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''LA MANGA CLUB 1972-1997
Evolution and recent history of the area
of Atamaria"
By Rogelio Mouzo Pagan
I would like to dedicate this book to my wife, Carmen Martinaz Soto, and our five children, Francisca, Rogelio, Gregorio, Dolores, and Maria del Carmen.
To my workmates at Inmogolf S.A. and to all those who have contributed to make La Manga Club the magnificent place it is.
Acknowledgements
I would like to express my gratitude to the directors of Inmogolf S.A. for all their help and to all those who, with their contributions and testimonies, have helped with the task of writing this book:
Alfonso Hernandez, Pedro Hernández Celdrán, etc
General Index
Acknowledgements
Prologue by Manuel Sanchez Alvarez
Foreword
CHAPTER I
Historical Background
The village of Atamaria
The estates around Atamaria
The El Coto estate
Television reaches Atamaria
The El Mojon and the El Estudiante estates
The mining in the area
Other activities in the surroundimgs
The shop, come tobacconist’s, of the Andreu family
The boys’ and girls’ schools and other institutions
Song to the village of Atamaria
CHAPTER II
The setting up of two companies, Atamaria S.A. and La Manga Campos de Golf S.A.
The early days of the project
The evolution of the price of shares in La Manga Campos de Golf S.A.
CHAPTER III
The building of the residential area and the two golf courses
Water prospections
Robert Dean Putnam, the designer of the two golf courses
Getting under way with the courses
Division of the land into plots and laying out of electricity and water supplies
The first building work (The Clubhouse)
Decorating and gardening
The El Coto installations
The first golf pros
The cooks and other catering staff
CHAPTER IV
The opening of the golf course installations
The Chevrolet Tournament, with $20 000 and a car at stake
The 1st International Maritime Cup (the famous people’s pro am)
The 2nd International Maritime Pro am
The tournament
CHAPTER V
The Caddies
The interview
A good tip
The caddies’ strike
CHAPTER VI
The Spanish Open at La Manga Campo de Golf. 1973, ’74, ’75, ’76 and ’77.
Gregory Peters’ influence
Coles wins the first of the five Spanish Opens at La Manga
1974, the 48th Spanish Open
The 50th Spanish Open
The Spanish participants in the 51st Spanish Open
The 51st Spanish Open
Golfing Merit Medal for Gregory Peters
Other championships held at La Manga
The Huarte Trophy
The special La Manga pro-am and the Spain-Portugal amateur match
Players and anecdotes of those early years
The hotelling family
CHAPTER VII
Industrial action and the business crisis
The King and Queen of Spain visit La Manga
CHAPTER VIII
The business take-over
Dennington España takes over the property
International Golf Competitions, USA vs. The Rest of the World
La Manga Country Club and La Manga Club
Telephone Centre and the main reception area
P&O buys La Manga Club
The Christmas spirit at La Manga
CHAPTER IX
Sports Facilities
The Tennis Centre and the Oasis
Tennis pros
The opening of the Health and Beauty centre
CHAPTER X
Tennis Tournaments
The Spain vs. Canada Davis Cup match
The matches themselves
The 43rd Spanish Tennis Championships for Ladies
The Galera-Valerio Cup at La Manga
The International Tennis circuit (A.T.P.)
The first Gran Premio Pino Real A.T.P. tournament
The Caja Murcia/ Costa Calida ATP tournaments
The Fed Cup
Other tennis events
CHAPTER XI
Football at La Manga
The first football pitch
Teams that have spent time at LMC
The Spanish and Maltese U-21 squads
Famous footballers at LMC
CHAPTER XII
A new golf course, the West Course
The West Course
Other golf tournaments
CHAPTER XIII
Ladies golf
Ladies’ golf week
The Ladies’ Opens
Golf news and other curiosities
CHAPTER XIV
Other events taken place at La Manga Club
Gari Kasparov’s Chess Match in 1989
Visits made by Ministers
The present President of Spain, Jose Maria Aznar, visits La Manga
An informal meeting of the EEC’s transport ministers
The 3rd International Energy Conference
Other illustrious visitors
CHAPTER XV
Other Sports at La Manga
The cricket pitch
The riding school
The ONCE cycling team
The 19th Edition of the Spanish Archery Championships
The racing pigeons championships in 1987
The 5th sailing Championships of Spain
Other events
CHAPTER XVI
Other events
200 Directors of Travel Agencies in Cartagena (April 1977)
The Red Cross Golden Lottery
Famous film stars at LMC
Famous People
The British company JCB holds its Convention at La Manga Club
Beauty contests at LMC
CHAPTER XVII
Housing developments at La Manga Club
Buildings and street lightings
The road to the beach
The Beach Club on the Mar Menor
The Golf Bungalows and the detached villas
The Miradores apartments
Bellaluz village and its opening day
Los Altos,1st and 2nd phases, Los Molinos, Las Higueras and Las Palmeras
El Rancho
La Quinta Club
Las Lomas
El Forestal, Las Brisas and the other new urbanisations
The Las Mimosas Hotel
The Principe Felipe Hotel
The Las Parras restaurant, the Rincon de Papas and La Plaza
CHAPTER XVIII
Owner Committees
The General Community
Committees chairmen
Activities, owners’ clubs, the international ladies’ club
The International LMC church
The International School of Cartagena
The Medical Centre
The security services
Forest fires
CHAPTER XIX
La Manga Club, its present and its future
The Casino
Final considerations
Appendix number 1. The periodical publications at LMC
Appendix number 2. A summary of all the golf competitions
Sources of information
Abbreviations: LMCG La Manga Campo de Golf. LMC La Manga Club.
THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF LA MANGA CLUB
Lord Sterling of Plaistow, chairman P&O, is seen here cutting the cake on the 25th anniversary of La Manga Club. On his right is Tony Coles, the managing director of Inmogolf S.A. and on his left is John Sterling, a director of Bovis Ltd. With them are some of the players who took part in the La Manga 1997 Classic. Tennis’ David Lloyd, judo champion Brian Jacks and comedians Jasper Carrot, Bruce Forsyth and Dave Wolf were just a few of the famous people who played in the Classic.
Rogelio Mouzo is someone that is full of character and, at the same time, someone who is dearly loved by all those who know him. He has a remarkable capacity of commitment and the fact that he is always willing to give up his time for the most varied things, just causes or studies is commendable.
Several years ago Rogelio, who is also interested in the mining history of the local area, guided a group of directors 100 metres down into a mine. The mine was one of many that had been worked by children. Walking among stones that had been chipped away at with the only help of picks and shovels and carried on the backs of men who had worked in the damp, dark mine gave us a sense of awe similar to the one felt when visiting a cathedral. Despite the result of the work carried out in a cathedral being very different, it is also, however, superior to most men’s will, and this could be felt in the respectful silence we all kept.
Here, in this book, Rogelio again delves into the recent past of the area of Atamaria, where Nature and man have harmoniously come together to become one.
Many are the stories that go to make up the History of the area, as are the experiences gone through by those who have lived here. It is always good to look back into the past when forging the way for the future.
At the staff Christmas party in 1997 Rogelio was congratulated for his 25 years of service for Inmogolf S.A., as were another nine of his workmates. His view of the last 25 years is both personal and interesting, full of anecdotes and facts that, without a shadow of a doubt, make this book an interesting read.
The secret behind La Manga Club lies in two crucial factors: its singularity brought about by its excellence and, its employees. A tourist complex between the Mar Menor and the Mediterranean, sheltered by the hills that surround it forming a valley and the temperature and son that give it a touch of character. All it needed were, the golf courses, the tennis courts, the invaluable contribution of the more than 1000 house and flat owners on the complex, for it to be unique.
All this has to be mixed with the men, women and children from Portman, the miners from La Union,the farmers from Los Belones, the military men from Cartagena or with the workers from Bazan Shipbuilders; with those who have come from England, France, Germany, Sweden and many other corners of the globe (including New Zealand) to put their effort, and probably their professional and work expectations, into this great project that La Manga is and which always keeps a human exterior.
As a kind of itroduction to the subject that the author describes, I would like to tell an anecdote that reflects many of these aspects.
The year was 1993 and we were finishing the extension and building work of what was to become the Principe Felipe Hotel. Everything was going well but John Boyle, the Bovis project director in charge of the work, was not happy. Mr Boyle ran from man to man telling them that he was not completely happy. According to Mr. Boyle the work had to fulfil certain conditions: be ready on time, stay within the budget and be the scene of no major accident. The client had also been able to make all the alterations he had thought appropriate throughout its construction, however, there were only two weeks left to go for Mr. Boyle to reach his last objective. He told everybody that he had studied the problem and there were two possible solutions but that time was running against them.
The hidden objective Mr. Boyle had was “love”. Until then, every tome he had been involved in a great piece of work two people, who had not known each other before starting the job and who would not have met if it were not for the job, ended up happily married. Towards the end of this job he had placed all his hopes on two young engineers or, that something totally out of the blue would bring together one the girls in charge of the cleaning and one of the builders, but this was highly unlikely.
The hotel was finished and, apparently, there had been no “love”. However, a week after the hotel had been handed over to its owners, an announcement came. Maria, the engineering team’s secretary who was from Miranda near Cartagena, announced her betrothal, and wedding date, to John, an Australian engineer with whom she would move to Australia.
Once love had been found we all felt that the hotel was well and truly finished.
This book contains all the love the author feels for Atamaria and La Manga Club and this can be felt throughout the book. Luckily the requirement of love in books does not demand that the book bring about a wedding, at least I have never heard this be said. However, it is a wish that is never given up.
Manuel Sanchez Alvarez
Cartagena, 2nd January 1998.
Towards the end of the sixties, the people working at the Galúa Hotel were pleasantly surprised by the frequent visits of a quite eccentric American called Gregory Peters. This unknown American was creating a lot of expectation in the area as it was obvious to everyone that he was very rich and, in fact, he owned several businesses in Valencia and Alicante that were involved in the manufacture and export of furniture and leather goods. A sign of his wealth was his generosity and an example of this is that he was frequently known to tip the hotel bellboy, whose monthly wage at the time was 3600 pesetas, 1000 pesetas just for taking his luggage up to his room. This made him a very popular man among all those who had any contact with him and ensured that even the slightest request he made was attended to immediately. The fact that Mr. Peters visited the area very often made people start talking about him and wondering what might be the reason for so many visits.
At the time, La Manga was nothing like it is today as the first few buildings had just sprouted up along the strip and there was a lot of speculating going on as it was obvious that the area had all the makings of an idyllic tourist resort. It was as recently as 1964 that that the foundations of the first building to appear on the strip, "The Black Tower", were laid and it was on the 27th of February 1965 that the first tenant, a certain Mrs. Cathering, moved in and became the strip's first resident. It was around this time, too, that the Entremares and the Galúa hotels were built but the strip was still practically just one long sand dune.
It was not long before Mr. Peters started investing in the area and bought several properties along the strip which included Monte Blanco, the hill next to what is now known as Plaza Bohemia. But it was not until the rumours started spreading that a golf course was going to be built, on the land surrounding Atamaría, that people realised that the investments that were going to be made were going to be very big. People were seen measuring and studying the plots of land, Mr. Peters flew over the area in a helicopter in the company of several land specialists, making the locals realise that something very big and beneficial to them was in the making.
Foto A. Aerial view of the Mar Menor and La Manga. 1970.
From the moment Mr. Peters first laid his eyes on the area surrounding La Manga while sailing just off the Murcian coast, he realised what an ideal tourist spot it could be. It had long beaches, two seas and a wonderful climate, the best in all of Spain. It had so many things going for it that there was only one thing it needed for it to be perfect, and that was a golf course.
His first idea was to build a 9-hole golf course so that he could enjoy it along with his friends, with the hope of it finally turning into a full-blown golf complex like the one in Palm Springs, California. But by the time the well-known golf course designer Robert Dean Putnam arrived in La Manga to look into the project from Fresno, in California, it had grown into something a lot bigger.
The project was something totally new, not only for the district, but for the whole of the Costa Blanca, or White Coast (it was not yet called Costa Cálida, or Warm Coast). Where it had most impact was, of course, in the province of Murcia where golf was an out and out mystery at the time given the closest courses were either in Valencia or in Andalucia. If to all this we add the fact that it was all linked to and being moved by American money, it was as if the big American dream had come to La Manga. The locals, because of their belief that golf was a sport for the wealthy, felt there was going to be an invasion of Sheikhs and multimillionaire tourists ready to spend large sums of money in a land that was very poor and needed all the economic help it could get.... And, it must be admitted, after seeing all the changes that have taken place in La Manga since this project got under way, that this marvellous man called Gregory Peters, who had had this great idea, hit the nail on the head by turning his dreams into reality.
Plano. Topographical and Geological chart of the Cartagena hills drawn by the chief mining engineer Federico de Botella, 1863 – 67.
Chapter 1
Historical Background Atamaría
The village of Atamaría
It can be said that Atamaría is half-surrounded, or half-protected, by a small group of hills, each with its own name, "El Calvario", "Las Cenizas" or "La Caracolera", which are just three of them. Its geographical centre is the “Cabezo de En medio”, which literally translated means "The Hillock in the Middle".
Atamaría belongs to the parish of El Rincón de San Ginés which, in turn, is governed by Cartagena Town Hall. It is around 15 miles from the centre of Cartagena and, despite being so close to two seas, it is a hundred metres above sea level. The houses in Atamaría are spread out over quite a wide area and they enjoy a marvellous climate, an average year-round temperature of 17º C (70ºF approximately) and more than 3000 hours of Sun a year.
There was another village nearby, to the south, which was called La Ribera, and, to a certain extent, the whole area used to be called either one or the other without the matter being given any real importance. Nowadays, the name of Atamaría has taken over and La Ribera has become a name of the past.
#1. Partial view of the village of Atamaría.
As far as the actual name of the village is concerned, the story goes that, a long time ago, there was a woodcutter in the area who, along with his wife, used to collect wood in the hills surrounding the village. Whenever he had gathered enough twigs and sticks to make a bundle, he would stop and tie them up. Most of the times he would get his wife to do the tying up and would tell her to do so with the straight forward order of - "Ata, María" (which, literally translated, means "Tie it up, María") - and so would carry on until it got so late that they had to head for home. Many of the village's elders think that, over the years, the two words, "ata" and "María", have been joined up thus forming the name. This story has not been backed up officially but, all the same, it is worth keeping in mind just as most "stories" of this sort are even if it is just for anecdotal purposes.
What can be proved is that a stream called Atamaría exists. The stream stands out clearly on the topographical map of the area that was used by the mining engineer Francisco Botella y de Hornos when he published his book called "The geological and mining description of the provinces of Murcia and Albacete" in 1868. The book describes the course followed by the Atamaría Stream, which is now called "La Carrasquilla" and is dried up most of the year, and it is obvious that it is the one that runs through the whole of La Manga Club. This is the furthest back we can go in the search for the origins of the name. The most recent reference to it is in the Property Register of La Unión which talks about Atamaría as a hilly woodland area.
The truth of the matter is that, at the beginning of this century, the village grew along with the growth of the local mining. As people settled in Atamaría, shops appeared, there was a school and other services and, at one time, its population was larger than that of Los Belones.
The area came into its own in around 1928, year in which the gun battery on "Las Cenizas” (“Ash Hill") was built. The guns were built by the British firm called Vickers and they were capable of firing a half-ton shell at a target 25 miles away. The guns, similar to the ones depicted in the film "The Guns of Navarone", are on the top of the hill which is a perfect vantage point as, not only can a large area of the Mediterranean coast be seen, but also the whole of the Mar Menor. The battery was closed down a few years ago and there are plans of opening it to the public, giving the area an additional tourist attraction. Today you can walk up to the top of “Las Cenizas” where the views are spectacular.
#2. “Ash Hill” gun battery, Portman.
To build the battery it was necessary to bring in a lot of workers from Cartagena and elsewhere. These men decided that, in order not to have to walk the log distance between home and the site, they would settle in the village with their families. Most of the people living in the village at the time were farmers. There was the "Huerta Calesa" farm, next to the hill called "La Peña del Aguila" (Eagle´s Peak), where many people got jobs collecting wood or helping around the farm. In addition to all this, all the mining going on in the surrounding hills brought a lot of people to the village, making it grow even more.
#3. One of the guns on “Ash Hill”, 1994.
The estates around Atamaría
Proof of the fact that Atamaría used to be mainly farmland is that the village was well-known in the area of Cartagena for its peas. Evidence of this agricultural past can still be seen in the shape of water deposits, the "Benzal" one for example was capable of storing ten thousand cubic metres of water, which would fill up each time it rained. Even though the main source of water was the rain, there were also a deep well where the water was pumped up with the help of a windmill. All that is left of the windmill is part of the building on which it stood.
There were quite a few other wells in the area, some with their own water deposits, and there was even one, next to where the Andreus had their shop, which was worked by a team of mules. All these water deposits and wells were still in use up until not that long ago, when there were still many small farms in the area growing fruit and vegetables.
The largest of all these farms was called “El Contador”. It had 12 acres and was known in the latter year’s as the “Tía Felicia” farm. There was also the 6-acre “Tío Benzal” farm , where the large water deposit was, which was bought from tío Juan, “El Farso”, towards the end of the fifties by Juan Doñate and his sons. It was from this time onwards that the farm was called “Los Valencianos”, as its last owners were from Valencia. There were also many other smaller farms, from ½ an acre to 2 acres big, such as the one that belonged to Julián Muñoz, which was split between his sons Julio and Antonio when he died. There was Tomás el Ministro’s farm, Liarte’s farm, Emilio Carbonero’s farm, Alfonso Campillo’s farm, Francisco Crisantos’ farm. The one that was owned by José Casanova Sánchez was divided into seven plots, one for each of his sons, after he had died. Tía Eusebia Melón, who was a very active lady and a bit on the plump side, had a farm that was also known as the "Tío Pedro Cobacho" farm and then carried on running the small village shop which her husband had run until the day he died.
#4. The “El Contador” estate, 1960. Two of tía Felicia’s sons working on the threshing floor.
“La Cabaña” was the name of one of the most well-known houses in the area, well-known because of its beautiful tile mosaics, which people loved to go and contemplate, on the walls and floors throughout the house and on its terraces . It belonged to Adolfo Hernández Ros, who was from Murcia and had it as his second house. He was supposedly the artist who had tiled the house from top to bottom. It was the only building left standing after the La Manga Campo de Golf had been set up. However, it did not take long before even this last remaining sign of times gone past was sold. It was Waldo Hernández, the sole heir to “La Cabaña”, who sold it to Eric Blackmore, an architect who in turn demolished it and built a series of villas, just next to Los Altos, known as Bella Vista.
The “El Coto” Estate
Despite "El Coto" only having 40 acres, there is recorded evidence of it being considered an estate prior to 1890. Its owners were Atanasia Lápizburu and Luis Angosto y Lápizburu and on the estate there were two houses and the “El Coto” well, which gave the estate its name. Prickly pears, grapes, olives, figs are just a few of the things that were grown there thanks to the constant supply of water from the well.
With time, the estate grew as other smaller plots were bought up. During this period of growth, the estate belonged to the Marcos San family, whose head of the household was an uncle of the “Lady of Los Belones”, but it was mostly run by a tenant called Andrés Sánchez, along with his sons. A smaller part of the estate was being run by a man named José Andreu Delgado. And it remained this way until the estate was bought up.
The whole property was bought by Antonio Bas Conesa for 75 000 pesetas, and Mr. Sanchez’s heirs received some money as compensation from the seller and had to abandon the lands. Once the Sanchez family had left Mr. Andreu became the sole tenant of the whole estate.
#5. Reformed installations of the old “El Coto” estate.
The new owner rented most of his new lands to his brother-in-law, Pedro Hernández, who grew crops on the land along with his twin sons Alfonso and José and the younger one, Pedro. The family settled in the main house on the property, which had stables and storage buildings alongside it, and years later, when the property was bought up by the promoters of the new complex, the buildings were turned into a garage area. It was also where the first offices were, making it the most important building on the complex during its early years.
Electricity had not reached the estate, nor the village as a whole, and it relied entirely on the water from the wells and water deposits. This made most of what was sewn on the land crops that did not require much water such as barley, wheat or oats. Although it was for top-quality peas which were especially sweet, known locally as “negre” peas, that the area was renowned for. The water used for growing these peas was obtained from a well, with the help an American-style windmill. The well was next to the road to Portman, near where the crossing up to Las Lomas is now and gave enough water to allow the locals to grow a variety of garden produce. Most of the garden produce was for their own consumption, but whatever was not used in the village was sold in either La Unión or Cartagena markets.
