Spain has officially declared the Solheim Cup 2023 to be of Exceptional Public Interest. It is the first women’s golf event to be given the designation, which gives an idea of the tournament’s importance. In the initial study undertaken as part of Spain’s bid for the event, hosting the Solheim Cup was judged to be directly worth more than 254 million euros for the local economy, generating a significant amount of employment in the area. With this in mind, local institutions and public bodies agreed to join forces and take the project forward. Among those public bodies involved was Marbella Council.
With that vision, the municipality has been one of the key promoters of the 2023 Solheim Cup, with the town already clearly on the map through the internationally known Marca Marbella name. Above all, considering the tournament will sees teams from Europe and the United States facing each other, the town’s attraction for visitors is expected to be another draw for the fans.
Despite being an open secret, it wasn’t until October 13, 2021 that it was made official that the Solheim Cup would be coming to Andalucía in 2023. The Solheim Cup is a very, very big event and although the agreement had been reached several months before, everything had to be finalised first before the announcement.
The road to the Solheim Cup 2023 has been far from easy. Since the idea of hosting the tournament was first raised in 2009, bids have been submitted four times. The first, in 2011, saw the tournament finally go to Ireland; the second, in 2015, the bidding was won by Germany; and on the third attempt, in 2019, the event went to Scotland. During the bids, other proposals were considered from other Spanish destinations that did not come to fruition. The obvious next question is, therefore, why did Spain win this time? Well, as pretty much always, there’s never a single answer to a difficult question and this one is no exception.
Andalucía has the best golf offer in Spain and especially on the Costa del Sol and in its ‘capital’, Marbella. This is the reason why Sport & Business, organisers of the event, always had the Costa del Sol in mind as first choice to host the Solheim Cup in 2023. For a start, the destination could offer an unrivalled hotel infrastructure, its quantity and quality of golf courses and a climate where you can play golf all year round.
But that’s not all. It’s no accident that the destination is a favourite not only nationally but also internationally; this has been driven for years by different public authorities at a regional and local level, understanding the huge potential that golf tourism has for lengthening the tourist season and increasing visitor numbers. This kind of support is a further reason why it’s possible to hold the biggest women’s golf event on the Costa del Sol.
Although the main difference with the previous bids was that it was a straight choice this time round, with no need to compete with other destinations, the bid presented to the Ladies European Tour was watertight. It was simply unbeatable. Five-times organiser of the Andalucía Costa del Sol Open de España, doubling the prize fund and turning it into the grand final of the circuit, the sponsorship of the Race to Costa del Sol for three years and very strong financial guarantees to ensure an event of the highest level. The joint offer submitted to the Ladies European Tour exceeded 23 million euros, of which almost 40 per cent was guaranteed by the sponsors.
Selecting which club would host the 2023 Solheim Cup was another of the key moments in the plan. The choice of a course that could host the tournament was by no means easy. In simple terms, a top-level course was needed, with exceptional upkeep and a lot of space to house the facilities needed at the event, and having a hotel at the course itself was always going to be valued highly too. The organisers, along with the experts from the Ladies European Tour, representing Europe, and the Ladies Professional Golf Association, for America, visited a total of six courses – each of them with their own pros and cons. In the end, it was felt that Finca Cortesin would be the best option because its features are perfectly suited to the demands of an event on this scale.
Overall, the project has been a joint effort by all involved, and the organisers, sponsors, public bodies, courses and the entire Spanish golf industry in general, have built up an unstoppable momentum heading into the biggest women’s golf event, the Solheim Cup 2023.