Main champions, Ryder Cup gamers and world winners are teeing it up on the fourth common occasion of the Legends Tour season, the Costa Navarino Legends Tour Trophy.
The Legends Tour returns to Greece for the second Costa Navarino Legends Tour Trophy, with Paul Lawrie, Michael Campbell, Scott Hend and Stephen Gallacher headlining a global subject with gamers from all six inhabited continents.
Along with seven former Ryder Cup gamers, two-time DP World Tour champion Anthony Wall is making his debut and PGA Tour winner Bo Van Pelt is taking part in in his first common Legends Tour occasion, having made his over-50s bow on the latest Senior PGA Championship in America – the primary of three majors that depend on the Order of Advantage.
It was one other American who wrote his identify within the historical past books final 12 months as Clark Dennis received the inaugural Costa Navarino Legends Tour Trophy with a rating of -17. The Texan is relishing the prospect of defending his title in Greece after having fun with his first go to to the nation a lot 12 months in the past: “It was nice. The venue was simply wonderful from the beginning. I assumed the programs had been sensible and we simply had a implausible time the entire week. There’s loads of historical past and loads of enjoyable issues to see, and the resort is unimaginable. I can’t suggest it extremely sufficient for individuals to go and expertise it.”
This 12 months’s event will once more be performed over two of the 4 programs at Costa Navarino, though there’s a slight tweak with Thursday’s opening spherical going down on the Hills, moderately than the Bay. The second and third rounds will once more happen on the Worldwide Olympic Academy Golf Course, that means each of this 12 months’s layouts had been designed by Jose Maria Olazabal. The Dunes, which was designed by Bernhard Langer and opened in Might 2010, is the fourth course at Costa Navarino.
Scoring was extremely low on the Bay 12 months in the past, but it surely was the Olympic the place Dennis got here to the fore with two rounds of 66 to return by means of the sector and win by 4 photographs, so he is aware of precisely what it takes to attain nicely on the primary event format: “The Olympic is a extremely good golf course. I assumed it was very reasonable. It’s very scorable should you drive it within the fairway, however should you begin to drive it a little bit crooked, it may be powerful. You must drive it within the fairway, after which iron play is essential. The greens are truthful, however a little bit tough with some slopes on them. Most significantly, you need to drive it nicely.”
Costa Navarino is broadly considered top-of-the-line golf resorts in Europe, with five-star accommodations, luxurious villas, unimaginable eating places and the 4 signature golf programs all on-site, only a 40-minute drive from Kalamata Airport. The Mediterranean local weather is ideal for golf and the quartet of programs all supply unimaginable views of Navarino Bay, which was the positioning of one of the vital important naval battles in Greek historical past in October 1827.
Dennis had his son Phillip caddying for him final 12 months, and he credit speaking concerning the native historical past throughout his ultimate spherical as a contributor to his success: “Phillip and I had been having chat. He’s a historical past buff, so he was telling me concerning the Battle of Navarino Bay, which occurred down proper under the place we had been taking part in. That stored me excited about different issues and stored my focus off the leaderboard and onto simply having fun with the second, in order that helped.”
The victory enabled the 2017 Order of Advantage primary to complete 12th on the season-long factors listing final 12 months, and he wants one other massive week this time round as he’s at the moment exterior the highest 50 following a gradual begin to 2025. Scott Hend sits on the high this season courtesy of a win on the Barbados Legends hosted by Ian Woosnam and a runner-up end on the Staysure Marbella Legends. The Aussie shall be assured of constructing on that lead at a venue the place he’s performed nicely, having completed runner-up to Dennis in Greece final 12 months.
Angel Cabrera is second after victory on the Senior PGA Championship, and Simon Griffiths, final 12 months’s Barry Lane Rookie of Yr, rounds out the highest three.
The Costa Navarino Legends Tour Trophy takes place from Thursday 12th-Saturday 14th June, and you’ll maintain up-to-date with the dwell scoring at www.legendstour.com.
ABOUT THE LEGENDS TOUR
Previously generally known as the European Senior Tour and the Staysure Tour, the Legends Tour is the lads’s skilled golf tour for members aged 50 and older. Created in 1992, the Legends Tour’s lively membership options lots of the pioneering champions who performed on the European Tour in the course of the Seventies, 80s, 90s and past. Colin Montgomerie, Sam Torrance and Ian Woosnam are among the many winners of the John Jacobs Trophy, awarded to the golfer who finishes first on the Legends Tour Order of Advantage.
The Legends Tour offers unmatched taking part in experiences for beginner golfers at its Legends Experience, Championship Pro-Am and Celebrity Pro-Am occasions. These experiences present golfers with distinctive alternatives to rub shoulders with and play alongside legends of the sport at world-class venues all over the world. In September 2020, Ryan Howsam, Staysure Group CEO, acquired a majority fairness share within the Tour in a ground-breaking three way partnership with the European Tour, a novel construction whereby a person has the bulk possession in knowledgeable tour.
ABOUT COSTA NAVARINO
Costa Navarino is a sustainably pushed vacation spot within the Mediterranean, positioned in Messinia within the southwest Peloponnese of Greece. Graced with a breath-taking seaside panorama, it is a area formed by 4,500 years of historical past. The Costa Navarino philosophy is pushed by a real need to protect the pure magnificence and heritage of Messinia. The vacation spot contains a number of distinct websites that includes five-star accommodations, luxurious non-public residences, a world-class golf expertise, and lots of year-round actions.
Navarino Dunes is residence to The Romanos, a Luxurious Assortment Resort, The Westin Resort Costa Navarino and Costa Navarino Residences. Navarino Bay is the setting for Mandarin Oriental, Costa Navarino, W Costa Navarino and Navarino Agora, a curated market. Each websites have signature golf programs, whereas at Navarino Hills there are two additional signature golf programs. www.costanavarino.com
ABOUT THE EUROPEAN TOUR GROUP
The European Tour group administers the DP World Tour, the HotelPlanner Tour, the Legends Tour and the G4D Tour and, because the Managing Companion of Ryder Cup Europe LLP, phases golf’s best crew contest, the Ryder Cup, in partnership with the PGA of America.
The European Tour group has Strategic Partnerships with the PGA TOUR, the Sunshine Tour, the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia, the China Golf Affiliation (CGA), the Japan Golf Tour Group (JGTO), the Korea Skilled Golfers’ Affiliation (KPGA), and the TATA Metal Skilled Golf Tour of India. These partnerships present world pathways for gamers from internationally to compete internationally on the DP World Tour, the primary males’s skilled golf Tour of the European Tour group which was established in 1972, in addition to the HotelPlanner Tour.
For extra data on the Legends Tour go to www.legendstour.com
For media accreditation or requests contact press@legendstour.com
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