There was also another Hernández family who had livestock. They had a 100-strong herd of sheep, a small herd of pigs and other smaller farm animals such as chickens, turkeys or rabbits which they kept for themselves. All the work on the land was done with the help of 6 donkeys and mules, a couple of carts for heavy loads and one that was a kind of tip-up cart. Despite the mules and donkeys, most of the work was done by hand apart from, for example, the ploughing which was done with the help of a team of mules. The harvesting was done by hand with the help of teams of men from the centre of Spain especially contracted for the job. The threshing was done on the threshing floor, a round space cleared out on the ground in front of the main house, by means of a thresher with rollers that was dragged over the cereal by a single mule. With the passing of the years, the estate up-dated its farming methods and came to use a mechanical thresher which was placed on the threshing floor.
It was not until around 1957 or ’58 that a second-hand tractor, made in Germany, was brought. It had 55 BHP and helped make all the hard labours around the farm a lot easier to carry out but, when it broke down, it was very difficult to repair due to the lack of spares.
In 1961, Mr. Bas Conesa was able to resolve the problem caused by the lack of electricity. He put up cables that brought the electricity from the nearby mine known as “El Lirio”. He set up a transformer, next to the American-style windmill, that converted the 11000 volts into a useable 220 volts. At the same time several wells were bored and even though these did not bring up much water several fields were sewn with fruit thanks to the water from these wells. However, these crops were soon given up as they were not at all profitable.
In all, things were not going as well as the locals might have hoped, given all the time and hard work they were putting into the land. This made the young men in the village, such as Mr. Hernández Ayuso’s twin sons, leave and look for work elsewhere. One of the brothers went to Barcelona while the other stayed in the area working on a resort. The younger Alfonso decided to stay with their parents, more out of devotion and a feeling of obligation towards them, than because of the money he could make from the land as he was in the same situation as many of the local families who just had to stick it out through thick and thin.
#6. Cistern-well on the “El Coto” estate.
Television reaches Atamaría.
It was not until around 1960 that Television reached Cartagena and the surrounding region. Even though it was only in black and white, the purchase of a television set was far beyond most people’s means.
In 1965, the Hernández Ayuso family was able to buy a black and white set and, helped by the fact the it was the only house in Atamaría with electricity, their house became an evening meeting point for the locals. The evening get-togethers around the “magical box” were a complete novelty to everybody, and the sight would be very much like the one seen at an evening at the “flicks”. In other words the house became the Atamaría cinema, while the evening programmes were being shown.
Time went by very slowly and painfully for all the people living on and around the estate as their living conditions never seemed to get any better. Just as things were starting to hit rock bottom for most families, a man called Emilio Cros appeared on the scene. Mr. Cros was getting to be quite well known in the area as he had played an important role in the sale of the lands that became the Mar de Cristal, a small village of holiday homes next to the Mar Menor, and it did not take long before talk started spreading of the possible sale of “El Coto” .
The fact that nobody was able to live off the land made the Hernández family, the tenants with most acres on the estate, give their consent to the owners to sell the estate. The sale was finalised on the 28th February 1970 and the estate was sold for 25 million pesetas. It was not until after the sale that the estate was properly measured and was found to be 14 acres bigger than it was previously thought to be, increasing the final sale price to 29 million pesetas.
The Hernández family received a million pesetas, in several payments, as compensation for having to leave the lands . But what was more important was the fact that the new owners had agreed to give both father and son jobs in the company that was being set up. It was as if they had hit the jackpot.
As already mentioned, there was another farmer on the lands, apart from the Hernández Ayuso family, called José Andreu Delgado. The plot he used to rent stretched from what we speak of today as the "Oasis" to where Bellaluz is. Mr. Ayuso also gave his consent for the estate to be sold and received just under half of what the Henández family did, 400000 ptas., as compensation.
From the moment the land was sold, the new owners visited them very often. It was above all Manuel Guerrero Burgos, a Madrid lawyer and who was the vice-chairman of the new company, who visited the lands most frequently accompanied by engineers, land specialists and so on. After a lot of time and effort had been put into obtaining the necessary permits and designing the project, the work of preparing the land for the golf course began on the 25th January 1971.
The "El Mojón" and "El Estudiante" estates
There is also reference to these two estates that dates back to 1907, in which "El Mojón" is referred to as an estate made up of land for pasture in the municipality of El Rincón de San Ginés. It had come into being thanks to the fact that 21 smaller farms had joined up and become one, with most of the estate belonging to a wealthy miner from La Unión, Juan Martínez Conesa. It was in approximately 1910 that Mr. Martínez planted carob trees throughout the area, many of which are still standing. He also built a building that had 123 roofed beams that was split into various parts, the workers' house, stables for the livestock, a storeroom for the farm tools and a cistern that collected the rainwater. The main house was part of another building, one which also included the gamekeeper's lodge and had spacious patios, next to which there were more rainwater cisterns, proving how important it was to be able to store water. To the east of the gamekeeper's lodge there was a garage which, once again, had a water deposit in it. All these buildings became the office buildings of Atamaría S.A. after the acquisition of the land by the promoters of the golf course.
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In 1933 Mr. Martínez Conesa sold the estate to Jorge A. Gray Peinado, an Englishman who was highly involved in the company that supplied water to the city of Cartagena. The water supplied to the city in those day was known as "English water" because of the English involvement in the water company which ended when a company that supplied water from the Taibilla river took over. Mr. Gray, in turn, sold the estate to the family of another rich miner, Enrique Carrión.
#8. "The Workers' House" which was part of the "El Mojón" estate.
Enrique Carrión invested a lot of money on the estate in the attempt to stop the land erosion that was, and still is, one of the main problems in these semi-desertic lands. He had stone walls built along the ravines and had large numbers of pine trees planted in the hilly areas of the estate. It was on the 29th of March 1971 that he handed over the estate to Atamaría S.A. in exchange for a quarter of the shares in said company. At the time, the estate had neither crops being grown nor tenants on it.
Of all the buildings mentioned there is only one left standing after all the construction work that has gone on over the last twenty odd years, "The Worker's House". The house, which us where the administrator of the estate Juan Jacinto Andreu used to live, was turned into horse stables half way through the 80s. Due to the new use of the building it became known as “El Rancho”, which is also the name of the group of houses now there.
The mining in the area
Most of the people living in Atamaría used to be miners and the fluctuations in the size of the population were all due to how well the mining industry was doing. Proof of this lies in the fact that whenever there was a drop in the activity of the local mines, so would the population of Atamaría drop. These crises were mainly caused by the fall in price, set in London, of the minerals being extracted in the area. So, whenever a crisis hit, it would drive the people away fleeing from the unemployment, hunger and outright misery.
 There are plenty of references, that date back thousands of years, to early days of mining in the area. They talk of the way the mines were exploited by ancient Phoenician, Greek, Carthaginian and Roman settlements and the importance of the mines can be seen in the Polibio’s description of the silver mines in Cartago Nova, the name the Romans gave to Cartagena. “ The main mines are 20 stadiums, 2.24 miles, from the town and they are spread out over 400 stadiums, 45 miles, in circumference.” He adds that, “there are 40000 men working the mine and, on some days, the Roman State received between 15 and 20 thousand drachmas in the way of tax, which was always a quarter of the gross income.” (“Mining in Cartagena” by Eduardo Cañabate, 1971).
Due to the large scale of the work carried out by each of these ancient civilisations in the hills around Cartagena, it is not difficult to distinguish which work was done by the Romans, which by the Phoenicians, which by the Greeks or which by the Carthaginians. It can be said, for example, that the silver-bearing galena, lead, mines in the hill called “Cabezo Rajao” in the municipality of La Unión, were initially dug by the Carthaginians and then the work was carried on by the Romans who reached around 280 metres under ground.
“In the Gorguel, signs of the ancient mines called “Inocentes” and “Laberinto” were found, with the “Laberinto” mine reaching as deep as 162 metres. José González Lasa made an in-depth study of the mining in the Cartagena hills. The study was published in the “Revista Minera” in 1852 and talks of where most of the work was carried out in the area. This was done in the hills called “El Cabezo de Don Juan”, “Lomo de las Colmenas”, “Barranco Francés”, “Lomo de las Colmenas”, “Lomo de los Lobos”, Rambla de la Boltada” and “Santi Spíritu”. It is mainly in these hills that there whole labyrinths of mines one on top of each other.” (“Mining in Cartagena” by Eduardo Cañabate, 1971).
#9.Mineral washing house “Angel Celdrán”. “El Lirio” mining buildings.
The nearby mines mentioned earlier are in the hills that span the distance from the town of Cartagena to Cabo de Palos. It was during the mining boom in the early 19th Century, driven by the indusrtial revolution, that thousand of mining concessions were granted. The detailed map plotted by the engineer Carlos Lanzarote in 1907 shows 1187 clearly marked out mines. The mining in the area was considered to be very important, not only because of the variety of minerals extracted, but also because of their quantity and quality. This especially applied to the extractions of lead.
Large quantities of silver, lead, iron ore, calamine, zinc and magnesium were found throughout the area and, on a more sporadic basis, the same applied to pewter, copper, barium sulphate and amethysts. Silver and pewter were more difficult to find as they are not found in concentrated pockets because they are found alongside other minerals, as is the case with silver which is associated with galena. The range of hills has been renowned for their production of lead, being one of the largest producers in Spain and the world of the mineral.
The enormous variety of minerals that can be found in the “Sierra Minera”, or Mining Range, makes it what could be called a “collector’s paradise”. This can be gathered from various articles in the second number in 1996 of “Bocamina”, a magazine published by Mineralogist Group of Madrid, that talk about how 70 different minerals were found in the mines, in varying quantities, among which there was:
“Adamite, annate, anglesite, ankerite, aragonite, azurite, malachite, auricalcite, barium sulphate in a wide variety of shapes of crystal and colours, bouronite, brookite, a wide variety of top- quality calcite, chalcofanite, chalcopyrite, cassiterite, celestine, cherusite, copper, coronadite, cronstedite, several varieties of quartz, cuprite, dolomite, encandrewsite, esfalerite, fluorite, phosgenite, goethite, creenalite, greenogkite hawleyite, hemimorphite, hydrohetherolite, hydrocyncite, jarosite, ludlamite, magnetite, marchasite, minnesotaite, olivenite, opal, pyrite, pyrolusite, pyromorphite-mimetite, pyrotine, rodochrosite, romanechite, siderite, smithsonite, vivianite, witherite, gypsum in a wide variety of colours, shapes of crystal and so on.
Despite there being a large number of mines in the hills surrounding Atamaría, especially in those towards El Llano and La Unión, such as the series of mines that made up the “El Lirio” group of mines, there is very little evidence of them left within what is La Manga Club. Of those that there is evidence, it is obvious that they were very small and not very deep. They were mainly of silver-bearing galena, iron ore, magnesium and barium sulphate, proving that the subsoil was not highly mineralised apart from in some specific spots, such as in the “Los Martillos” mine and a few others.
It is towards the north-west of the complex that there is a profusion of mines that, since quite a few years back, has been visited by scholars in the subject of gems as well as collectors of minerals and precious stones from around the globe. The most famous mines among them are the “Herculano” and the “Manolita” thanks to the calcite they store which is varied and covers a whole spectrum of colours. The “Marisol” mine is another one that is frequently visited by collectors because of its large deposits of barium sulphate, mainly blue in colour even though some very high quality and beautiful yellow ones can be found. The quality of the deposits makes them to be quite rare in the whole world, making them rather valuable.
There is a short anecdote of what is, without a doubt, the last time a seam of galena was found underground in La Manga Club. It happened in 1974 when the “Hillock in the Middle” was being prepared for the laying of the foundations of the “Miradores”. Large chunks of the hillock had to be removed with the help of explosives and, after one these explosions the mentioned seam appeared. It was extremely pure but there was not much of it as it hardly filled a few baskets. All it did do was prove that there were minerals lying below the surface of the hillock and the reason why there had even been a small mine there, “Las Terrericas”, which is nowadays totally buried and forgotten.
#10. Portman Bay filled up with the rubbish from the mines.
Plenty of evidence of the Roman occupation in the area can be found around Portman harbour, or Portus Magnus during the occupation. Most of it was found in the “Huerta del Paturro” as for example the large and magnificent mosaic, which is very colourful and beautiful, that is on display in what used to be the “Charity Hospital”. The hospital was founded in 1892 to cover the miners’ and their families’ needs and, having been recently restored, nowadays it is a museum where all the mosaics and stuccoes found are on display.
Up until 1960 Portman had a beautiful natural harbour, closed in on all four sides by mountains, where the water was deep enough for the ships coming to load minerals and lead ingots to dock in it. As there were several foundries in Portman, ships would also come to unload coal that was brought from England. It was from 1960 onwards that the immense damage to the harbour started. One of the largest mineral-washing plants in Europe was built towards the end of the 1950s and was capable, thanks to its differential floating of minerals system, of treating 8000 tons of earth a day. Between 1957 and 1990, the plant threw more than 50 million tons of mining waste into the bay, totally filling it with earth thereby making the fishing and loading ports disappear.
At present, the villagers of Portman live in the hope that one day the project of returning the bay to its original state will be carried out. One of the possible ways of doing this is by pumping all the waste a few miles away and use it as the foundations for the projected enlarging of the port in Escombreras in Cartagena. If this were done, it would automatically make space for 500 moorings to be built, turning Portman, in very little time, into an important leisure port and the best access from La Manga Club to the Mediterranean.
Other activities in the surroundings
As already mentioned, apart from mining and farming, the people in Atamaría also earned a living by gathering wood and kindling in the hills surrounding the village and then selling it in the neighbouring villages. This was quite a lucrative business as the demand for the wood was always there as not only was it used for firewood, it was also used in the stoves.
The felling of palmettos was another way of earning money. The palmettos were sent to a village in the province of Alicante called Albatera to be turned into broomsticks. The felling mainly went on in “Huerta Calesa”, “Peña del Aguila” and around “Las Cenizas”.
Until not that long ago, near where the petrol station now is, there were the remains of an oven used to burn limestone and turn it into lime. The use of lime was widespread as, mixed with water and sand, it was used in the construction of houses. The lime oven, or "limer" as it was commonly known, was worked by "Tío Penchina" and his brother and was closed down around 1930.
Another of the small business practices people were involved in, around what is now La Manga Club, was the extraction and selling of a type of earth which the locals call "láguena". It is a violet-coloured earth which has several special properties among which are those of being impermeable and very resistant to high temperatures without breaking up. The fact that it was impermeable made it very useful for the manufacture of tiles, while its resistance to high temperatures did likewise when it came to making the inner "linings" of ovens, especially for industrial ovens used to smelt and burn the minerals. Two of the pits from where the "láguena" was extracted were near where the houses that make up "Los Altos II" stand today, and the "La Colina" apartments are actually being built on the site of one of them. There is still visible evidence of them as they were in use up until 1970.
The last people in Atamaría who partly made a living, as to supplement their income they also had to collect wood and work the land, from extracting "láguena", were José Andreu Delgado and his sons, Juan and José. It was very hard work as it was all done by hand with the help of picks and shovels, then the "láguena" was spread out over the ground and ground by a heavy roller pulled by an mule. There was a great demand for it, once it was a fine powder, due to the amount of uses it had in those days.
One of the main purchasers of "láguena" was a company called "Minera Celdrán" that used it during the process of casting iron at its factory in Llano del Beal. José Andreu Ros remembers helping his father to sell one of the last batches of "láguena" in the early 1970s. The buyer was a local builder who used it to help make the roofs of his buildings watertight. The invoice of the sale came to 7000 pesetas.
The amount and size of the shops and other services used to rise and fall along with the number of inhabitants in the village. There were even times when there was quite a number of small shops, bakeries and "ventorrillos", the local equivalent of an inn where, instead of darts, the local modality of playing bowls was the most popular passtime. But these establishments, which had been of so much importance during the mining years, were slowly forced to close their doors to the public as the people moved away from the area.
#11. ATAMARIA. April 1997. The building where "Tía Eusebia Melón's" shop was.
In the 1940s, the exodus brought about the end of two of the most emblematic establishments that there were in Atamaría during the golden years of the local mining, "Tía Eusebia Melón's" shop and the "ventorrillo" called "La Chasca". The owner of "La Chasca" was Antonio Muñoz Ros who, because of also working in the mines and doing the odd bit of door-to-door selling, only opened the "ventorrillo" on Sundays and Bank Holidays. It sat in a strategic place just next to the road to Portmán, at the point where nowadays it is possible to lunch or dine at "La Rusticana". In 1963, after Mr Muñoz's death, "La Chasca" was reopened by his widow, Gertrudis Ortega. Under her management it became an important meeting place where the locals would play cards or dominoes while eating "michirones", a local spicy broad bean stew, washed down with "láguena", red wine and pastis, "reparo", brandy and old wine, or beer, which had to be cooled with blocks of ice. The lack of clientele made Mrs. Ortega close down the "ventorrillo" even before the 1960s were over.
Many other similar shops and "ventorrillos" were spread throughout the area in years gone by among which there was one called "La Cantina de la Tía Paca". This inn was run by "Tía Pirula" who got her name from her husband, "Tío Pirulo". (Here it must be explained that, in Murcia and Valencia especially, the use of "tío", which literally means uncle, and "tía", aunt, along with a person’s name or nickname is a sign that the person is respected and dear to the people in their community). The "cantina" used to sell wine and other spirits to the farmhands and so on and it was just next to the boys' and the girls' schools and on the lands which were occupied by "La Traviata" Restaurant during the 1980s.
"Tío Pirulo", who when he retired from the local country police force was extremely fat, was well-known for his passion for wine and his many ways of tricking the odd glass or two out of his wife. She, tired of seeing him "tipsy" all day long, did her best to stop him from even inhaling the vapours. One of her ways of doing this was, when he asked for a glass of wine from the other side of the counter, by asking him for the 10 "céntimos" (1/10th of a peseta) that it cost. After he had answered that he did not have the money, she would turn him away without serving him.
"Tío Pirulo" did not like this at all, but put up with it. Nevertheless, as soon as she left the bar to go on an errand or something of the sort, he would take advantage of her absence and dive behind the bar. If he did not enough time to fill a glass with wine, he was known to take the money he needed from the kitty and then get a drink from his wife by paying for it. Seldom did he know when to stop and would often drink far more than common sense would advise.
As Atamaría has never had a patron saint there has never been any special date for village festivities or dances, but this has never stopped the people from the village from getting together for a "fiesta" or a dance. ("Fiesta": Literally means a party, but on a village, town or national scale it is a day, or number of days, when people celebrate their patron saint's day or commemorate a special date. It is either a time for everybody to "paint the town red" or example the week of the San Fermines in Pamplona. There are also more solemn "fiestas" which are purely religious, such as Easter, when the patron saint is carried in procession around the village or town streets. In Murcia, for example there is a whole week of such processions as each of the town's churches has its own patron saint.) One of the more solemn "fiestas" in Atamaría used to be on the 12th of October day of the "Hispanidad", the day when Christopher Columbus' discovery of America is commemorated. The whole village would gather at the Guardia Civil barracks next to the road from Atamaría to Portmán as the 12th of October was, and still is, also the date on which
ts of Atamaría handing over a flag to the local corps of Carabineros (the Guardia Civil of the time). The act was sponsored by Ascension Martínez García, wife of one of the villages most distinguished businessmen, and it was followed by an open air mass.
#13. The old Atamaría “carabinero” barracks. Los Belones, Cartagena. March 1997.
The barracks were made up by nine separate pavilions, each of which had its own patio and was occupied by a member of the corps and his family. One of the pavilions was home to the single men in the corps. Next to the row of houses there were some stables where the horses were kept and where, due to the lack of running water throughout the area, there was a large water deposit, which stored the rainwater, and a well.
After the Spanish Civil War the Carabineros Corps disappeared and was taken over by the Guardia Civil (highly respected and feared upholders of the law during the Franco years, 1939-1975). It is from this time on that the Guardia Civil have reserve corps, of at least seven men under the orders of a corporal, stationed in the barracks. There were times when the number of guards was more than the number of houses available in the barracks making it so that one or two guards had to life in houses in the village itself.
The barracks were used by the Guardia Civil until the early 1970s. Once they had left, the building was uninhabited until, in 1976, it was publicly auctioned and a group of people bought it. After the refurbishment work carried out on the building by the buyers, it had nine separate dwellings that had a dining room, two good-sized bedrooms, a kitchen, a bathroom and a patio. Each of the buyers ensured that the houses were all identical as, after they had been refurbished, lots were cast to decide who kept which house. They were finally ready to be lived in again in 1978 and they were mostly used as summer houses. Along with their new, smarter appearance, the building was given a new name, "El Romeral".
