In its time the Real Club de Golf Las Brisas has hosted major events such as Their Majesties the King and Queens’ International Cup, the Spanish Open, the Nations’ Cup and the World Cup. Although in recent years there have been no significant tournaments held, 2023 will be an emotional year as the club rediscovers its competitive DNA when it hosts the Spanish Women’s Open from the 23rd to 26th of November.
That tournament will also see the winner crowned of the Race to Costa del Sol, the European Tour ranking, one of the most exciting moments of the season.
The Real Club de Golf Las Brisas will be hosting the Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España 2023, the tournament which, as has been the tradition now since 2020, will close the Ladies European Tour season and decide the winner of the Race to Costa del Sol, the series ranking.
This means this historic course, designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr. in 1968 and updated by Kyle Phillips in 2015, will retake the reins of “a club success story that had been on hold for the last 20 years,” says Paul Muñoz, general manager of RCG Las Brisas. Our membership was convinced that the DNA of the club, which has the celebration of major events in its bones, needed to be rekindled, and the Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España fitted perfectly with what we were looking for.”
Royal Las Brisas has had a magnificent past, hosting great tournaments such as the two World Cups of 1973 and 1989 or the two Spanish Opens in 1983 and 1987, and it has also welcomed players of the stature of Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Seve Ballesteros, José María Olazábal, Nick Faldo and José María Cañizares. “This tournament will once again put Real Club de Golf Las Brisas on the golfing map. We want to bring back the buzz the club once had, and doing that with a women’s event is a real plus, not only because that sport is on the up, but also because it will reposition the club and put us on the map in a really interesting way,” Muñoz adds.
As for the course, which will host the best players on the European Tour, there will be several holes that could be decisive, especially since its redesign, although, “the 11th hole will be the one to watch and most exciting, as it was here that we saw the greatest moments in the tournaments held in the 70s and 80s,” he explains. “The key to success and to taming Real Club de Golf Las Brisas will be consistent play. I think the player who focuses on picking up fairways and reading the greens well will have a good chance of winning”.
The design of Royal Las Brisas is particularly enhanced by the landscaping created by Englishman Gerald Huggan. Just like a botanical garden, plants and trees from all continents fill the course with imagination and colour. The Cape chestnut and thorny acacias, the Indian laurel and Mysore fig from Asia, the South American floss silk tree, the Mexican ash and the Australian whistling pine, as well as numerous palms and Mediterranean trees, are just some of the species that will keep players company along the course.
The Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España will be being staged for the twenty-first time and counts two Spaniards among its previous winners, Azahara Muñoz (twice) and Carlota Ciganda. The tournament will be the finishing touch to what will undoubtedly be the best year in the history of Spanish women’s golf, following on from the Solheim Cup from 18 to 24 September.