wading through the brook in wellies and pearl diving for barely damaged chunky white golf balls before selling them on to keen local players. Obviously it’s not rated as a deadly sin and I’m not on a computer bad boy list, just as well as my work takes me to many of the splendid golf courses around Tenerife.
Today was the opening day of the Tenerife Ladies Match Play at Golf Las Americas so I popped in as Tenerife Magazine are an official media partner for this years event. It was nice to walk down the Calle Llanos de Troya at the side of the ground without being accosted by young professional ladies, when we get dropped of their from football trips late evening they are always plying their trade. I don’t mind the accosting so much but wish they would stop saying Hello Mr Colin, the usual sir? Anyway walking under the television crane on the entry to the club house reminded me of the huge international media interest in this European Tour Event. After saying my hellos I set off around the course to see which players I could catch up with.
As luck would have it at the 11th hole I found Felicity Johnson (top pic) squaring off against Krystle Caithness of Scotland. I followed (not in a stalking way) Felicity on the final day at Golf Costa Adeje 2 years ago when she won the Tenerife Ladies Open, as it was then called. The Aston Villa fanatic was in good form and eventually knocked her opponent out of this years competition to progress to the final 16.
Lingering at the hole I wondered what sort of vandal would drag a throbbing red Stingray SX speedboat onto the course and dump it by the green. Then I realised it was the prize for getting a hole in one at that particular hole, pretty nifty eh. Last years winner Trish Johnson (above purple and pensive) soon followed down to the green with her opposite number Stacey Keating (below)from Australia. Bristol girl Trish was having a bad day at the office on her way to being eliminated.
The ladies had started at 8.30 am and were whizzing through the action, I wandered off and managed to see Stacey Lee Bregman from South Africa as she disposed of Jenni Kuosa of Finland. The intense heat remained as the cloud rolled in to cover the sun and with the buggys bouncing their way back to the clubhouse I took a long leisurely stroll to explore the lakes and rivers that make this such a lovely course. The swans and ducks seemed unbothered by all the flurry of attention, there weren’t many spectators on course but hopefully it will pick up on Saturday and Sunday as people log off from work. Hopefully I will be able to bag a few pics of the winning player on Sunday.