One of the most common forms of entertainment for the young men and women in Atamaría, all those years ago, were the dances they held in the main rooms of their houses, normally the dining room. They would dance and sing along with the music played on an array of string instruments, guitars, lutes and mandolins. The main dance of the year coincided, during several years, with Saint Peter's Day as it was the saint's day of one of the owners of the "Andreu" shop. These dances were different to the others as they were held in the street, which was decorated for the occasion, but the music was still the same. The arrival of a gramophone, with its thick slate HMV records, bought about a change in the music as it took over, for most of the evening, from the string instruments. In the winter the cold made the dances move indoors of the shop, into a large room next to the baking oven where the dough used to be kneaded on a normal working day.
# 14. Rogelio’s house. The “El Palmero” building where the “ventorrillo” of “Tía Curra” used to be. Atamaría, 1988.
Another place where dances were regularly held was the "ventorrillo" of "Tía Curra" which was part of the building called "El Palmero" because of the tall palm tree standing next to it. The "ventorrillo" was around 100 metres further back from the road from where the petrol station now sits, between where the Par 47 and La Quinta Club are.
The Sunday dances at "Tía Curra's" used to very popular. All the village "lasses" used would be there accompanied by a chaperone, their mother, sister or some other relative, who would ensure that the girl's honour was not tarnished either by evil tongues or by the young ardent "lads". The young men were always ready to see how close they could get to the young lady they were dancing with and there was even a song, sang accompanied by a guitar and a mandolin, on the subject: - Dancer get closer / Get closer for it's not a sin / As he who dances without getting close / Is as if he were eating bread without the "dripping"...
The house known as "El Palmero" was bought by a cartwright who arrived from Andalucia, known as "Tío Marchena", and who, in turn sold the house to the present owners, the Mouzo Martínez family, in 1973.
# 14. Children’s party held in 1981.
Years on from when those dances with guitars and mandolins were held, a young man called José Andreu used to play his accordion at most of the held in Atamaría. On a final note about these dances, it is worth mentioning that there was a kind of remembrance day of them during the month of August 1981 when some of the village elders organised a "fiesta" for children. They did up the streets where the "Andreu" shop was. Cristina Barrionuevo was the young girl who was chosen as "Queen of the Fiestas", sporting events were organised and, to finish off with, there was a small afternoon feast followed by a dance.
 Another typical time of the year for festivities in Atamaría was Christmas. On Christmas Eve “squads” of revellers would invade the streets making as much noise as they could. To do this they used tambourines and drums, made with rabbit hide, and would not stop until the early hours of the morning. They sang Christmas Carols and those who were not taking part in the streets, would take part from inside their homes by handing out cakes, glasses of wine and anything that would keep the revellers and their voices going. Juan Ros Saura stood out on these occasions as he was not only the band leader, but he also played the accordion and made up the words of the songs as they went along. He would sing the first thing that came to his mind and then the whole “squad” would then sing out whatever Juan had sung.
The shop, come tobacconist’s, of the Andreu family
It is important to mention the shop the Andreu brothers had because of its history and importance within Atamaría. It was not only the biggest shop in the village, it was also the last one to close down.
It was first opened by Santiago Andreu Martínez and his wife, Agustina Cobacho, and was run as a family business by them and their eight children: Juana, Jacinto, Diego, Juan, Santiago, Eulalia, Pedro and Antonio. The running of it was passed down from the father to the eldest son and then down the line from brother to brother. This went on until, in 1977, Jacinto reached the painful decision of closing it down.
Behind were left the memories of a century’s trading. At one stage, the shop had even become a place where the miners could buy have a meal or could buy tobacco goods. The shop had all the necessary licences needed to sell cigarettes and so on, but the sign above the door, perhaps for some legal problems, did state clearly that they could be purchased in the shop.
All kinds of household goods, as well as things used in mining, could be bought at the shop such as thread, fruit and vegetables, drinks, tools, petrol and calcium carbide, used in the miners’ lamps. Quite a few pigs were sacrificed every week to be turned into all kinds of sausages and prepared meats that were famous in the area for their good quality. The owners always did their best to get hold of top quality products for their clients and often spent a week on the road just to fetch a few barrels of tasty Jumilla wine (Jumilla being in the north west corner of the province of Murcia).
# 15. The street where the Andreu shop was and where the village “fiestas”
Arab-style bread, which was very popular in the area, used to be baked in the oven in the back of the shop. The wood from the hills surrounding Atamaría was the perfect fuel for the oven, and the bread that came out of it, after being conscientiously kneaded and carefully cooked, stayed fresh for quite a few days.
# 16. The baking oven where the Andreu family did all the village baking. June 1996.
The shop was also famous for its cakes and pastries that were also baked in the log-burning oven and sold as far afield as Cartagena. The recipes of the cakes included ingredients such as aniseed or orange peel which made them very aromatic.
As there was no electricity in the whole village, the shop relied upon paraffin lamps for its lighting and, in what was quite an important step, the owners bought a kneading machine that was moved by a petrol engine.
In 1970, after the crisis in the mining field, many of Atamaría’s inhabitants left and went to Elche, a town around 40 miles away in the province of Alicante, where they got jobs in the shoe factories that the town was, and is, famous for. This was the last and final exodus from the village and it has never recovered since.
The Andreu shop was the only one to survive and, helped by the trade given by all the workers from the work sites around the golf course, it managed to do so for a few years.
Apart from the workers from around the resort, many foreigners, especially English, would buy their basic household goods there. Linda Chinnery, an English lady who used to live up at the Bungalows, clearly remembers the time: “The closest shop was in Atamaría. To reach it, one had to walk around the outside of the golf course and then follow a path that passed through a farm full of chickens flying about. Then, all one could buy at the shop were the basics such as sugar, rice and other things that were wrapped up in a cone-shaped parcel so that nothing fell out of it.”
Nevertheless, in 1977 the situation got so bad for Jacinto that he had to close down the shop. As he did so, he also had to leave the only employee he had without a job. The employee’s name was Vicente López, “el Mellizo”, and he had worked for the Andreus since he was a child. Vicente had been born into a very poor mining family who, when in 1921 he was eight years old, left him to work for the Andreus in their shop. He was taken in by the family and became just another member of it and he looked after the business as such too.
Vicente was a short man and was very short-sighted which made him wear very thick glasses. He was full of good humour and always had a friendly word for the clients, who all liked him very much. One of the many stories told about him is the one that tells of what he said to a girlfriend while sweet talking her after having had a glass of wine too much: “Honey, I may be a bit short in height, but you must never doubt my might.” Paradoxically, despite having shown a strong masculine desire for women, Vicente never married and was a bachelor all his life.
The boys’ and girls’ schools and other institutions
The oldest school that can be remembered in the area was the one that belonged to a teacher called Alfredo who used to give children private tuition.
Then, from the early 1920s, there were a boys’ school and a girls’ school in Atamaría. They were very near to where the West Course clubhouse is and were basically two rooms, where the lessons were given. The boys’ teacher was a man, while the girls’ were taught by a woman. They were not only children from Atamaría, as children from the neighbouring villages also used to attend the school. The teachers had to be brought in from quite far away and they were given living quarters in a building next to the schools.
# 17. The old Atamaría school building. April 1997.
Among some of the teachers that the village elders remember, then only children, are: Mr. Celestino, the first teacher to teach in the village; Mr. Anastasio Viviente, brother of a well-known doctor from La Unión, who used to wear a blue overall and a tie and ride his bicycle to school from Portmán; Miss Carmen, from San Sebastián and who was 24 when she started teaching at the school during the 1930s; Miss Encarna; Miss Maria Teresa, who spent the most time at the school and, finally; Miss Mercedes, the last lady teacher to teach at the school.
Some of the single teachers, who did not want to live alone, had “digs” in the house of a man called “Tío Pedro” a master washer at the “Secretaria” mine that was on the eastern side of “La Peña del Aguila”. “Tío Pedro” also used to take his pan down to the stream that crossed Atamaría to pan for the lead that was washed down from the hills by the rain.
He also earned the odd “bob” by cutting hair and giving a shave and from what people who remember his handiwork with the razor say, he was not exactly light nor nimble-fingered when it came to giving a close shave. He carried out his work as a barber in his and his wife’s home where Miss Carmen, the teacher from San Sebastián, also had her lodgings for most of the many years she spent in Atamaría.
A young 21 year-old teacher arrived in the village in 1945 from a village in inland Murcia called La Puebla de Mula. His name was Juan López Rodriguez and, as he was a bachelor, he came with his sister Agueda and they both moved in to the house that was put at their disposal next to the schools. Agueda was a very kind-hearted woman and did all she could for the under-privileged children in the area, of whom there were many during the harsh post Civil War years. A sign of her goodness was how she took several children down to Los Belones so that they could be baptised, something that, because of the war, had not been done.
Juan López soon fell in love with the land and, even more than with the land, a young lady called Juanita who was the daughter of the local tradesman called Juan Andreu. They got married and had two children and spent the rest of their lives in Atamaría.
The school was kept going until the end of the 1960s, a time when there were very few pupils left at the school because of the large number of families that had left the village. Also, a new school had been built in Los Belones and the few pupils left were transferred to that school, being taken to and from this new place of learning on a school bus. The last teachers to work at that school were Miss Josefa and Mr. Bernardino.
Despite never having had a church, the villagers were able to have their church ceremonies in what, during the week, was the school. An image of the Virgin Mary, that had been bought after the whole village had donated money towards the purchase, was kept in the school. The whole village would congregate for mass in the school every Sunday and some of the village children received their first communion there, as Juan López, son of an illustrious local schoolmaster, did in 1963. Lent and Easter were important times for the congregation and priests would come especially, at those times of the year, to give conferences and celebrate special masses.
When the school closed down, the church activities ceased and the image of the Virgin Mary was left without a permanent home. The people in Atamaría decided to share her, so she spent a month in each of their homes and there is not one that has not had her in its front room at some time or other. At present, the image is in Julia Andreu Ros’ home.
One final point to be mentioned on how important Atamaría became during the 1930s is the fact that “EL TRIUNFO OBRERO”, an offshoot of Spain’s most important trade union, had an office in the village. In 1937, the local chairman of the union was Antonio Liarte and the secretary was José Antonio Montoro. (It must be kept in mind that this is important because of the historical context as the Spanish Civil War had started a year before.)
# 18. A document written by the miners’ union, “El Triunfo Obrero”, written up in Atamaría.
Song to the village of Atamaría
A group of locals, who were all born in the village, have composed a hymn which sings praises of everything that Atamaría means to them. They have recorded the hymn and it is proving to be quite a “hit” because of its catchy music and expressive lyrics. What has also helped make the song a success is that the singer, Antonio Acosta, has a strong melodious voice which he uses to its full potential in the song. The music was composed by José Andreu Ros and the words, which are translated below, were written by Antonio Acosta along with the composer.
How I remember you, Atamaría
All those years ago
With your country folk
And graceful windmills
All surrounded by Mother Nature
Where are those folk
Who used to walk your lanes
On the “Mojón” estate.
And your beautiful lasses
Who, though few, were divine
As that was God´s desire
(Chorus)
You are a beautiful garden
That has known how to preserve
Its natural charm
Since times immemorial
And to increase its beauty
Oh! You are today, Atamaría
The pride of the region
Where the savins grow
Among pine trees, oaks
And the beautiful song of the nightingale
Today I find you surrounded
By a large golf course
With its graceful houses
And English-speaking children
That come to visit this, our Spain.
Do not change your image
For money nor for lineage
That are worth nothing.
Keep your farmers present
Who, though humble, gentlemen they be
Always respecting their land and those they love.
The setting up of two companies, Atamaría S.A.
and La Manga Campo de Golf S.A
One of the businesses Gregory Peters and his partners were interested in getting involved in was that of real estate. They set up a company called “ATAMARÏA S.A:” that would allow them to do this and, at the same time, get the ball rolling as far as the golf resort was concerned. “ATAMARÏA S.A.” would also be in charge of managing all the profits that were going to arise from the revaluation of the land that had been bought up. The promoters showed that they were aware of how sensitive the locals were feeling regarding all the changes that were going to take place in the area by, at least, keeping alive the name of the village in as far as they called their company after it. The company was registere
in Madrid with the corporate capital, at the time of setting up, being 25 million pesetas split into two thousand five hundred 10000-peseta shares.
On the other hand, and for the sake of developing the golf course and the other sporting activities, LA MANGA CAMPO DE GOLF S.A. was formed in Madrid on the 25th of July 1971. Its first offices were at 14 Orenes Street in Madrid and they were then moved to 137 Habana Avenue, also in the capital of Spain. This company's corporate capìtal was 184 800 000 pesetas divided into one thousand seven hundred and sixty 105000-peseta shares and its main purpose was to manage the shareholders' money and get the work on the sporting installations going.
#19. Constitution document of La Manga Campo de Golf S.A.
The early days of the project
On the 9th of October 1961 the Ministry of Housing gave its final approval of the General Urban Ordinance Plan of the City of Cartagena and its suuroundings. While the plan was still in force, ATAMARIA S.A. and LA MANGA CAMPO DE GOLF S.A. put forward their proposal for a Special Urban Ordinance Plan that affected the "El Coto Atamaría", "El Mojón" and "El Estudiante" estates. The total surface of the estates was approximately 1087 acres. The Plan was presented at Cartagena Town Hall on the 26th of November 1971 and the Corporation granted its initial and provisional approvals during the sessions held on the 31st of January 1972 and the 27th of March 1972 respectively. What made things a lot easier was the fact that no objections were presented during the month that the law dictates that any building project be on public display.
However, the project was rejected in a Ministerial order dated the 27th of July 1972. The subsequent appeal for reversal was lodged and, after having been considered, received the reply in an order dated the 23rd of May 1973.
After the corresponding procedural steps were seen through, the Ministry of Housing, on the 24th of May 1975, considered all the conditions complied with and issued an order by which it granted its definite approval of the Partial Urban Ordinance Plan.
On the 2nd of January 1970, the promoting company requested a Warrant to Develop from Cartagena Town Hall so that the work could be continued according to the initial plans. The Town Planning Project for the whole site was presented, and was approved in ordinary session of the Town Hall on the 3rd of April 1970. Murcia's Regional Council gave its approval of the project on the 10th of March 1972.
It is worth pointing out that, to begin with, Gregory Peters and his associates only had control over 494.2 acres which were those that made up the "El Coto" estate. This was the one and only estate they had been able to buy on the 28th of February 1970, and therefore the initial project only included one 9-hole golf course and a much smaller residential area than the one that finally came into being.
A few months later something that proved to be of great sigificance happened. The owners of the "El Mojón" and the "El Estudiante" estates, 593.04 acres in all, expressed a desire that their lands be included in the project. An agreement was reached whereby, in exchange for their lands, the owners became holders of 25% of the shares in ATAMARIA S.A.. This contribution of land could not have come at a better time as it made possible the planning of a larger project that included two golf courses and the residential area that immediately arose after the agreement. Then, after serious study by specialists of the land available and its layout, there were several land expansions and the complex ended up covering nearly 1112 acres.
Alfonso Hernández, as do some of the other labourers who were involved in the building work from the beginning, clearly remembers the day when the agreement that included the "El Mojón" and the "El Estudiante" estates in the project was reached. This is mainly because they remember how all the machinery and men, who were working on the land that was to be the North Course, were suddenly sent to work on the land where the South Course now is.
The evolution of the price of shares in La Manga Campo de Golf S.A.
The company started off well and the price of the shares in La Manga Campo de Golf S.A., after having been sold at a set price to obtain enough capital to start the work on the sporting installations, steadily rose and, in no time at all, were valued at a price slightly over their face-value of 105000 pesetas. The price of the shares really took off after the opening of the golf installations in 1972 and, after a period of constant progression, reached a value of 300000 pesetas.
All those who brought property within the urbanisation were immediately involved in the project as a whole as they were made founder-members of the company. This was a great advantage at the time as the company statutes specified that, in order to be able to enjoy the use of the golf facilities, one had to be a member or be acquainted with one. The other enticing fact for any prospective buyer was that once one was a founder-member, of which there were to be no more than 3000, the only golf-related expense one had was the annual fee.
On the subject of the shares, there was an article in the magazine published by the LMCG in December 1972 which read as follows.
"All holders of founder-member shares in LMCG are exempt from having to pay anything, apart from the annual fee, for the use of any of the facilities, the maintenance of which is guaranteed. The price of these shares will very soon be 350000 pesetas, an increase of 100000 pesetas on the present price. This can be seen from the rise shown since the club was opened, which is the main factor why the increase will take place.
Taking into account that the holders of said shares are also part-owners of LMCG, the true value of the shares can be measured from the number of owners of the courses, the club itself and other facilities.
The number of shareholders in LMCG cannot exceed 3000 and the future sale of shares will be limited as most of them are reserved for those who buy any property within the complex.
Any application for the purchase of any of these shares or properties must be approved by a committee before the sale can take place.
It is foreseen that the price will continue increasing (their value is already four times higher than the initial one) and the value of any share bought now will at once rise to 350000 pesetas."
There was another article on the subject in the LMCG journal published in July 1973.
"The value of the property in LMCG is still on the increase and, as from the 1st of August, a new price will be applied to the bungalows, plots of land and owner-member shares. Also, and as from the same date, shares in the company will not be included in the new prices of the properties. However, no person who is not a member of the club will be able to purchase any of the said properties. Due to this, any non-member interested in a LMCG property must, in a separate transaction, buy a share in the Club at the same as buying a property."
The building of the residential area
and the two golf courses
In 1971 a whole variety of new jobs were created and people from the nearby villages, Los Belones, El Llano, El Algar, La Unión and so on, were taken on as green keepers, machinists, mechanics and the like. Many had experience in agriculture, but there were others, mostly from the mining company Minería Celdrán, who had been forced to look for new employment after the first mining crises in the area. For these men it was a totally new way of earning a living but they soon got to grips with their new chores.
It was in early 1971 that two companies called LA MANGA CAMPO DE GOLF S.A. and ATAMARIA S.A. appeared on the scene arousing the curiosity of the gentlefolk of the area. The companies brought a whole array of earth-moving machines with them that was going to transform what had been, up until then, straightforward agricultural land.
The machines were capable of making holes in ground where there had previously been a hill, of making a hill where there been a crater, or simply flattening and levelling the ground out and they did so until the 1112 acres had changed beyond all recognition.
Then, the ambitious project of building a tourist resort, which would include villas, bungalows, shops and sporting facilities, started taking shape. Because of Mr. Peters nationality, everybody felt that the resort would be directed at the wealthy, golf-loving American public.
Water prospections
It is a well-known factor that access to water is of upmost importance when laying down a golf course. In order to ensure this access, a plan, that covered the whole of the area, was set under way to find whereabouts underground the precious liquid could be. Prospections were carried out and artesian wells were bored, and the first well set up was called "Linde 1", followed by "La Pepa" and "La Huerta".
In statements to the press, which appeared in the provincial newspaper called "La Verdad" on the 12th of February 1971, on the overall plans that the company had regarding the obtention and storing of water, the following was said:
"We are assured a constant supply of water thanks to the wells we have bored and, as a back-up, we are building 15 artificial lakes that will store enough water to last through any problems we might have with the wells. The lakes will be able to hold 11 million gallons of water in all."
When examining the problem of the water supply, Atamaría S.A. contracted the services of specialists who were aided in their work by a comprehensive study of the underground pockets of water. The study, which was carried out by a company called Trigueros S.A., was finished in February 1972 and showed how much water was available at the time and how much could be made available by boring more wells or by improving the existing ones.
The men in charge of the study were Emilio Trigueros Molina (Mining Engineer), Gonzalo Gallego Cano (Mining Engineer) and Carlos Cuenca del Val (Public Works Engineer).
The study also talked about the local climate and referred to it as a dry, warm climate with an average annual temperature of 17ºC. The rainfalls vary throughout the year and are mainly very scarce with the average annual rainfall being 248 litres/m2 which fall in intense showers that do not last long.
The study, apart from describing the geological makeup of the subsoil, included all the details related to the seven wells that existed at the time and where seven more wells could be bored.
The names of some the wells mentioned in the study are as follow: "Linde 1" and "Linde 2", "La Rambla", "La Pepa", "El Algarrobo", "Cabezo", "La Huerta", "El Intermedio", "Conesa" and a mining well called "Los Martillos".
One of the wells was near Portman and was owned by the mining company called Navidad S.A.. To bring water all the way from the well to the complex, pipes, pumps and a transformer were put in place but they were not used for very long. This was because, not long after the well was set up, the water was found to have too high a concentration of salt in it, making it impossible to use on the courses as salt basically burns grass.
Another well that was very important at the time was one called "Cabezo Negro", property of La Marina S.A., which was next to the road to Cabo de Palos near the Villas Caravanning campsite. The process of reaching and signing the agreement on the supply of the water from the well was quite complicated, mainly because of the permits needed to lay the pipeline linking the well with the complex.
# 20. Golf course workers at the "Cabezo Negro" well. Los Belones, 1980.
There was a project that had the aim of increasing the water supply to the courses and was lead by Laureano Gonzalez Luna, a local specialist on underground water. The project involved the laying down of a pipeline that would bring water from the well next to the "Pobrecita" mine near El Estrecho de San Ginés. After some time of watering the grass with the water from the well, the grass started turning a brownish red colour so the supply was immediately stopped as it was obvious that the water was damaging it. Also, during the early 1980s, a provisional pipeline was laid down that brought water, with the help of an electric pump, from the "La Linterna" mine. The supply from "La Linterna" went on for a month and then was stopped until the permanent pipeline and pump were installed.
On the 3rd of October 1990 I interviewed Francisco Martínez Huertas, who was one of the pioneering workers on the resort and thus knowledgeable on all the problems faced in those early years regarding the supply of water. He was not only an outstanding man and friend, but also a very conscientious worker who held a whole variety of posts within the company. I, along with all those who were fortunate enough to have known him, would like to pay a little tribute in memory of Francisco, who died in an unfortunate accident on his way home to Los Belones one evening after work.
# 21. Francisco Martínez Huertas.
He knew a lot about the beginnings of La Manga as he started to work here on the 8th of June 1971, when he was a youthful 18 year-old, as part of the IBERGOLF S.A. team in charge of building the golf courses. He was in charge of taking note of the work done by each team of workers and machines on a daily basis. He was Paco (the diminutive of Francisco) to all those he worked with and he was more highly qualified than most of his workmates. He arrived just when two enormous holes, that were going to store water and the pumping machinery, were being dug. "At the time there were around 50 men working on the site along with: two dumpers for moving earth from one place to another; four chain DC-8s; two diggers; three tractors with their respective trailers, and; one well boring machine, there were also machines that either moved or cleaned stone. Most of them belonged to a company from Torre Pacheco, "Pedro Giménez".
The man at the head of IBERGOLF S.A. was Ramón Espinosa, an agricultural engineer, and leading the work on the golf courses on the executive side was Paticio Cantalapiedra.
On the subject of the water, Francisco also mentioned that "a whole network of pipes for the watering system was laid down just as was a pipe that brought water from a well that belonged to Manrubia. This was done with the help of a pump set up, by Leandro Mercader, next to "El Paturro" orchard in Portmán."
As previously mentioned, water was also brought from the "Cabezo Negro" well. The pipe that carried the water was 300mm in diameter and was put down by workers of the company called "TUBACERO". The pipe was left above groud most of the way and at "Las Cobaticas" (a small village in the natural reserve of Calblanque) it was linked to a Uralite pipe that was put in place by IBERGOLF S.A. workers to bring water over the last stretch of the way and as far as the lakes.
When talking of the work of laying down the "Cabezo Negro" pipeline, among the problems they faced, Francisco remembered one very clearly. The owner of a plot of land that the pipe line had to cross, 300 metres in all, set the condition that the men only had 24 hours to be on his land to do their job. This meant that they worked flat out the 24 hours to accomplish their aim and were then given a 1000-peseta bonus each for their effort.
In the early years water was brought from many other mines, apart from the ones already mentioned such as the "San Timoteo" and the "El Almorchón" mines, for which quite a few miles of pipe had to be used. There was also another well in the Alumbres area, which is a fair distance away.
Robert Dean Putnam, the designer of the two golf courses
When Robert Dean Putnam was given the contract to design the two courses for LMCG, he was given total freedom apart from the fact that he was told that the courses had to be up to championship standard.
# 22. Robert Dean Putnam.
Mr. Putnam was born in California and had been designing and building courses in North America, Hawaii and the Far East for over 20 years. His first two jobs in Europe were the courses at La Manga and one that was being built near Madrid for a club called Las Lomas- El Bosque.
He had obviously done a lot of sport whe he had been young and he had accepted a scholarship from the Brooklyn Dodgers to study Art in Fresno California. Along with his brother Don, who became a well-known graphic designer, he had earned a living as an acrobat in a night club while a student.
When he finished his studies he started to work as an artistic director for a television station but, as he much preferred to work outdoors, he soon decided to start working as a golf course designer. The tricks he had picked up at art school helped him a lot when it came to making the presentation of his design and he always admitted having an artistic streak permanently fixed in him, “all I’ve done is swap my watercolours and brushes for heavy machinery.” He was often seen walking over the course he had designed, taking note of the spots where he could put a bunker, a green or some kind of obstacle.
As it was to be expected, he was a very keen golfer. His handicap was one and he was capable of playing 20 consecutive rounds under-par and held various course records in California. His best-ever round was 64, which included 29 strokes over the back nine.
His ideas and concepts of what golf was all about were very clear and, whenever he was interviewed, he made sure people realised this.
“From the first time I set eye on the area surrounding La Manga I realised that it was a fertile agricultural land. The hills, with their terraces that had been cut out by the farmers, outlined the perfect line for the courses with their contours. All golf course designer of any worth has to take full advantage of all the positive aspects of the land Nature puts in his way. He cannot hide or change the basic characteristics of the terrain but, instead, just like any sculptor does with his chisel, he has to mould and give shape to that which Nature has put in his way. One of the most satisfying aspects of my job is restoring and enhancing the natural beauty of the landscapes which surround us.
In La Manga, with its rich soil and warm climate, we have been able to sow the best combinations of grass, bushes and trees. To say the truth, it is much more like a garden than a golf course. The contours of the land have made it possible for us to create two courses where each of the holes is a delight to play on for any golf player.
I am sure that anybody who has the chance of looking out over the courses will understand why designing them has been a marvellous experience for me.”
Here are a few things Mr. Putnam said about the different aspects of the game itself.
Golf is a very demanding sport. “I don’t know of any other sport that is as demanding, both mentally and physically, as golf is. To be able to play golf well, the player has to just as prepared as any other sportsman. For example, just look at Gary Player who, not only does he have a powerful stroke that makes him one of the best-ever professional golf players, but he is also as fit as any other athlete in the world, regardless of the sport he plays.”
The course is an important factor when playing golf. “Golf is one of the few sports where the playing field is different in every tournament. Football is played on a clearly laid out pitch, baseball fields are the same throughout the world and tennis courts are identical whether they be in Wimbledon or in Sydney. However, each golf course around the world is different to the others. There are very few straight lines and each stroke is played differently to the previous one. Never is a stroke an exact copy of the one played before.”
The architect’s responsibility. “The proper laying out of the course is fundamentally the responsibility of the golf course designer and it carries with it a kind of double obligation. Firstly the designer must take the players into account and ensure they enjoy playing golf on the course. Secondly, he cannot spend more than his budget allows him to while ensuring that the pleasure factor is kept in mind all the time. This is why the designer has to be very meticulous when drawing out the plans, as he must ensure that the client knows exactly how much he is going to spend.”
The pro’s vs. the designer. Today’s professional players are no longer very keen amateurs, they are highly dedicated masters of the sport. They are like surgeons or professional artists, as they have to dedicate a large part of their lives to preparing themselves for their profession. The difference between a good amateur and a pro is that the pro knows exactly what to do in every situation, while the amateur will always have his doubts.
The professional will always have something to say if there is anything he does not like. “A designer must not put the players' abilities to the test unnecessarily. There are already enough elements of chance involved in the game, such as a ball hitting a rock and becoming unplayable, without the designer hacing to add to them. If a player finds himself in a situation where he cannot play the ball because of the design of the course, there is no point in him even being there. This is the most conflictive aspect that exists between players and designers.”
As can be seen, these statements show Mr. Putnam’s expertise and knowledge of the game, elements which he put to full use when designing the courses here at La Manga.
Getting under way with the courses
It was on the 25th of January 1971 that the outlining of the lay out of the courses was begun and it was in February of that same year that the diggers set to work on the 14 lakes, 200 bunkers and the 36 fairways and greens. Ten months later the layout was finished and the ground was ready for the gardeners to start ploughing, sifting and clearing the soil of all the large pebbles they found. Once they had finished these tasks they fertilised the soil following the specialists’ instructions, as they had taken many topsoil samples from around the courses and analysed them. The grass sewn also varied depending on the part of the course. On the greens, Penncross Bentgrass and Seaside Bentgrass, which was also sewn just in front of the greens, were used. On the fairways and the areas of rough, Bermuda grass and Festuca Rubra-proapatensis were found to be appropriate, while on the tees it was Seaside Bentgrass and Festuca Rulera
The sowing got under way in May 1971 and from the outset it was necessary to have various shifts of workers to ensure that the grass was well looked after as it started to grow.
At the same time that the courses were being laid down, the trees that were going to surround them, which were divided into three types, were planted. The three main types were Palm trees (Phoenix-dactylifera), that ranged from one to six metres in height, cypress trees and pine trees. They were all species of trees, which are listed below, that adapted easily to the Mediterranean climate of the area. These were: Cedrus Atlantica, Cupresus lawsoniana, Cupresus macrocarpa, Pinus halepensis, Pinus pinea, Thuja canadiensis and Thuja plicata. Another series of trees, which were mostly deciduous, were planted around the courses to ensure variety. These were: Prunus avium, Acer plantanoid, Acer pseudo platanus, Eucaliptus globuloid, Populos pyramidalis, Populos negra, Salix babylonica and Salix alba.
# 23. Heavy machines working on the golf courses.
With time the grass started growing and was looked after by IBERGOLF S.A., the company that built the courses, until the 30th of November 1971. It was from that December onwards that LA MANGA CAMPO DE GOLF S.A. took charge of the courses and, in order to do so, had to take on its own staff. The new staff all went to make up the recently set up department within the company called “Deportes” (“Sports”), and most of them were the same men who had been working up until then for IBERGOLF S.A..
The courses had been built in record time. The North and South courses, both with 18-holes, were 72 par courses and abided by the rule that says that: a par 3 hole is up to 227 metres; a par 4 hole is from 228 to 443 metres, and; a par 5 hole is anything above the 443 metre distance.
# 24. The sprinkler system on the new golf courses. March 1972.
The North course had five par 3 holes, ten par 4 holes and three par 5 while the South one had four par 3’s, ten par 4’s and another four par 5’s. Both, with their 36 holes in all, were opened 11 months after having been sown, proving how fertile the soil and perfect the climate were, being very similar to those found in Southern California.
The Cartagena News Bulletin dated the 25th of October, spoke of the installations in the following terms:
“The only things that have been completely finished for the opening are the two 18-hole golf courses that have a total length of 11498 metres. There are more than 200 bunkers and 14 water obstacles, 25 bridges to cross the streams and around 3000 palm trees have been planted alopng with a wide variety of other trees.
One thousand four hundred sprinklers, linked by 100 kms. of underground pipes, have been installed, and they are all fed by the 14 lakes which, in turn, are managed by 3 underground pumping stations.
Three thousand palm trees, brought from nearby nurseries and planted alongside other vegetation normally found in deserts, make one feel that one could be on the edge of the Sahara. The effect is further enhanced by the purple tones the surrounding hill take on as dusk falls over the courses. What adds the final touch to this image are the courses themselves as they are the most arid ones in the whole of Spain. All these views, added to the lakes which provide the millions of litres needed daily to keep the courses green, remind one of an oasis, a green oasis in its own made-to-size valley.”
La Verdad newspaper published, on the 16th April 1975, an interview with Jaime Roqueñi to coincide with the fact that the Spanish Open was being held at La Manga. Jaime Roqueñi, who was head golf pro and also one of the green-keepers, spoke about the maintenance, staffing and other needs the club had for its daily running.
“The grass is cut twice daily during championships and, in order to do this properly, it is necessary to have the right type of machinery, as this must of the very highest standard. The mowers we have here are imported as there is nobody in Spain who makes them as well. It is also very important to spray the grass against plagues as, despite the weather being practically ideal for the grass, the pests that exist in this part of Spain are very damaging to it. An example of this is the leather-jacket,which, if it were allowed to, would leave the courses bare in just two days.
The watering system is semiautomatic and between the months of April and September the courses have to be watered daily. The rest of the year we leave the watering up to Mother Nature.
During the months that we are doing the watering we have to mow the grass every day, and whenever there’s going to be a championship, it’s twice a day. On the greens the grass can’t be above 5 mm high and around the greens it’s cut at varying lengths to make it more difficult to play on. Around the palm trees we have to spray the grass with weed-killer to stop the grass from growing and the bunkers have to be raked every morning to make sure the sand is loose and even.”
At the time of the opening of the courses, the following were some of the more prominent men among the staff. There were four mechanics, Francisco Garcerán, the first man to be in charge of the workshop, Mr. Ayuso, Norberto Ros Peña, Pedro Hernández and, as from January 1975, Manuel Rivas Fernández who was made head mechanic. Two supervisors, who not only were cousins, but also had the same name and surname, Alfonso Henández (the younger one was given the nickname “El Moreno”, or “Darky”, to differentiate them), six men in charge of the mowing, three firemen (Ventura, Pencho and Alfonso), two tractor drivers and a number of workers who had no specific chores and a team of security guards.
The first head green keeper to work at La Manga was Jesús Verdascos, a man from Madrid who had been a colonel in the Army and was by then retired. The way he picked staff, gave them their responsibilities and told them to get on with their work, was quite unusual as he did it as if he were still in the Army. He was a strict military man and, to make distinctions between the men, he put stripes on their work clothes and the six security guards were given very distinctive
uniforms to wear. The uniform included a white explorer’s helmet or Salacot, and a wide leather strap that went over the shoulder but did serve its usual purpose of holding ammunition for the guards’ guns as these have never been carried by any of the guards on the complex.
# 25. Zake Avila with one of the gardeners.
José Verdasco did not last long and was soon replaced by a Mexican pro, Zake Avila.
Division of the land into plots and laying out of the electricity and water supplies
At the same time that the work was being carried out preparing the courses, Atamaría S.A. was involved in all the work of dividing the land into plots, of laying out the streets and roads and of laying down the electricity and water networks. Atamaría S.A. had very few of its own employees and contracted most of the work out to local construction companies. There was a company in charge of each of the different town planning needs. Electricity cables and transformers were installed, water and drain pipes were laid down and a revolutionary purifying plant, capable of treating the residual water of ten thousand people, was put in place.
Atamaría S.A. and the construction companies had their offices in the old and splendid buildings that had belonged to the "El Mojón" estate and were where Bellaluz is now. The man at the head of the technical team was Gonzalo Picó, a Chilean engineer who was brought in by Gregory Peters especially for the job. He went about his work in a very methodical and serious way and stayed with the company until 1974, year in which he returned to Chile. What influenced his departure was the Pinochet coup d'état as, or at least so it was said. The socialist government of Salvador Allende had taken over all his family's businesses, and nationalised them, and he was going back to see whether he could recover them with the help of the new conservative regime.
A man called Laureano González Luna took over from where Mr. Picó had left off. There was also another construction specialist, a North American called Allan Chassan, who Mr. Peters brought over as his right-hand man and put him in charge of the supervision and management of the building work of the Clubhouse. Mr Chassan was a youthful and sporty man who came to love the area and rented a house in Atamaría itself.
The first building work (The Clubhouse)
The construction magnificent Clubhouse, with its ten thousand square metres, was designed and supervised by the lady architect Sol Natividad Henríquez Portuondo. The foundation work for the building started in December 1971 and the Construction Company Rodolfo Lamas Construcciones S.A. was given the contract, just as for the construction of the first 36 bungalows.
# 26. The work on the Clubhouse soon after starting. January 1972.
What follows is the technical description of the Clubhouse. "The Clubhouse and its annexes all have three floors, a basement, a semi-basement, a ground floor and a first floor. The basement has 1838 m2 of useable floor space. The semi-basement houses the building's service area, boilers, pumps, switchboard and transformers, the caddies and service vehicle entrances as well as the toilets, lockers and the control desk. On this floor there is also a shop, the buggy park, a storeroom, the staff canteen, a small shop, the laundry room and an area that has no specific use. The total area of the semi-basement floor is 2939 m2, with 2657 of them being built upon. The same applies to the area of the ground/entrance floor, but the numbers are 2517 and 2307 m2. The Club's offices, the pro shop, the ladies' and gents' locker rooms and the cafeteria are found on this floor while on the floor, with its 1383 m2, there is a kitchen, a dining room, a drawing room, a game room and the toilets. The building has a lift as well as the stairs and has a total floor area of 9796 m2. The rest of the 21097 m2 are used as service areas."
# 27. The Clubhouse in 1973.
Decorating and gardening
CIFUENTES, a gardening company from Cartagena, carried out all the gardening work around the Clubhouse, the bungalows and the adjacent paths. Palm trees, cacti, yuccas and agaves were planted alongside the road that went from the entrance gate to the Clubhouse and around the bungalows. The plants used were all sturdy as they had to withstand the harsh summer climate of the area and not need to much looking after. Inside the Clubhouse sansevieras, aralias, ficus and dracenas were used and, after a while, pine trees, of the pinus nigra, variety replaced the palm trees alongside the road.
The landscape gardener directing the work was an elderly man of venerable appearance called Leandro Silver. He had a thick white beard and carried a shooting-stick wherever he went. He could often be seen sitting on his strange-looking seating device, stroking his beard and looking out over the courses and bungalows from some vantage-point in the surrounding hills.
Antonio Miranda, one of the experts who was working for CIFUENTES while it was carrying out the work around the Clubhouse, remembers how the 3000 palm trees, that were brought from Elche, had their branches tied up while they were being moved. They stayed like this for quite a while after they had actually been planted and there are photographs taken during the first tournaments held at La Manga where the trees show this strange appearance, strange because they do not look as green and healthy as they normally do. Antonio explains why this was done: "Palm trees have to be planted during the hot months of the year, and while they are rooting their branches have to be tied up so that the Sun and wind do not damage the trees. Also, as the palm tree grows from the centre, or heart, and lives off the water it stores, with its branches tied up the "eye" of the palm tree is protected and it is not directly affected by the sunlight."
The "El Coto" installations
What was the house of the estate was improved and the Hernández Ayuso family carried on living in it. Mr. Hernández not only looked after the house and the other installations, but was also the head security guard. The other buildings were used as the mechanics' workshop and as storerooms for the fertilisers, pesticides and spare parts.
# 28. The "El Coto" workshop. April 1989.
The buildings also housed the staff's canteen, locker rooms and toilets and a small office. The group of buildings was known as the "El Coto Workshop" and it had three petrol pumps, a two-star, a four-star and a diesel pump for filling the vehicles and machines that were used around the courses. There were machines for everything, for mowing the greens, for spiking the greens and tees, for mowing the mounds, for mowing the fairways and areas of "rough", for cutting turf and motor rollers that were used all around the courses. There was a Land Rover that was used by the mechanics, several Citroen Meharys, a number of tractors that had tow bars and all the tools needed for spraying and looking after the grass.
The first golf pros
Gary Player, the first golf director
In 1974 Gary Player, along with Jack Nicklaus, was considered to be one of the world's best players of all-time. This statement was backed up by the fact that he had won the "Grand Slam" or, in other words, he had won the four major tournaments in the same year, the US Open, the US Masters, the PGA and the British Open.
# 29. Gary Player.
Three more pro’s were taken on in 1972 and they were lead by Jaime Roqueñi, one of the hardest hitters of a golf ball in Spain at the time. Roqueñi was born in Pedreña, a village in the province of Santander, learnt to play the sport at Pedreña Royal Golf Club and became a professional at the age of 18. Previous to his arrival at La Manga he had been the head pro at the El Saler Golf Club in Valencia. He had won several national tournaments, Santander twice, Zarauz, Coruña and the 25 Years of Peace Trophy. He had also been the winner of the Swiss "Richard Lounsberry Trophy" which was made special by the rule that said that the players were only allowed to use a 4-iron throughout the tournament. He proved how powerful his game was when he won his first tournament as a pro by hitting an eagle, on the 18th hole, giving him a well-earned victory. At Zarauz, he had the tournament record, 196 after the three rounds, and the record for a single round, 60. He had finished 8th in the 1972 Spanish Open and he took on a more important role at La Manga after Zake Avila's departure as he became head green-keeper while keeping his post as head pro as well.
Another of the pro's was Pedro Contreras who, in 1973, had the most important victory of his career by finishing the La Manga Pro-Am joint-first with Valentín Barrios for which he received 330000 ptas. Contreras also managed to hit the lowest single round, from among all the Spanish players, during the 1973 Spanish Open, by completing it in 68 strokes. His best overall years were 1970 and '71. In 1970 he was third in the Madrid Open, fifth in the Portuguese and tenth in the Swiss. In 1971 he was eighth in the Spanish Open and second in the Pamplona Open.
It could be said that La Manga changed the life of the third and youngest pro, called Víctor García and who practically started his professional life at La Manga, as met, fell in love with and married a girl who worked in the pro shop, Consuelo.
The cooks and other catering staff
Before the two courses were opened, La Manga S.A. set up a department that was in charge of the bar, restaurant, reception, kitchen and maintenance staff. This "catering" department was responsible for contracting a wide variety of qualified workers from the surrounding area and beyond. The people taken on were carefully chosen and the Management had to give its approval before anybody became an employee of the company, employees who many came from other parts of Spain and even abroad. The first MD La Manga had was Manuel Adorna Pérez who, among many of the things he did, ensured the kitchen staff were the best that could be found.
While seeking ideas of how to run the complex by visiting various golf resorts around Spain, Mr. Peters came across Sotogrande in Guadiaro, in the province of Cádiz. He liked the way it was run so much that he convinced the then director of Sotogrande, a young and dynamic man called Manuel Adorna Pérez, to come to La Manga to help get his ambitious project off the ground.
# 30. Manuel Adorna Pérez. First director of La Manga Campo de Golf. 1972.
In turn, Mr. Adorna convinced various members of the Sotogrande staff to follow his move with the promise of higher wages. They were mostly kitchen staff and were headed by Juan Casquero Martín, the top chef at Sotogrande. The fact that Mr. Casquero was making the move convinced a few of the other cooks such as: Blas Cano, Mr. Casquero’s assistant; Francisco Marcos Viera, the pastry chef; cooks Salvador and Alfonso Castilla and Francisco “El Canijo” (“canijo”, Francisco’s nickname, literally means midget), and; Juan Armenta, the cafeteria supervisor. The first Maître d’hotel La Manga had also came as part of the group accompanied by his wife, who became the first Housekeeper. José Adorna, Manuel’s brother, was placed behind the reception desk as Head of Reception. Most of these people, who were nearly all from Andalucia, arrived at La Manga fifteen days prior to the opening of the Clubhouse to ensure everything was "ship shape and Bristol fashion" for the occasion. Most of them took up residence in Cartagena.
# 31. Kitchen staff of the La Manga restaurant. 1975.
The Clubhouse had been fitted out with some of the most up-to-date cooking equipment for the times. The dishes were, for the most part, Spanish, but there were also English and French dishes prepared in the kitchens. The menu was changed daily and the desserts on it were the classical ones that were prepared in most top hotels at the time, soufflés, cakes and Alaska pie.
All the waiting staff, except Mr. Ruiz and the second Maître Mr. Vargas, were from the area and had previously worked at the Galúa Hotel on the strip. The waiters were, just as the kitchen staff were, helped to come to a decision by the offer of more money for their work.
Other members of staff were taken on in 1972 and slightly afterwards. Francisco Cecilia, who had been working in Switzerland, and Mr. Tárraga were section heads. Immediately below them were Faustino López and Ginés Larios followed by Carmelo Guil, Paco Navarro, Pascual Sánchez and the Terrones brothers, Juan and Paco. There were other highly professional waiters that worked in the cafeteria and the American Bar among whom there was, Juan Pagan, Manolo, Manuel Pozo, Antonio Romero and Francisco Galindo. In the early days there were special “billing” waiters, Juan Legaz and Antonio Fuentes, who were in charge of charging the clients their bills.
The service the clients received was of the very highest quality. For example, in the reception area, apart from the Head of Reception, there were four receptionists, two doormen, two hall porters and six bellboys. Among the bellboys there were boys who were as young as 14 years old.
On the maintenance team, as well as myself, who was the supervisor, there were 11 men more including Tomás Sánchez Vidal (“El Hermanico” or Little Brother).
# 32. The author with Tomás Sánchez Vidal in the Golf Club boiler room.
In the words of Pascual Sánchez García, who started as a waiter in 1973 at the age of 20 and is today the operations manager of the General Community of Owners, commented on how well the clients were looked after: “The quality of the catering and service in those days was supreme, top class.”
The 1972 floods
On the 20th of October, very few days before the opening tournament was held at La Manga, a sudden downpour struck the whole area and, in no time at all, had wreaked havoc on the complex.
The local newspaper, “El Noticiero de Cartagena”, reported on the intense rainfall that had not stopped for 28 hours on the 18th of October. The same newspaper, on the 21st of October, spoke of all the damage caused by the rain, and the consequent floods, in Cartagena and in La Unión where many families lost their homes. A person was swallowed up by a stream of very muddy water that was caused by the breakage of a dam next to the road from Cartagena to Alicante. The road itself was cut and it took a lot of hard work and a lot of time to restore the flow of traffic as the mud was up to three metres deep in some parts.
# 33. Newspaper cutting that talks about the floods. 1972.
The press also made references to the fact that thirty caves around San Ginés and El Llano del Beal, that served as homes to many families, had fallen leaving the families homeless. It was also reported that twenty houses collapsed in Los Nietos, next to the Mar Menor.
As the days went by, more details of the catastrophe caused by the floods appeared in the newspapers. The corpse of the cemetery keeper from La Unión was dug up ten days after the rain had stopped, seventy houses were affected in Los Nietos in the “La Lengua de la Vaca” and the “El Arenal” neighbourhoods. La Unión and Cartagena asked for the area to be declared a “catastrophe zone” by the Government. The damage in La Unión, for example, was valued at 169 million pesetas.
Even though the rains were intense over several days, it was on the 20th of October that the complex was worst hit. The downpour did not stop for hours, and the water that came down from the surrounding hills, added to the water that fell directly on and around the courses was channelled directly into the ravines that run through the complex. The banks were not able to keep the water in and the courses were flooded after a short while. The two footbridges that crossed the ravines, which were very solidly built, were dragged downstream by the current and the foundations and building sites of the Clubhouse and the bungalows were completely flooded by water and covered in mud.
The disaster could have meant that the opening was going to have to be put back if it had not been for the courage and hard work put in by every single one of the employees. Teams of builders and factory workers were called in to help with the task of clearing all the areas that had been affected, especially the bungalows that were being built so that the VIPs had somewhere to stay near the courses. The bungalows had to be quickly dried out with the help of industrial burners and were then painted. The bungalows higher up the hill were not ready in time for the grand opening but, as everything else was, the opening was able to go ahead as planned.
The opening of the golf course
installations
For months the press had been reflecting the expectation caused by the imminent opening of the installations. For example, La Verdad, a regional newspaper, published an article on La Manga on the 15th of August 1972.
“ It is the first golf club in Spain to have two championship standard courses. It is the first golf club in Spain that has its own health spa as part of its own sports facilities. It is the first golf club in Spain to have its own fleet of buggies. It is the first golf club in Spain to contract a world-famous golf player as Golf Director. It is the first golf club in Europe to be designed by Robert Dean Putnam. It is the first golf club in Spain that will have marshals to ensure play flows. It is the first golf club in Spain, and possibly the world, that the 36 holes can be seen from the Clubhouse terrace.”
On the other hand, the programme of events sent out to the media, the participants and the general public, gave a summary of which were going to be the most important days.
“ When considering what type of championship was going to be held for the inauguration of La Manga, it was decided that it should be novel and fun to play for all the participants. The solution was found in that each amateur would play with four different pros during the championship. This meant that, while each pro helped the amateur to overcome the difficulties of the course, the amateur would contribute to the pro’s possibilities of obtaining one of the top prizes.”
#34. Programme of the opening events. October 1972.
In fact, the prize money that was available made the tournament very attractive to play in for the pros. The total was 2 450 000 ptas. and was distributed among the first thirty players, with the first placed player getting 441 000 ptas. This kind of money had never been heard of in a Pro-Am before, but the role of the amateurs, who basically represent the essence of golf, was also a very important one.
The Chevrolet Tournament, with $20 000 and a car at stake
Gregory Peter and his team had been doing all they could to get their project into the limelight and, several days before the opening of La Manga an agreement was reached regarding the Chevrolet Tournament. Some of the world’s top players were going to play in it and it was going to be filmed by the BBC. The BBC planned to make it into three one-hour programmes and show them during the spring of 1973. In turn, the Chevrolet Division of General Motors had the American rights to the programme and planned to distribute it throughout the States to local and state television stations. The title the film was given was “Chevrolet Challenge Cup” at La Manga Campo de Golf and it was going to be shown as far afield as Australia, South Africa and possibly Japan.
The LMCG journal of December 1972 talked of how the exhibition tournament had gone off in the following terms. “ A 54 hole tournament, that was played over three days, was played at LMCG for the first time ever LMCG. The club’s director, Gary Player, played against Englishman Tony Jacklin and the American player Tom Weiskopf. The first two rounds were played on the South Course while the third one was played on the North Course.
After the sunny first day, Gary Player was leader and, despite play being postponed due to rain, the 54 holes were able to be played thanks to the excellent design and construction of the courses. The last round was played on a lovely summers-like day and Player easily finished three strokes ahead of Jacklin.
Nevertheless, Jacklin did not leave the tournament empty-handed as he won the fabulous car that Chevrolet had offered as prize to the player that got the closest to hitting a hole-in-one. A hole was chosen on each of the courses and, at the start of the third day, Player was also leading this duel but Jacklin got his ball within 6 feet of the chosen pin on the North Course, leaving the other players out of contention. Weiskopf was not that bothered about this as he had won 11 cars since he had started playing as a pro.
The tournament is clearly remembered by all those who were lucky enough to be able to watch it. One of those fortunate people was Linda Chinnery, President of the Bungalow Owners’ Association, who was quoted in the 10th Number of the Owners’ Association magazine (Winter 1996/97) on the subject: “The first exhibition match was played in by Gary Player, Tom Weiskopf and Tony Jacklin. Tony finished third, but as he won the “nearest the pin” prize on the 16th of the North Course, he won a fantastic black Chevrolet.”
Another witness of the tournament was José Hernández Martínez , one of the young caddies who worked at La Manga at the time, remembers the event well: “The car that Gary and Tony were playing for on the 16th of the North Course was won by the latter. It was a magnificent black Chevrolet and, on winning it, Tony threw his club up in the air and ran to the car, which was next to the green, and jumped in it and started to sound the horn to show how happy he was.”
#35. Gary Player breaks a club.
During the first round something quite unusual happened to Player on the 15th of the South Course. His shot from the tee had landed in clump of small palm trees next to the fairway. When he was playing the ball out of the clump his club thudded against one of the saplings and snapped in half and, despite this, the ball flew onto the green and he managed a birdie for the hole. It was astounding that he should break the club but, even more astounding that he should hit a birdie. His reaction was that of any good sportsman as, even though the club he had broken (a 7-iron) was one of his favourites, he placed all the blame on himself and none at all on the third party, the sapling.
Going back to Linda Chinnery, there was another detail that she remembered when speaking to the magazine was that the installations were blessed by an American priest and of whom she said: “He was a good player, but whenever he played a bad stroke he would lift his eyes to the sky and ask why, oh, why?. “
The 1st International Maritime Cup (the famous people's pro-am)
On the 25th of October both the national and international press spoke of the magnificent state of the courses despite the storms that had had done so much damage. The day after the tournament got under way the newspaper from Navarra, Arriba España, reported that "the world's top players are all at La Manga for the grand event."
#36. Gregory Peters, first on the left, next to the winners of the 1972 Pro Am. Rappapig is in the middle and Pascassio on the right.
Among the players there were many famous names such as Gary Player, Donald Swaelens, Bernard Gallacher from Scotland and Roberto Bernardini from Italy. The British Ryder Cup team was represented by Peter Townsend and Christy O'Connor, Jean Garailde and Bernard Pascassio arrived from France and flying the Canadian flag was Al Balding. The Spanish contingent was made up by Ramón Sota, Francisco Abreu (the ex- world champion of the Canada Cup), Angel MIguel, Antonio Garrido, Angel Gallardo and Valentín Barrios.
While those keen on golf were busy following the impressive line-up of players, their families were busy following each and every move made by the members of high society who came to play alongside the pros. There were American magnates such as: Robert Anderson, Chairman of the North American company Rockwell; "The Shoe King" Harry Karl, with his wife Debbie Reynolds; Richard Gelb, the chairman of the pharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers, and; Paul Thayer, Board Chairman of the Ling-Temco-Vought consortium. Also taking part were some of Europe's top industrialists and businessmen as, for example, the millionaires, and keen golf players, Max Reuchulki from Switzerland T. van Zuylen from Holland and Gerard Liercy. But it was the film stars who arrived who attracted most of the attention. Sydney Chaplin, Charlie's son, turned up as did Sean Connery, who had a lot of people wondering if he would suddenly get out one of his secret weapons to help him get out of a sticky situation on the golf course, just as he used to do in his films
The musical world was also present in the shape of English composer Barry Mason, famous for his "Delilah", as were the graphic arts in the shape of Hank Ketcham, creator of the fearful yet loveable boy called Dennis the Menace. Playing alongside Tony Jacklin and Jackie Stewart was the North American Senator Howard Cannon, who came out from the States especially for the tournament. Manuel Santana, swapping his tennis racquet for a set of clubs, was taking part in his first-ever tournament and was partnered by Len Scannell, the famous "golfing priest" from California.
The first day of play, which went on for four days, was the 25th of October and the "Noticiero de Cartagena" followed closely everything that went from beginning to end. According to the newspaper's edition of the 25th of October the date of the full-blown opening ceremony was put back and that "yesterday afternoon, instead of the opening ceremony, which was due to take place at 5 o'clock in the afternoon, Gregory Peters limited himself to saying a few words during the cocktail held at half past eight yesterday evening. His speech was a sort of nonofficial presentation of the tournament in which 120 players divided into 30 four-man teams, one pro and three amateurs, are taking part.
The reason why the opening ceremony did not take place was that the floods, which have reaped so much havoc throughout our region over the past few weeks, have seriously delayed the building work on the complex meaning that it is not as ready as would have been desired for its official opening. The 10 000 m2 of the Clubhouse that has been nearly finished were completely flooded and all that is fully ready for use are the two 18-hole golf courses."
The first things that have to be finished are the bungalows, bungalow 36 being the one that is closest to being completed, and the Clubhouse, come hotel, as well as several plots of land that are for sale to the general public. The sports area, which does not include the golf, is going to be run by Manuel Santana and will have quite a few tennis courts, a couple of swimming pools and a boat club.
# 37. The International Maritime Cup (the famous people´s pro-am).
# 38. Gary Player, cap in hand, alongside his team. October 1972.
In charge of the golf side of the complex is Gary Player, one of the world's top players. Taking part in the tournament itself, as we were informed by a very friendly young Chilean lady called Inés who was the spokeswoman to the press, are, in as far as foreigners are concerned, Gary Player, Tony Jacklin, Bernard Gallacher, Peter Townsend, Christy O'Connor and Spaniards Angel Gallardo, Valentín Barrios, Ramón Sota (Spanish Champion), Francisco Abreu and Antonio Garrido. The other famous figures in the tournament include Sean Connery, Sidney Chaplin, Hank Ketchan, Jean Claude Killy, Manuel Santana and so on. The prize money at stake was going to ensure that there would be a hard-fought battle for first place."
That same afternoon, at half past five, a fashion show took place. On the Saturday, during the prize giving, La Polaca gave a show as did Dave Burton, one of Las Vegas favourite singers at the time, on the Monday.
Sean Connery was reported as having said how much he liked the courses and the surroundings. He also mentioned that he had just finished shooting his latest film, “The Truth”, that was going to have its première a few weeks from then.
Manuel Santana was included in the article and was asked about the future tennis plans within the complex. “At Easter we are going to hold a Tennis Open and we also hope to be the venue for one of the qualifying rounds of the Davis Cup.” He mentioned how they were having talks with Philip Morris, of which he was a shareholder, to see whether they could organise the event with the help of the company’s sponsorship. Santana had retired from tennis after winning the Barcelona Open and when asked how good he was at golf he answered, “I’m no good, anyway, as we all play as well as our handicap says, we’ll see what I can do.”
# 39. Gregory Peters handing over the trophy. Manuel Santana is behind him.
On the 26th the same newspaper reported that “at the end of the third day of play the Spanish player Gallardo was in second place. The best cards for the day, after having had to play in very strong wind that affected all the players’ game along the whole of the of the South Course, were handed in by Arbvaeleno, Gallardo and Gallacher with 59, 60 and 61 respectively. Meantime, the best amateur teams were those made up by Mark McCormack, Ian Chapman and Bruce Rappaport, who finished the day’s round in 59 strokes, and that of George Urschel, Cleve Leonard and Joe Fretti with 60 strokes.
The standings have changed as far as the pros are concerned as Pascassio is no longer in first place, which now belongs to Gallacher followed by Gallardo, Pascassio, Kugel Muller and Arbvaeleno. Gallacher is on 189, only one stroke ahead of Gallardo and seven ahead of the other three players.
As far as the amateurs are concerned there is a four-way tie for first place ensuring that today, being the last day, play is going to be very interesting. Play starts at 8 o’clock and is going to be on the North Course. At half past nine this evening there is going to be a farewell dinner followed by a prize giving ceremony.” As far as this last day is concerned, the newspaper only mentioned that there had been a dinner which had been presided by the under-secretary of State.
The book “Cita en La Manga” goes into much more detail about the whole event and, when talking about the closing day of the tournament, says. “ Once the matches had all finished the climax of the four days arrived and the prize giving and closing ceremonies took place. All the participants and their families and friends got together for a gala dinner in the sumptuous setting of the Clubhouse. Since the start of the tournament, all those that had been present since the opening had been treated to dances, cocktail parties, dinners, fashion shows (with clothes designed by Mitzou) and a never-ending list of other entertaining activities.
What was thought to have been the most fun event over the four days had been the picnic on the 26th. Everybody had been very jovial and became much more solemn, while maintaining an air of happiness and camaraderie, for the last evening. After the dinner for the approximately 550 members, players and other special guests, several speeches, that were of great interest to all the golf players, were given. After all the official acts came the internationally renowned shows of the artists who had been specially invited for the occasion. First came Dave Burton and his trio who were followed by a totally different act in the shape of “La Polaca”. “La Polaca” gave a demonstration of the dance that had made her in Spain and abroad and, then, a totally unknown artist appeared onstage in the shape of Manolo Santana to dance with “La Polaca”. Once the dinner was over, and after all the success the four days had been, all the guests left feeling very satisfied and happy that they had been witnesses to such an important occasion.”
The winners of the 1972 Pro-Am were:
The professional BERNARD PASCASSIO
The amateur team made up by BRUCE RAPPAPORT
MARK McCORMACK
IAN CHAPMAN
The 2nd International Maritime Cup Pro-am
Between 1972 and 1975 four Pro-am competitions similar to the one organised by Mr. Peters and his team were held at La Manga. Here are a few of the details of the second one, which took place in 1973.
The July LMCG journal of that year, when talking about this second pro-am, calculated that there would most probably be around 45 pros and 135 amateurs taking part in it, representing a 50% increase on the previous year. It also mentioned the fact that members of La Manga Campo de Golf were going to be offered the chance of playing in the tournament and all they had to do was put their names down on the list of participants before the 31st of July. The inscription fee the members had to pay was 34 800 ptas. each, and an extra 17 400 ptas. if they were to be accompanied by their wives.
# 40. Valentin Barrios, winner of the tournament.
On the 28th of September The Noticiero de Cartagena spoke of how between the 17th and the 20th of October the Celebrity Pro-am was going to be played over 72 holes in four days at LMCG. On the 18th of October it had the following article, which was headed “Expectation caused by the Pro-am.”
“ It is going to be the third international tournament held in less than a year. The total prize money of the three competitions comes to a total of more than 9 million pesetas and taking part in this one are going to be some of the world’s top golf players. Tony Jacklin , Peter Butler, Peter Allis and Malcolm Gregson are the English players that will be taking part. Also there will be Gary Player, the La Manga golf director, and American Jim Dent, from Ireland Christy O’Connor, Frenchman Bernard Pascassio, last year’s winner, Bernard Gallacher from Scotland, Dave Thomas from Wales, Belgian Donald Swaalens, Dutchman Jan Dorrestein and the winner of the 1971 Spanish Open, South African Dale Hayes. Among the Spanish pros will be Valentín Barrios, the European number one player, as well as Angel Gallardo, this year’s winner of the German Open Francisco Abreu, brothers Angel and Sebastian Miguel, Ramon Sota and Manuel Piñero, the present top Spanish professional.
As far as the amateurs are concerned, many celebrities will be on the tees today. Manuel Santana and the famous baseball player Joe DiMaggio, actors Fred McMurray and Ray Bolger and orchestra director Lawrence Welk are probably the more famous ones. There will also be some well-known businessmen such as Mark McCormack, manager of some of the world’s top sportsmen, Paul Putnam, Jaime Ortiz Patiño, Thierry van Zuylen and Henry Karl, Debbie Reynold’s husband. The creator of Dennis the Menace, Hank Ketcham, and the famous golfing American priest, Len Scannell, will also be there.
# 41. The 2nd International Maritime Cup Pro-am. October 1973.
The tournament will be according to the “La Manga” rules which are where each team of three amateurs plays with a different pro on each of the three days and the both the team’s and the pro’s overall scores are based on the best individual score at each hole.”
This 2nd La Manga International Pro-am was also mentioned in the official magazine of the XLVIII Spanish Open. “With the first edition of this important pro-am tournament the organisers had two objectives in mind. The first one was to promote the two 18-hole golf courses and the surrounding complex on a world-wide scale. The second one was to transform La Manga into an attractive holiday resort for the middle and upper classes and make them want to spend their time off there and enjoy the magnificent golf installations. They are reaching these objectives after all the hard work and effort that has been put in by Gregory Peters and his team.
The tournament has been a very clever way of promoting the resort as it gives the amateur players the incentive of playing alongside some of the top pros as well as alongside celebrities from the entertainment and business worlds. The other purpose of inviting celebrities was to get daily news coverage in the press world-wide and this has also proved to be a great success as golf players around the world have now read about La Manga when following the prestigious tournament.”
For this year’s edition of the tournament, for example, they have invited the golf world’s elite with Gary Player at the head, and some famous names from the cinema and business circles. They have also invited some of Europe’s top golf reporters to ensure that the media coverage is there. It is not easy to get so many famous people to take part in a tournament like this so I feel that the PR people at work for the organisation must have similar skills to those of the recent Nobel Peace Prize winner Henry Kissinger.”
The Tournament
An article written by Enrique Mejilde for the magazine of the XLVIII Spanish Open on the 1973 pro-am spoke of it in the following terms.
“In general, the tournament was similar to last year’s one but there have been a few small changes. The amateur teams each had two players instead of last year’s three, but there have been quite a few more teams and, as a consequence, the number of pros taking part was higher. There were many more Spanish pros and amateurs in the tournament making it a real Spanish pro-am and, as each playing team was made up of two amateur players and one pro, the pros have been of much more help to the amateurs than last year, thus making their own rounds more important when it came to their final score.
As far as actual play was concerned it was over 72 holes, Medal Play, best ball and with the highest handicap being 18. The prize money available went up, to 2552000 ptas., as well as the number of trophies that were at stake among the amateurs. There was also an added attraction this year in the shape of a prize sponsored by Eurovosa for the longest drive from the tee of the first among the professional players. This made the public follow the play at the hole more closely but I feel that it would have been fairer if this particular competition had been held on the driving range and each player had been given three balls with which to take part in it. I say this as the weather conditions at the tee were not the same for all the players as for some the wind was from behind and for others the wind was from the direction of the flag. All the same, despite the idea not being a novel one, it is interesting and can only do the game good.”
The management team of La Manga had everything prepared to show off the magnificent installations. The courses were in perfect condition, the list of participants was very interesting and the organisation had not left anything to chance, that is anything but the weather. The weather did not seem to want to make the same effort as the wind and rain accompanied play over the second and third days.
The first 18 holes were played in good weather conditions and at the end of them there were four teams at the top of the leader board, the ones that had been captained by Pedro Contreras, Malcolm Gregson, Peter Aliss and José Avelini Cabo respectively. It was on the second day that play had to be suspended because of the amount of rain that fell leaving the courses waterlogged.
I do not think that the decision was altogether the right one to take as it went against those teams that were playing well despite the adverse weather conditions and vice versa for those who were not . Among those who would have had the right to feel put out by the decision was the team made up by Valentin Barrios, Manolo Santana and Howard Kaskel who were playing well and 9 under at the 13th. I feel the players should have been asked to mark their balls just as they were asked to during the third round but, anyway, there must have been quite a few differing opinions on the subject. On the third day the participants had to play 36 holes to make up for what had happened the previous day and this proved to be hard work for the older amateurs who were not used to playing so many holes the same day.
Play was again suspended this day, but not until after the first round had been finished and all the players had marked their balls. It was not until the fourth day that the Sun appeared again and made everyone realise what a magnificent tournament it would have been had there been the same wonderful weather throughout.
After the 72 holes, the team captained by Valentin Barrios and made up by Juan Velasco and Michael Gedye won with a total score of 249 and the players could not hide how over the moon they were when they went up to collect their trophies, proving how hard play had been over the four days.
Before becoming the outright winner, Valentin Barrios was in a play-off against Pedro Contreras and had won it at the first flag. What had been really at stake in the play-off were the trophies because the players had split the money corresponding to the first and second places between themselves beforehand, as is the norm among Spanish players
The prize for the longest drive went to Jose Avelino Cabo, who sent the ball flying 275.70 metres, and the second prize went to Jaime Roqueñi after he hit a 275.10 metre drive.
At the prize giving ceremony and dinner, which was attended by all the participants and their guests, Manolo Santana, Gary Player, Mark McCormack, Len Scannell and Ramiro Ciancas, in representation of the President of the Spanish Golf Federation, all gave speeches. The most emotive one was given by the La Manga Chairman Gregory Peters who, among other things, thanked all those who had taken part and explained that he was giving the speech in Spanish because, despite being American, he felt more Spanish than most Spaniards.”
The winners of the 1972 Pro-Am were:
The professional VALENTIN BARRIOS The amateur team made up by JUAN VELASCO
MICHAEL GEDYE
Two more International pro-am tournaments were organised and held in 1974 and 1975 and were just as successful as the two first ones. Despite their success, and in spite of the organisers efforts to keep the event going, the 1975 edition was the last one to be held.
In some declarations he made to the magazine of the 51st Spanish Open, Peters said: “I am prepared to organise another pro-am next autumn, in 1978, and make it a by invitation only tournament. As you all must know this tournament was held for the first time in 1972 and was an annual event until 1975 when the prize money at stake was $50 000. The pro-am was not held last year, in 1976.”
The Caddies
# 42. The La Manga Campo de Golf team of caddies, 1974.
Even though it was never their intention to, the caddies took some of the limelight during the early years of La Manga. As from 1971 onwards a group of around 70 boys, who were between 12 and 15, was drawn to the golf club searching for a way to earn some pocket money. The word spread quickly that they could earn some money by working as caddies and they were prepared to try their hand at it even though they did not know anything about golf. The boys were from very humble backgrounds and most of them were miners’ sons from Los Belones, El Algar, El Llano del Beal and La Unión.
They were taken on, first of all, to work on the courses getting rid of any stones or pebbles they found and, then, they were kept busy by weeding around the courses, alongside a team of 50 women who came daily from El Algar to carry out the task. The women, who were supervised by Santiago Muñoz, were used to doing that kind of job and they were employed by La Manga for two months during which they received their money weekly. They had to be very careful when weeding as they had to make sure that they also out the whole root and they were given trowels to help them do this. The boys, all of whom aspired to become caddies, were paid 50 ptas. a day for clearing the stones from the courses and normally got to work by foot. It was not until the first pros started coming regularly to La Manga that they started receiving their first theoretical lessons on the duties of a caddie and on the game itself.
Later on, and once the golf courses had been opened, the company got permission from a State school in Cartagena to have a classroom at the club where the boys were taught all the school subjects by a teacher called Julian Alcaraz. Whenever the boys were not busy carrying out their duties as caddies they were given the lessons and at the end of each school year they would sit the same exams as the children who went to the school in Cartagena. The classroom was in the basement of the Clubhouse, next to the caddie master’s office and the way out onto the courses.
Despite the goodwill shown by La Manga Campo de Golf S.A. to give the boys a proper education while, at the same time, training them and having them working as caddies, can only be described as an “educational failure”. The reason why the idea did not work out was that it was very difficult for the boys and teacher to combine both activities. Sometimes a boy would have to leave a lesson half-way through to go and caddie and, more often than not, the boys were not very good students and, although they were expelled and sacked if they missed too many lessons, most of their attendance records were very poor. As they spent so much time together, many of their games became quite violent and there were quite a few twisted ankles, boxed-in noses and many other smaller injuries. However, it must be pointed out that a small minority of them actually took advantage of the lessons while earning some much-needed money for their families.
# 43. Severiano Balesteros with some of the caddies, Antonio Soto Hernandez, Pepe Lorente, Jose Castro Garcia and Miguel.
# 44. Antonio Soto and Juan Lorente proudly show their trophies for winning the Caddies Tournament. With them are Juan Mellado and Manuel Ballesteros.
It is not easy to become a good caddie and it is just as difficult to replace a good one as it is to train one in the first place. The role of a good caddie is very important as he knows each hole on the course better than anyone else. He knows the distances to the flag and the difficulties faced throughout the round and is therefore able to advise the player on what club to use at any stage of the game. A caddie also has to replace any divot his player makes, keep his clubs clean, rake the bunkers before moving onto the following shot and follow the ball to make sure that it is easily found even if it is lying in the rough. Another of his jobs is to see how the grass has been cut, especially on the greens, and make sure his player takes it into account when playing his shot.
Carmelo Guil, who was one of the first boys to work at the golf club, remembers those early days quite well. “The boys were 12 years old and over and there were more than a hundred working here doing one thing and another. Those that were here on a permanent basis received their schooling at the club and many others just came to work at the weekends. A lot of caddies were needed in those days as the players could not go out onto the course if they did not have one, and also because in those days the boys were in charge of gathering all the balls from the driving range.”
Before starting to work on the courses, the boys were given golf lessons by some of the pros and, although they did not have many chances to practice what they learnt, the boys took advantage of every opportunity they got to do so. When working they sometimes trained, with the balls they found around the courses, by playing a parallel game, always trying not to be seen, with that of the people they were caddying for.
With time, things got better for the caddies as tournaments were organised for them with balls and clubs were provided by the company and were played during the times of the year that the courses were not very busy. The tournaments lasted several days and play started at seven o’clock in the morning. Among the winners were of some of them were Ignacio Palomo Abellan, José Hernandez and Jose Aparicio while Jose Ibañez and Carmelo Guil also proved to be good at the game despite never winning a tournament.
It was very difficult for a caddie to move into the professional side of golf but there were a few who were stuck on the idea and did their best to become pros. Jose Hernadez and Ignacio Palomo were two who proved to be very keen on this idea and spent several years playing in championships in Murcia and throughout Spain. Their lack of funds and of a sponsor made things extremely difficult for them and when they realised that they would never reach their objective they decided to move on and find a job that would give them an income.
After quite a few years, Ignacio Palomo finally got his pro’s licence as did Norberto Martin Jnr., the son of the then director of La Manga Club. Norberto had always been a good player and had learnt everything he knew about the game at the Club. An article appeared in La Verdad newspaper on the 26th September 1984 talking about him as the 14 year-old winner of the Doblemar Casino Tournament which had had 220 participants. He got his pro’s licence, as well as his licence to teach the game, in around 1991. He is now teaching the game in the region of Catalunya.
Another caddie who managed to become a pro was Juan Lorente Guardia, known among his friends as “El Cacharro” (“The Crock”), who started at La Manga in 1977 when he was only 11 years old. He was not only the youngest of the boys working here, but he was also the cheekiest and liveliest of them and he smoked like a chimney despite his age. When answering a few questions on those years he said that he “ much preferred to be a caddie than to go to school” but despite the school in the Club house having disappeared he managed to reach 5th form at the school in his village, El Llano del Beal. He added, “ I already had a brother working as a caddie and we were eight in all, me being the fifth, and as our father had had to retire from mining on a very small pension, it was very important that we earned money.” He, as all the other boys did, took advantage of all the opportunities he had to hit a ball and learnt English in no time at all.
Severiano Ballesteros who, at the time was the Touring Professional of La Manga Club, used to ask the caddies that played the best to play the odd round with him. He had been a caddie when was young and he felt a close affinity with the boys and they felt at ease with him and there is an anecdote about a round of golf between Severiano Ballesteros Juan Lorente that proves it. Juan Lorente challenged Severiano to a round of nine holes but Severiano did not feel like playing at that moment so he tried to put Juan off by betting the boy 1000 ptas., a lot of money for a young boy to lose in those days, for the winner. This did not work so Severiano then went on to say that he would only give him a five-shot advantage and that he would have no qualms in taking the money from the boy. The boy carried on insisting leaving Severiano with no other option but to play. After the nine holes, and against all the forecasts, Severiano lost the match and Juan was very happy because of his double victory, one over Seve and the financial one.
The interview
Because of its importance in as far as it being related to this section of the book, the following interview, that appeared in La Verdad on the 16th May 1975 as part of the coverage of the Spanish Open, has been included. Being interviewed was Palomo Abellan who was one of the 80 boys that started at the Club removing the stones from the courses. The introduction to the interview said that “ their ages range between 12 and 15, they earn around 12 000 ptas a month during the summer months and their job is similar to a ball-boy’s but with a deeper knowledge of the sport they work with. Here are the more interesting parts of the interview.
Palomo: “ When we started we were all given trowels to dig the stones out of the ground with. When I started coming here my mother was strongly against the idea but my father was not. The first time I came I had to tell them I was going on an excursion and I have never been hungrier than on that day but I had started to learn how to become a caddie.
LV: “ Did you leave school to take up golf?”
PA: Yes, but the Club brought in a teacher who was in charge of giving us an education. I passed my eleven-plus exams and many of my mates still go to school.”
LV: “When did you first work as a caddie?”
PA: On the day of the opening.
LV: What are the things you have to do as a caddie?
PA: We have to watch the flight of the ball and make sure we see where it lands - walk ahead of the players so that we reach the ball before them and they don't have to wait. We also have to move the flags for them when on the green. We are not allowed to look through the players' bags without their permission just as we aren't allowed to do practice swings.
LV: How difficult do you find understanding the foreigners you caddie for?
PA: The main language here is English and we don't have any problems understanding the words related to golf, but when it comes to any other words we don't understand them at all.
# 45. Ignacio Palomo, Gary Player’s during the 1974 Spanish Open at La Manga.
LV: Which famous players have you caddied for?
PA: For Gary Player in the 1974 Pro-am in which he finished first. I remember he won after a play off against Clive Clark.
LV: You've learnt a lot about golf, isn't that right?
PA: Yes, mainly because I've been caddying now for around three years. Also, I won the Caddie's tournament last year.
LV: Do you earn a lot of money?
PA: We are paid 200 ptas. a round and on top of that we get tips. At this time of year we don't earn that much but during the summer we earn around 12000 ptas. a month.
LV: Do you have to come to the Club every day?
PA: We each have a day off a week. I take Sundays off because that's when the "Sunday caddies" come and you don't earn as much as on other days.
A good tip
LV: What has been your biggest tip?
PA: Gary Player gave me £70 after the Pro-am.
LV: Do you ever get a chance to play?
PA: The seven best-behaved caddies of the Club are allowed to play on the courses twice a week. What they most take into account is whether we attend the lessons or not and, of course, also how we behave on the courses. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, we play nine holes with clubs and balls that the Club lends us .
LV: Have you ever thought that one day you might become a pro?
PA: That would be great. If I carry on learning the game and the rules I think that one day I might be good enough to do so.
Juan Lorente, who had started his golfing life at La Manga and was known and liked by many people at the Club, was one of the fortunate small group of caddies who did become a pro. He made it, in part, thanks to the fact that he convinced Alan Robinson, an Englishman who visited La Manga on regular basis, to sponsor him. (Many of the other boys also tried to find sponsors but none of them had the same stroke of luck as Juan.) Juan took full advantage of the opportunity and in 1992 he not only got his pro's licence but also his licence to teach the game. After spending a year on the circuit and playing in various tournaments, he returned to La Manga 1993 and spent a couple of years giving lessons at the club. Juan left La Manga towards the end of 1993 as it seems that he had become sentimentally attached to a lady professional who played on the circuit and decided to accompany her on the tour.
The caddies' strike
In 1973 the caddies were paid 150 ptas. for a round of 18 holes and 100 ptas. for round of 9 holes and they felt this was too little. In order to get an increase in these amounts, and after trying to do so by other means that did not have any effect, they all agreed to go on strike. The strike took place during a Senior tournament where they sat down next to the main road that runs through the resort and demanded a 50-peseta pay-rise. After two days of not going out on the courses and a few tense encounters their demand was accepted and they got their pay-rise.
As it was to be expected from the boys, who were from very humble families, they tried to earn as much as they could. To do so they tried to get two rounds for the same day, one in the morning and another in the afternoon. This was not easy as there were several factors that had to be taken into account. First of all they needed to caddie for either a pro or a good amateur as these types of players played much faster rounds than less regular players. They also had to try and get at least one of the rounds to be on the South Course as, although the North Course was easier and shorter, it was much flatter and less tiring.
A buggy, in those days, cost 500 ptas for 9 holes and 800 ptas for 18 while a trolley cost 150 ptas. and 50 balls on the practice range 150 ptas.
During the last Spanish Open at La Manga, an article in La Verdad on the 18th April 1977 spoke of how "the caddies are mostly from the villages neighbouring the Club. During the last championship a caddie from La Unión received a tip of 10000 from the player that came in second, Tito Abreu. The scotsman who came in first gave his caddie 20000 ptas while most of the other boys only received the stipulated 400 ptas. per round.
According to another article in the same newspaper on the 25th April 1976, "80% of the players taking part in the tournaments need caddies and those who do not are accompanied by either their wife or a friend, and a few bring their own caddie."
# 46. Juan Lorente Guardia, front right, who after many years as a caddie managed to become a pro, is photographed here alongside other La Manga pros. 1995.
Finally, it is since a few years ago that players do not have to have a caddie before they can play a round, reason why very few boys come nowadays as most players choose to either carry their bag or hire a trolley. The going rate for a caddie nowadays is 3000 ptas for a round of 18 holes.
The Spanish Open at La Manga Campo de Golf
1973, 1974, 1975, 1976 and 1977
To gain international recognition, La Manga Campo de Golf reached an agreement with the Spanish Golf Federation whereby it would be the official sponsor and venue for the Spanish Open five years running, from 1973 to 1977. This would obviously prove La Manga to be a top golfing venue.
Gregory Peters’ influence
The first to follow the Spanish example were the Italians, then the Swiss, the Germans, the Dutch and even the conservative French fell in line in as far as they increased the prize money available during their open.
In Portugal, the Algarve Open disappeared so that the Portuguese Open could be made more attractive to the pros by offering higher prizes. The Open was saved after the politaical upheaval that took place in Portugal because the new leaders knew how important the sport was for neighbouring Spain's tourist industry which was its main source of income.
The modest Madrid Open increased its prize money and received the British PGA's Order of Merit, and under Tumba´s directorship the Scandinavia Enterprises Open arose from what had been, until it fell by the wayside, the Volvo Open.
Even though it was not solely thanks to Mr. Peters and his team that all these changes came about it is obvious tha they did set a new standard for the continental opens that they all felt the need to follow.
Here is what Gregory Peters' had to say on the subject at an official lunch in New York. "It has been great. We have tried to take on a leading role by holding the Spanish Open at La Manga and I believe we have managed it. We have not only managed it in as far as the money that has been available, but also in as far as the planning and the perfect state of the courses themselves. What has also been important is that Gary Player, our golf manager, actually took part and managed to attract other famous professional golfers. From now on, someone else is going to have to take over".
Among the other well-known players was, for example, the 1974 Spanish Open winner Jerry Heard, year in which Gary Player, who had just won the Augusta Masters, finished second. The Englishman Neil Coles was the winner of the first Open held at La Manga.
A memorable feat was achieved by the famous Arnold Palmer in 1975, under a cold and continous drizzle, beat South African John Fourie with a sensational eagle at the 18th on the last round. That was Palmer's first victory in over two years but he did not defend his title the folowing year when Eddie Polland, from Ireland, finished first. All in all, the La Manga Spanish Open enjoyed a lot of glorious moments over those five years.
Coles wins the first of the five Spanish Opens at La Manga
It was In April 1973, with 145 players playing for the title, that the Spanish Open was played for the first time at La Manga Campo de Golf. The South had been looked after for several months prior to the championship and the fairways and greens could not have been in a better condition. A new topsoil had been used on the tees and greens giving them a velvety look and feel. The fairways were narrowed down on all the holes and the grass in the areas of rough was left to grow up to 15 centimetres high making it difficult to play any ball that did not land on the fairway. The placing of the flags was also thought over carefully so that the players would find them difficult to reach.
# 47. Poster advertising the 1973 Spanish Open.
This is how things stood during the run-up to the 47th edition of Spain's most prestigious golf tournament. The qualifying round had been played on the North course one day before the competition began. Eleven players shared the 130th place in the qualifying round so, in the end 141 players got through to the actual tournament. Everybody's favourite for the final victory was Tony Jacklin who had already won the British and American Opens and had come to Spain to try and add to the list. The week before he had played in the Augusta Masters and to everybody's surprise he had made it past the first two rounds. "It was maybe better that way", he was quoted as having said. "At least I have had time to rest after the journey back and now I've got time to prepare myself here." This shows how determined Jacklin was to finish in first place in his first attack onto the world of Continental European golf.
Nevertheless, the competition was just as determined as he was. There was the methodical Neil Coles, ranked third among the English players behind Jacklin and Oosterhuis. Peter Townsend, Bernard Gallacher, John O'Connor and several other top British players were also taking part. Another of the veterans from the World Cup, the Argentinian Vicente Fernández, was also at La Manga ready to put up a fight.
# 48. Tony Jacklin and Neil Coles, winnner of the 1973 Spanish Open.
A strong group of Spanish players was also there representing the host country. Among them were Antonio Garrido, winner of the 1972 Spanish Open, Valentín Barrios and Angel Gallardo, who was given daily injections of Novocaine to stop the pain caused by a twisted ankle from affecting his game. In the Spanish contingent there were also several of the winners of the first continental tournaments that had alrdeady been played that year. These were Germán Garrido, Antonio Garrido's brother, who had won the the Madrid Open the week before the La Manga Open and Jaime Benito who had won the Potuguese Open after a play-off against Bernard Gallacher. These triumphs increased the expectations of victory among the Spanish players.
Despite the all the Spanish players' efforts none of them achieved the final victory. Belgian Donald Swaelens and South African, who, on the first made up the first three-man group along with young Spanish champion Manuel Piñero, both finished the first round 3 under par, while the Spaniard finished one over. It was obvious from the moment the group finished that, overall, the scores were going to be good. The wind that had been quite strong in the morning died down and by the afternoon the flags on the greens were still. Tony Jacklin, who started quite late, holed five birdies and made par on the all the other holes setting a course record of 67. Nevertheless, he was not the only player to have such a good day, as playing alongside him was his impassive countryman Neil Coles. Coles suddenly started playing well on the back nine and holed six birdies and, as he had also holed a bogey, also finished the 5 under par. Pedro Contreras, a local player, also had a good result on the first day reaching the Clubhouse in 68, the best Spanish score throughout the championship. Jan Dorrenstein, from Holland, an excellent "iron" player, shared the second place with Contreras after the first day. They were followed by Swaelens, Briz, Irishman Paddy McGuirk, ex-champion Dale Hayes from South Africa, Italians Roberto Bernardine and Renato Campagnoli and two British players John Garner and Jack Newton, all with 3 under par.
The hope that a large number of players might finish the first two days par or better, thanks to the first day's scores, vanished on the second day. There was no wind at all as the leading group teed off from the first on that Tuesday morning, so the flags were placed on the ample greens in such a way that reaching them comfortably was very difficult. Then, as the day went on, a slight breeze that slowly got stronger started blowing making things very difficult for the players. One of the more veteran British players among the field, Peter Butler, who finished the second day in fourth place, said that the flag placings reminded him of those at the Augusta Masters.
However, Coles, who did not falter and remained confident, holed a round of 71 and that left him as the sole first-placed player with 138 strokes. Briz was one shot behind him while Jacklin was third with 141.
Coles was from the old school and did not like flying and, consequently, played in very few tournaments. As a matter of fact he returned straight to England isnstead of playing in the Italian Open because of not wanting to fly.
His relaxed nature showed itself on the third day. He finished the outward nine in 41 strokes, which for most players on the circuit, especially if they were leading a tournament, would have meant disaster. But Coles managed to keep cool and holed a birdie on the 10th and four more over the last five. He scored par that day while his closest rival, Britz, finished 1 under par so that left them level,on 210, after the three rounds. They had both played in the same group accompanied by Jacklin who at the end of the third round was 3 strokes behind them.
Also on the third day, Brian Barnes managed to score 67, adding his name to the list that included Jacklin and Coles as holders of the South Course record.
As on the previous day, Coles showed what a calm player he was in comparison with his partners and, at the same time, rivals Jacklin and Britz. Neither of them could keep up with the man from Coombe Hill whose final score was 282 after scoring 72 on the last day. Both Jacklin and Britz holed out in 75 for the round and Jacklin was pushed back into sixth place with a final score of 288.
Another player from the same club as Coles and who had shown good form in the British Open the two previous years, 26 year-old Craig De Foy, played the best last round of the whole field with 3 under par. Thanks to this last round score he shared second place with Britz. The only two other players who managed to finsh the tournament under par were Peter Butler and Brian Barnes who scored 286 and 287 respectively.
# 49. Neil Coles is congatulated by the President of the Royal Spanish Golf Federation, Antonio Andreu.
Jaime Benito was the only Spanish player to finish among the top ten, coming in 7th place on 287. Of the 141 pros that started the tournament only two, Coles and Butler, managed to keep their scores below par on every round. This went to prove just how demanding the course was.
The actual organisation of the Open was commented on by all the knowledgeable people there who, in general, thought it to the best in all of Continental Europe. The correspondent for the Spanish golf magazine “Trofeo”, Teresa Bagaria, wrote the following about it: “The most impressive aspects of the championship have been the way La Manga Campo de Golf have organised it and the way they have ensured the perfect condition of the courses.” British PGA championship administrators, Tony Parsonage and Colin Snape, spoke of how it was the best championship they had seen in Europe outside The British Isles. Parsonage also put his thoughts down in writing: “ It has been an excellent competition and I am sure that if you carry on with the good work you can make it become one of the most important tournaments world-wide.” The effort put in by the never-tiring referee from the Spanish Royal Golf Federation, Gerardo Artiach, also went a long way in helping to make the Open the success it was.
The pressmen, who were mostly English, were also very impressed by the communication systems, all backed up by a mobile unit sent by Telefónica, that were set up so that their articles reached their newspapers in time for the following day’s edition. Peter Ryde, golf correspondent for The Time at the time and who had been covering golf in Spain for many years, thought that the communications system linking La Manga and London were, by far, the best he had ever seen in Spain. Michael McDonnell, from the Daily Mail, wrote: “If you ask any journalist about what he most liked, he’ll say the communication links. On top of that, at La Manga there was a strong spirit of camaraderie and friendship that by no means lowered the standard of play.”
It was also a kind of indirect praise of the organisers that the British journalists suggested to the British PGA that it adapt the pressroom at the British Open to make it more like the one they had used at La Manga.
Juan Antonio Andreu also gave hi impressions in a letter he sent to Manuel Guerrero Burgos, vice-chairman of La Manga. “I would just like to congratulate you all on the perfect organisation of the Spanish Open, which I feel has been an outright success.”
1974, the 48th Spanish Open
After the excellent impression given and the wonderful organisation of the year before, the Second La Manga Spanish Open was played between the 17th and the 20th April.
On the 17th April, the La Verdad newspaper included an article that gave all the details of the Open. “Nearly 4 million pesetas will be shared out in prizes among the top players from a record field at the start of 246. There is not a single weak player among them and Spain is well-represented, with a group of players led by the present Continental European number one, Valentin Barrios. Also playing will be two past winners of the Open, Angel Gallardoand Ramon Sota, the present Spanish professional champion, Manuel Piñero, and the winners of last year’s German and Portuguese Opens, Francisco Abreu and Jaime Benito.”
# 50. Poster advertising the 1974 Spanish Open.
The top foreign players were Gary Player, Jerry Heard and Tony Jacklin. The titleholder, Neil Coles, was not able to play because of an injury. The qualifying round was played on the North Course while the four other rounds were played on the South Course.
# 51. The leaders’ scores during the last stages of the Open.
The press also mentioned the fact that among the amateur players taking part would be the members of the Spanish team that was going to be playing a match against Portugal at La Manga the day after the tournament finished. These players were Pepe Gancedo, Santiago Fernandez and Nicasio Sagardiu. On that same day a one-day Pro-am was also to take place.
On Thursday the 18th the La Verdad correspondent wrote: “The Open got under way yesterday. Clark, from England is leading the field and, against all forecasts, there has been quite a number of players who nobody really counted on that have scored some of the best rounds. It was a lovely sunny day and a slight breeze helped keep the air cool.
One hundred and thirty six players from 25 countries are taking part in the tournament. The two favourites since last year’s winner, Neil Coles, withdrew, Gary Player and Tony Jacklin, were the two most closely followed players but their play was not up to the high standard they have everybody used to.
H.K. Clark, the Englishman and who turned pro only two years ago, played a round of 68 to finish the day at the top of the leader board. Behind him, and with one stroke more, is Spain’s Jose Maria Cañizares while two strokes from the lead are Vicente Fernandez, from Argentina, Craig De Foy, from Wales, C. Clark and Valentin Barrios. The two other Spaniards in a good position with 72 strokes are Piñero and J. Gallardo.”
As far as the third was concerned, the report in La Verdad on the 20th April mentioned that, “today is the last day of the Open. Jerry Heard is still in first place while 57 have made the cut after the third round. All the attention was on the leading groups in which Player, Cañizares, Piñero, Heard, V. Fernandez and Panosink were playing. Heard and Player broke away from the rest of the players by both finishing 2 under par for the round.
Heard is on 209 strokes followed by Player who is on 214. In third place is Englishman Peter Townsend on 216, in fourth place is Cañizares, who is seven behind the leader, and then come Piñero and Fernandez, both on 218. H. K. Clark who finished the first day as leader, has slowly fallen down the field and is now 10 strokes behind Heard.”
The event received television coverage on Spanish T.V. on the last day. At seven o’clock that evening a report of the Open came on air and in charge of the commentaries was Antolin Garcia. That same evening there was a special dinner for the journalists during which Peters gave a speech thanking them all for their coverage of the five days.
The sports headline in La Verdad on the 21st said it all. ”Heard won the last round of the 48th Spanish Golf Open.”
There were no surprises on the last day as there were no changes in the top three places from that morning. Jerry Heard confirmed how well he was playing the round in one stroke less than Player. There were two tense moments for Player during the day when Townsend drew level with him only to then drop back down the leader board.
The best score for the day was that of Scotsman Chillas who finished the round on 68, who, with an overall score of 289, shared fourth place with South African player D. Hayes
The top Spanish player, with 290, at the end of the championship was Cañizares who shared sixth place with two other players. Then there was Tomas Lopez in 15th place, with 292, Angel Gallardo and M. Piñero with 295 in 14th, G. Garrido 24th with 296, J. Gallardo, 40th with 299. Then came Garrido, Valentin Barrios and R. Sota, in 44th place with 30, and M. Sanchez in 49th place with 301 strokes.
# 52. Jerry Heard.
The prizes were handed to the winners on the course, next to where the scoreboard stood. The ceremony was presided by the vice-president on the Spanish Royal Golf Federation, Juan Castresana, who explained the reason why the president, Mr. Andreu, was not there.
After thanking the players who had come from around the globe, Gregory Peters handed over the trophy and the cheque for half a million pesetas to the winner.
The were cash prizes for the top fifty players as well as various other ones for a number of special categories. The prizes were the following: for the player who holed out in the least number of strokes, which went to Butler; for the player who scored the lowest round, which ended in a three-way tie between Heard, Townsend and Panasink; for the highest qualified Spanish pro, Cañizares, and finally; for the top Spanish amateur player, Jose Gancedo.
The 49th Spanish Open
In April 1975, La Verdad gave the week’s golf at La Manga ample coverage. “Today is the first day of the Spanish Golf Open which has a budget of ten million pesetas. Of the ten million, 3742000 are going to be given as prizes and in must be kept in mind that there have never been such high prizes. Half a million is to go to the winner and up to 50 players will receive a cash prize.”
The Spanish Open was, at the time, the most important one in Europe because of the number ot top-ranked players it attracted and the prize money avalilable, around four million pesetas. It was run by the Spanish Association of Pros and was point-scoring towards the continental "Cro-codile Challenge" which, in turn, was part of anther association called the "Tournament Players Oranse". This last association was member of the most important association there is, the PGA.
As far as the actual Open was concerned, La Verdad published a report in the 18th April edition. "O'Leary, from Ireland, is in the lead. He is a young 25 year-old Irishman who from the outset attracted a lot of attention with his attire as his trousers and jacket were bright yellow and green. He showed great regularity and not only is he at the top of the leader board, but he also lowered the course record to 65, 7 under par."
# 53. The La Manga Campo de Golf clubhouse terrace. 1975.
Because O'Leary had broken the record everybody forgot about Arnold Palmer, who had been about to do the same until, on the last hole, his ball went into the water. Because of this unfortunate shot he scored 7 on the last hole pushing his total for the round up to 69.
On the second day, when two players, P.Elson and J. Garner, finished their rounds in 68 and the leader board was as follows: 1st - John O'Leary, from Ireland, 138; 2nd - G. Hunt, from England, 139; 3rd - J. Garner, 140. Sharing fourth place were Arnold Palmer and Valentin Barrios. The other well-classified Spanish players were E. Perera with 143 strokes and Francisco Abreu and Antonio Gallardo with 144.
On the 19th, La Verdad reported that Palmer had taken over the first place tied with Fourie. "Palmer, who did not falter once yesterday played a round of 69. He is sharing the lead with the South African player Fourie who, along with the Spanish player Antonio Garrido put in the best round of the day, 67. Palmer and Fourie are on 210 and, to everyone’s surprise, they are followed by O'Leary.
Hunt is on 212 and there are four players on 213 among who are the Spaniards Angel Gallardo, Jaime Benito, Valentin Barrios."
The La Verdad report on the 20th: "Palmer, winner of the Spanish Open. It did not stop raining all day yesterday and the water affected the final result. Palmer, who was playing in the Open for the first time, showed his true quality and managed a feat that many people thought impossible, an eagle on the 18 to win the championship.
Francisco Abreu was the last of the field of 53 players who teed off on the last day had the best round on the day with 69.
Final results
Arnold Palmer, who scored 73 on the last round, finished in first place with 283 strokes. He was given the trophy and the half a million-peseta prize. Fourie was second with 284 and was given 375000 pesetas. Sharing the third place were V. Barrios, A. Garrido and G. Hunt and they shared 690000 pesetas between them.
Two other Spaniards, S. Ballesteros and A. Garrido, shared sixth place with the winners of the two previous opens, Jerry Heard and Neil Coles, all of them scoring 287 for the tournament.
Abreu finished 16th thanks to his good last round, scoring 290 in the end. The prize giving took place in the Clubhouse and was presided by the President of the Spanish Royal Golf Federation, Mr. Vicuña."
Arnold Palmer. The winner of the 1975 La Manga Spanish Open was, up until that same year, top of the earnings list and the first player ever to reach the $1 000 000 mark. He was 45 at the time and had played in 465 tournaments, winning 76 of them, coming in second in 46 of them and in the top on 264 occasions. Since the day of his feat there is a commemorative plaque to the tee on the 18th.
# 54. The plaque commemorating Arnold Palmer’s feat during the 1975 Open.
# 55. Arnold Palmer.
The 50th Spanish Open
On Wednesday the 21st April, there was a report in the sports’ pages of La Verdad. “The total prize money is 3 750 000 pesetas. The players have come from 16 different countries to play in this, the 50th Spanish Golf Open. None of the top players will be here and the fight for victory will be close and the number of participants will be larger than in past years. Gary Player, Neil Coles, Jerry Heard, Arnold Palmer and Tony Jacklin will all be absent.
One hundred and thirty pros and six amateurs have qualified for the championship during today’s qualifying round and the top eighty will make it past the cut after the second day’s play.”
# 56. R. Shearer.
La Verdad on the 23rd April. “Rob Shearer, from Australia, is at the top of the leader board who after scoring 70 and 68 on the first two rounds is now on 6 under par. Spaniards German Garrido and Manuel Piñero are in second place with 5 under par, followed by two other Spaniards, Manuel Cañizares and Salvador Valbuena, along with Irishman Eddie Polland on 140. One shot behind them are Patricio Garrido, Severiano Ballesteros and Jagger. The last fifty player on the board will not be playing tomorrow as the field has been cut down to eighty.”
La Verdad on the 24th April. “Salvador Valbuena has joined Shearer to be joint first and Manuel Ballesteros has jumped up 14 places after a round of 69 today. M. Ballesteros, who is tied with Polland and Piñero, is only two shots behind the leaders, who are on 211. Ribandeira and Gallacher are on 214. Today there will only be 54 players taking part as the rest have been left out by the cut.”
La Verdad on the 25th April. “ Eddie Polland has won this year’s edition of the Spanish Open and was handed a cheque yesterday for 500 000 ptas. He finished with a score of 282, 6 under par, while Rob Shearer was second two shots behind.
In third place were German Garrido, Manuel Ballesteros and Peter Townsend, all on 285. One shot behind them were Jagger, Gallardo, Antonio Garrido and Severiano Ballesteros. Tenth were Hodday, from Rhodesia, Gallacher and Ribandeira with 287 strokes.
Bernardini and Dusseu, from Italy, who had both hit the best round of the day with 68, were next on 288 as were Cañizares and Valbuena. Valbuena was the player who most lost out on this day as he had started it in joint first place and, after playing the next to worst round of the day, fell a long way down the leader board.”
# 57. Eddie Polland.
The Spanish participants in the 51st Spanish Open
The 51st Spanish Open was held at La Manga in April 1977 and, after the results in the previous years, it was expected that the English and Irish players dominate the leader board. All the same, it had to be kept in mind that the Spanish players, led by Severiano Ballesteros and Manuel Piñero, were playing very well.
Ballesteros turned 20 a week before the Open and had become one of the circuits leading players when he shared second place with Jack Nicklaus in the 1976 British Open, which was won by Johnny Miller. He went on to win the Dutch Open and took the top place on the British PGA's Order of Merit and the Continental one. He also was the best player in the field in the Donald Swaelens Memorial and the Lancôme Trophy. Then, alongside 24 year-old Manuel Piñero who had been the winner in the Swiss Open, he lifted the wiiner's trophy for Spain in the World Cup that had taken place at Mission Hills, Palm Springs, California.
# 58. Severiano Ballesteros. 1977.
It was obvious to some that Ballesteros was going to his leadership of the rankings this side of the Atlantic at the beginning of the tour. He had everything on his side, he was young and very talented, and the only doubt people had was whether he would be able to cope with fame and keep a level head.
Twenty seven year-old Valbuena had won the Portuguese Opn against all odds the year before but, apart from in that tournament he had not played very well throughout the tour. It was not until the end of the tour that he won again, this time the Morrocan Grand Prix and it was felt that the victory would help him start the tour in a positive frame of mind.
Abreu, 33 years old at the time, had been the victor of the Madrid Open, despite his sometimes wayward drive, which was the fourth victory of a Spanish player out of the nine at stake. Gallardo and Garrido, both 33, were also in contention as they had tasted victory before and knew what it was like to win.
The 51st Spanish Open
La Verdad, on the 13th April 1977 included the following about the Open. "Today is the first day of the La Manga Spanish Open and it will finish on the 16th. No Spanish player has won the Open yet as the previous winners have been two Americans, one Englishman and an Irishman. The total prize money available comes to nearly 4 million pesetas."
On the 14th, a Verdad spoke about the first day's play. "The first prize has risen to 750 000 pesetas after the 500 000-peseta limit was waivered in an agreement reached at a meeting of the EGA (European Golf Association) last year. As a consequence of this the prizes in other smaller tournaments have also increased.
Bland, from South Africa, played the lowest round, 68, yesterday while three Spanish players, Piñero, Manuel Montes and Francisco Abreu, all knocked in rounds of 71.
At 9 o'clock this morning, the first group will tee off from the first. Of the 146 players taking part, who come from around twenty different countries, 65 will get through to tomorrow's round."
La Verdad on the third day of the Open. "Severiano Ballesteros, who had a magnificent round yesterday, finished the day at the top of the leader board. He holed a round of 66, one more than the course record, and is sharing the leadership with the English player McElland.
The Spaniards Manuel Sanchez, Jaime Benito and Angel Gallardo are all on 140 as is Irishman O'Connor. One stroke behind them are Montes and Tito Abreu."
La Verdad, the 16th April. "Ballesteros had a bad day yesterday and Tito Abreu has taken over the first place. There is a lot of chopping and changing taking place at the top of the table of the Open which is finishing today. Severiano Ballesteros, the punters' favourite, had a bad round and finished it in 71 strokes. Tito Abreu, who with his 67 had the best round of the day, is sharing the first place with Bernard Gallacher on 208, 8 under par.
Another Spaniard, Manuel Montes, also had a good day and finished the round on 68 and is, along with Elson, one stroke behind the leaders. Englishman Huggett, who also reached the Clubhouse in 67, is in 5th place with Manuel Sanchez and they are both 5 under. Severiano is 4 under and Piñero is 1 over so it seems difficult that these players manage to finish the Open in the top position. Seventy two players will be teeing off, in the reverse order to their placings, as from 10 o'clock."
# 59. Poster advertising the 51st Spanish Open.
During the dinner that was held that evening for the press, the Spanish Golf Federation left it very clear that it thought highly of La Manga Club. The Federation's Vice-President handed a commemorative plaque to the Club's chairman, Gregory Peters, of the five years that the Open had been held there. Mr: Peters also said a few words as did some of the journalists present, who thanked him for the way they had been looked after by the club.
# 60. A view of the course and one of the lakes during the Open.
La Verdad, on the 17th April. "Bernard Gallacher is the winner of the La Manga Spanish Open, while Tito Abreu finished in second place. Not even on the fifth time round has a Spanish player been able to obtain the victory that so many people hoped for even though the players came very close. All the same it has not been all that bad for Spain as seven of our players have finished among the top 13.
The struggle for first place was between the two players who started the day in joint first place. It was an enthralling match and it was not until the 15th hole that it started to become clear who the winner could be. Gallacher, who in his four previous visits to La Manga had only managed a tenth place in the 1976 edition, holed out on the 15th in three strokes, one less than Abreu. This gave him a two-stroke advantage over his rival which he did not waste over the remaining holes and he kept the first place until the end of the round, thus claiming the first prize.
The best 9 holes,32, of the day, which was quite cold and cloudy in comparison with the sunny first three days, were those of Llewellyn. Salvador Valbuena and Baiochi both hit the best full rounds of the day which were 4 under. Severiano had a good round too, and equalled that of Gallacher, by finishing it on 69 and this helped recover some of the ground lost on the previous day.
# 61. Bernard Gallacher.
Gallacher, with his 11 under par, walked away with the first prize of 750 000 pesetas and the respective trophy, while Abreu received 468 000 pesetas for his second place. There was a prize for all those players who finished within the first 50 places.
Ballesteros finished third, on 7 under, along with Dasau from Italy. In 5th place, on 6 under, was Fourie, from South Africa; joint 6th were Manuel Sanchez and Elson, on 5 under; Montes, Valbuena, Benito and Torrance were 8th, on 4 under; 12th was Barnes, 3 under, and; 13th was Piñero who finished only 2 under."
Golfing Merit Medal for Gregory Peters
During the prize giving ceremony that was held in front of the scoreboard the President of the Spanish Royal Golf Fderation spoke very highly of La Manga and its board of directors. He also presented Mr. Peters with a Golfing Merit Medal which made the crowd gathered for the ceremony break out into a long applause.
Gregory Peters' speech during the opening ceremony of La Manga Spanish Open in 1977
"With this, the fifth edition of the Spanish Open at La Manga, our agreement with the Golf Federation comes to an end as far as organising the Open here at our Club.
The last five years have given us the chance to renew old acquaintances and make many new ones. We have witnessed a parade of some of golf's past glories and some of the young up and coming players. We have seen the birth of a new and reinforced British-Continental Circuit that will help make the sport much more popular throughout Europe, which is something for which we all yearn.
# 62. Gregory Peters follows play during the Open.
For the time being this will be the last Spanish Open to be held at La Manga despite the fact that our Club has practically been a by-word for the event.
The time for change has come and now it is time for us to pass the bâton onto the other Spanish clubs who also have the right to shine brightly with this championship.
We are proud to give the Spanish Open back after having been true to our word and ensuring that, while it has been placed in our hands, the championship has grown in popularity and importance on the European Circuit.
I would just like to welcome all of you who will be with for the 51st edition of the Spanish Open and thank all of you for your support over the last five years. I am especially grateful to all the players and memebers of the press as their friendship and support has meant a lot to us.
Yours sincerely. Gregory Peters.
Other championships held at
La Manga
Tournaments held during the early years
Many golf competitions were held at La Manga during the early years and there is one that stands out from the rest of them for the fun atmosphere it created. The tournament in question was held during the San Isidro (Patron Saint of Madrid) week in 1973. It was a private company tournament for the excutives of Huarte & Cº, a construction company, and the LMCG News Bulletin dated the 5th July 1973 spoke of the Huarte Trophy in the following terms.
"Despite the fact that no records have been broken during the Huarte Trophy, it has been one of the funnest and most entertaining ones held here this year. A group of around 30 executives and their wives got together at our Club to play the company's second private championship.
There were 62 trophies to be handed out in all, making the tournament seem like a serious full-blown championship. At least that was the situation until the first players appeared on the tee. It was a part Medal Play, part Stableford with handicap, tournament for the men and an 18-hole Medal Play and Stableford match for the ladies. There was also a team match and a Pro-am in which the La Manga pros took part.
It was played over the San Isidro Bank Holiday weekend with two days of play over 36 holes. The Pro-am was played on the Monday. Apart from the golf, a cocktail was given at the Galua Hotel, there was also an afternoon at the small bullring on the Dos Mares Estate and a gala dinner and prize giving on the last evening in the La Manga Clubhouse.
During the dinner the 62 cups and trophies, some of which were not exactly pure golf rewards, were given out. There was a trophy for the "most elegant player" that was awarded to Alfonso Gomez Acebo whose prize-winning attire was very similar to the one worn by Walter Hagen. He had also played the first round in an elegant tuxedo. Fernando Aranguren had also worn some quite extravagant clothes throughout the tournament for which he was awarded the prize for the "hippiest player".
A remarkable 190-metre drive on the first hole of the North Course gave Jaime Azcoiti the prize corresponding to the longest drive on that hole on the day, a drive Jack Nicklaus would have been happy with.
On a more serious note, both matches, the Medal Play and the Stableford, were won by Francisco Rengifo who scored 140, with handicap, in the Medal Play. Mrs. Diaz Amezqueta, with a score of 74 in the Medal Play, also won both of the ladies' matches. Santiago Rengifo, who partnered golf pro Pedro Contreras, scored 46 Stableford points to win the Pro-am. Second in the Pro-am were Javier Vidal and Victor Garcia with 43 points. Juan Gamecho and Jaime Roqueñi, the head pro at La Manga and referee during the match, were third with 42 points.
# 63. Huarte executives. From left: Ricardo Pardos, Fernando Aranguren and Felipe Huarte. 1973.
The tournament and other activities that were held at the Club are proof of the close relations that exist between Huarte and La Manga Campo de Golf. From the time when the Club was being set up, one of Huarte's subsidiaries, Hispano Belga S.A., and its chairman, Ricardo Pardos Gonzalez, have had very close ties with the founders of La Manga. This is one of the reasons why the Galua Hotel has also taken part in some of the activities organised by Huarte such as during the opening Pro-am tournament at La Manga last year. On that occasion many of the guests and players stayed at the Galua whereas the journalists and a small group af players stayed in the Galupe apartments. The afternoon at the Dos Mares Estate, one of the high points of the weekend, was organised by Hispano Belga. Many of the journalists who had been there that afternoon included comments on bullfighting skills of such well-known sportsmen as Valentin Barrios and Manolo Santana.
It seems as if the ties linking La Manga and Hispano Belga are going to become tighter over the following year as the Directors and PRs of the Galua and La Manga are going to work together on a whole calendar of events for the guests of both the hotel and the Golf Club.
# 64. Reference board with all the winners of the important tournaments that have been played at La Manga. It can be seen on the wall in the 37 Bar.
Just as they did last year, many of the players in the 1973 Pro-am tournament will be staying at the Galua. The professional players and the members of the press will be staying in the Snipe Apartments, also on the strip. With all the events that are being planned, the coming year seems to promise a lot of fun and entertainment for the members and owners at La Manga and all the residents and guests of the various properties Hispano Belga has on the strip."
The special La Manga Pro-am
On the 21st April 1974, just after the 48th Spanish Open, a special Pro-am was played, in which some of the top players from the Open and a group of amateurs took part. As the LMCG press officer, Antonio Herreros, told the press during the presentation of the tournament 300 000 ptas. were going to be shared among the pros who finished in the top places.
The Spain vs. Portugal amateur match
This was spoken about in La Verdad on the 17th April 1974. "At the same time as the Spanish Open and the Pro-am are being played at La Manga, the Spain vs. Portugal match will also be taking place. This match was first played in 1942 and it has not been played only on three occasions since.
It started when a British Ambassador visited Portugal just after having been in Spain. The ties the Ambassador, Sir Wilford Selby, had with both countries made him set up the match, which, since its creation, is played on Spanish and Portuguese soil in alternative years.
Each team is formed by the top amateurs of each country. We know five of the memebers of the Spanish team and these are: P. Gancedo (brother of the famous oarsman from Malaga); Ramon Taya; Santos Fernadez; De la Riva, and; Sagardiu.
The match is played over 36 holes and in pairs. The trophy, on which all the previous winners are engraved, is on show in the pro shop in the LMCG Clubhouse.
Players and anecdotes of those early years
Unpopular measures. When the complex was first opened, access was limited to, practically, just the owners and their guests. There was a checkpoint at the entrance where anybody wishing to enter had to indentify him of herself before being allowed onto the complex. They went as far as forbidding children into the area altogether!(sic). These security measures put public opinion against La Manga and they had to be abolished quite soon after the opening.
The banning of tips. Once again the subject of gratifications on behalf of the clients to the employees has to be mentioned. When the courses were opened the employees were told that, under no circumstances, were they to accept tips from the clients and reject them in polite, yet forceful, manner. However, those early clients did not understand this attitude and were sometimes put out by it that they "forced" the employee to taje the tip. On a given occasion the bell-boy found himself having to accept such a tip and, immediately afterwards told his superior about it. He was allowed to keep it especially seeing that the boy had been so honest about what had happened and had try to obey the rules.
It was a few months after that incident, and after the persistent complaints from the guests about the fact that the employees would not accept tips, that the ban was forgotten about.
One of the more generous clients during those years was a Swiss banker who was a frequent visitor to the resort. On one of his visits he gave a 5000-peseta tip to the doorman who opened the door of his limousine upon his arrival. At the time, the monthly wage of a doorman was 3500 ptas.
Television coverage. The La Verdad newspaper published a note on the 17th April 1974 that spoke of the television report on Spanish national television about the La Manga Spanish Open that was being played at the time. "Antolin Garcia will be the commentator during the transmission of the most interesting aspects of the championship.
The popular presenter, who a few years ago was the presenter of the cultural/sports quiz show "La Unión hace la fuerza" (United we are stronger), arrived in La Manga to present the special programme on the International Golf Championship."
First players and visitors at La Manga. Gregory Peters used all his influence to promote La Manga Campo de Golf and was constantly sending various personalities invitations to the complex. Among these guests were some of the top brass from the American Air Base at Torrejon de Ardoz in Madrid. These men, who always arrived smartly dressed in their uniforms wearing all their condecorations and insignias as proof of their rank, stayed in the bungalows and spent several days here playing golf.
Regular player. One of the most regular players at La Manga during the early years was Dr. Jose Antonio Nuño de la Rosa, President of the Murcian Golf Federation for more than ten years during the 80s and 90s, who the first time he arrived, accompanied by his wife, it was to take golf lessons from Victor Garcia as he had never played the sport before.
The group of Cubans. Another group of players who were often seen at La Manga in the early years was made up by Cuban businessmen who, mainly, had property development companies. They did not only enjoy golf, they also spent a lot of time in the Clubhouse playing poker and other card games.
The hotelling family
Work in the hotel industry is very different to work in mearly any other kind of business or industry. Normally, the realtionship between workers and owners or directors is a purely professional one but in the hotel industry this is not exactly the case. This is because the realtionship sometimes transcends the purely professional as the directors and their families live in the same place where they work and spend part of their leisure time there, too. As a result the workers get to know the families on a more intimate and less professional level.
If this is true at any normal hotel, at LMCG this was two or three times more so as the Chairman, Mr. Peters, the General Manager, Mr. Adorna Perez, and many of the other executives of the company lived in the golf bungalows just next to the Clubhouse. Many of the staff, such as the waiters, cleaners and maintenance people, had to visit the houses as part of their work quite regularly and they had all kinds of conversations with the executives' wives, especially about family matters.
In those early years Mr. Peters lived in bungalow nº 164-165 while Mr. Adorna lived in nº 128- 129. Mr. Adorna had two young children as did Mr. Peters whose children, Johnny and Athina, were in their twenties. Johnny and Athina lived a "hippie" lifestyle alongside a group of friends among whom there was one that had come over from the States, Warren Lucas, who was well-known for his excentricities and the fact that he was a vegetarian. Mr. Lucas had also given the caddies their first English lessons. Johnny and Athina lived in an old house that was part of the El Mojon estate, which would later become known as El Rancho.
Mrs. Mary Peters was a singular woman who loved animals and was known to give the stray animals around the complex top quality beef to eat. She loved gardening and doing anything that was either healthy or had to be done outdoors. She had a little plot of land prepared where a man called Eusebio grew a lot of the vegetables the Peters family needed for their daily consumption and, sometimes, there were enough also for the Clubhouse kitchen.
Mrs. Peters was quite an artistic lady. She loved to draw and was also very fond of making up collages with different coloured cloths. Also, despite the fact that she could have had everything done for her by the Clubhouse staff, very rarely did she take advantage of this possibility. She used to do a lot of her own cooking and often organised cookery contests for the wives of the executives and the other ladies who lived on the complex. The dishes prepared for the contest were put on display in the Clubhouse Bar where it was decided which were the best ones and then the prize giving took place.
Industrial action and the
business crisis
In 1975 there were 220 employees working for the two companies that were run by Gregory Peters. The companies were La Manga Campo de Golf S.A., which was in charge of catering and sports, and Atamaria S.A., which was in charge of the construction work around the complex.
During the early years the labour relations between the management and the employees was very correct and never was there the slightest sign of any conflict between them. The American model of labour relations that Mr. Peters and his team adopted seemed, in many situations, quite fatherly and family-like especially when compared with the other companies in the area, which were much stricter with their employees.
Gregory Peters was a generous and friendly man who was capable of having a friendly chat with any of his employees. At Christmas, he used to call the bellboys, one by one, into his office to give them a 5000 ptas. each. This was on top of the Christmas bonus they received from the company.
# 65. The Three Kings handing out presents to the children of the La Manga staff. The author’s son, Gregorio Mouzo, is seen in the photograph taken on the 1st Jan. 1975.
During those years special events were organised around Christmastime to which all the employees and their families were invited. After Mr. Peters and his management team had expressed their gratitude to all the workers for their hard work and spoken about the plans there were for the future, everybody would sit down for a special Christmas dinner. Then, towards the 6th January (date on which Spanish children traditionally receive their presents as it is supposedly when the Three Wise Men reached Bethlehem), there was a party for all the staff’s children. The children, accompanied by their parents, were given a tea and sweets and a present each (only all those under-10) by three employees dressed up as the Three Wise Men. Those who did this most often were Jose Albadalejo and Juan Almagro, doormen of the Clubhouse, and they were very good at it, letting themselves be photographed with the children and making sure they went away happy.
Nevertheless, the harmonious situation did not last. The reasons why it did not last were totally out of the management’s and the staff’s control. The first thing to affect the smooth running of La Manga was the 1970’s Oil Crisis. The Oil Crisis was brought about by the seven day war between Israel and Egypt in October of 1973, and the subsequent oil embargo sparked off world-wide financial turmoil similar to the Great Depression of the 1930s.
In 1973, the rise in the price of oil pushed Western Europe into a prolonged economical crisis and paralysed true communism in the Eastern Bloc. The 1970s were very hard for everybody. The five-year plans behind the Iron Curtain were not having their desired effect and were not capable of stopping the downward economical spiral of Russia and its allies. It was not so bad in Western Europe but it was still a time of hardships and pessimism while it tried to fight off the competition from the Japanese
and the Americans.
The state of affairs in Spain was even less promising for possible investors than in the rest of Europe, especially after ETA (the Basque terrorist group) blew Carrero Blanco (Franco’s right-hand man and planned successor) over a five-storey building while on his way to mass in his armour-plated limousine in 1974. This, followed by Franco’s death in November 1975, created a lot of uncertainty on the Spanish political scene.
The situation was full of uncertainty and Spain had to ride the storm as best it could. The tourist industry, including La Manga, was seriously affected by all the political upheaval taking place. Nevertheless, on the surface all carried on the same in the complex. The staff were still paid their wages as usual and the commitment to hold the Spanish Open was carried out.
Things being so, the last Open, in 1977, was played at LMCG and an interview with Mr. Peters was published in the national press to mark the event. In the interview Mr. Peters spoke of the plans for the future such as a new Pro-am tournament, similar to the ones between 1972 and 1975, that was going to be held the following year. However, and despite all these good intentions, nothing came of all the plans. The true crisis for La Manga was waiting around the corner and, very soon after the Open finished, the financial problems started to hit the company.
It was towards the end of 1977 that the problems became obvious at first sight. Payments to suppliers got slower and slower and it was a disheartening sight for everybody to see them queuing outside the management offices waiting for their turn to ask about the money they were owed. The staff also saw how their wages were affected in a similar way.
Mr. Peters suddenly took off one day and has never been seen anywhere near the area. To begin with, it was the company Vice-Chairman, Manuel Guerrero Burgos, who tried to sort out the situation by talking with the suppliers and staff in order to try and find solutions.
All in all, the situation just got worse as time went by and, on the 21st November a stop payment order was placed on both companies, Atamaria S.A., with its 13 employees, and La Manga, Campo de Golf, with its 108 employees.
# 66. The auditors’ letter dated the 21st November 1977.
Almost immediately, and as was to be expected, the auditors moved in on both companies. The first one to appear on the scene, on the 24th November 1977, was Manuel Garcia Colomer who, after showing his credentials to the LMCG financial director Mr. Lucio Garcia, handed a letter to each of the employees telling them to inform the auditing body of money they were owed. Then, a new auditor, Michael Cookson, took over the management of the company. It seems that Mr. Cookson was appointed by the company’s largest creditors, the English “Marine Midland Bank”, the American “State Street Bank and Trust Company” and, finally, “Constructora Gurdamar S.L.”. Mr. Cookson did not leave the complex throughout the two years that the situation lasted for.
The sums owed by the companies were quite large as only Atamaria S.A. by itself had debts totalling nearly 1000 million pesetas. To cover the debt most of the shares in LMCG had to be put up as guarantee for the creditors, placing it in a similarly precarious situation.
The circumstance brought about a very trying time for the employees who saw how their livelihoods were threatened. It was not long before 13 of the Atamaria employees stopped receiving their wages as, due to the auditor’s intervention, the company could no longer sell any of the properties it owned and, therefore it had no form of income. The wages were given top priority but there was not enough money to cover them unless and the only way of being able to do would have been by applying for a loan. As no such application was made, the employees had to carry on working without being paid as they would lose all their acquired rights if they did not do so.
The employees claimed their wages by a whole series of means, and even went to the Labour Courts and other official bodies, but with no success. Those who were worst affected went for up to eight months without receiving any money.
The situation the Atamaria workers were in attracted everybody’s sympathy and various signs of good-will did not take long in coming. For example, the workers who were on the hotel and catering side of La Manga all put forward part of their wages to go towards helping their counterparts in Atamaria S.A. This, at least, helped them through the worst times without having to give up their jobs.
Nevertheless, things were not much better for the LMCG workers as they had to share the few earnings the hotel and the sports installations made among themselves. The situation for the employees reached a point where they were owed up to two months’ wages. The auditors had obviously been given the order to keep the complex open and running while, at the same time, keeping a very strict eye on the books in order to be able to work out how much money was going to be needed the following month to cover all the costs. The money was brought from Madrid and was, most probably, raised by loans granted to the companies that had been intervened.
To add to all these problems, there was a severe shortage of water on the complex to water the courses with as the artificial lakes had all dried up. The grass was slowly getting drier and drier and the weather did not seem at all promising. According to the specialists, rain was needed within thirty days, from when the lakes dried up, so that the grass would not die completely. This did not help put the workers worries to rest as, if the grass on the courses were allowed to die then the company would surely have to be closed and that would mean that all their efforts had been in vain.
The state of affairs was thus when, trusting that the world-wide economic situation would improve, on the 30th November 1978 a joint agreement between the management and the workers was reached. A file regulating temporary employment in both companies, which would affect all but twenty five of the staff, was applied for to the labour authorities. Twenty five full-time staff, who were chosen by their fellow workers, was the minimum legal number required in order to be able to keep the installations open. The fact that all this was done in the best possible way went to prove that even in moments of crisis everybody listened to common sense.
While the situation went on, everybody felt that it would not be long before the creditors either, sold off the complex at a very low price or, forgot completely about it an abandoned it. If it were abandoned it would just turn into an area of very dry land with nothing to offer anybody, much worse than before it was turned into a golf complex. Nevertheless, the hope that it was not all lost and that a solution would be found was never lost. Rumours that Japanese and Arab companies, linked to oil companies, were interested in buying up the complex were constantly being heard. One such company was D.O.C. Holdings. As from January 1979, It had agreed to cover all the company’s costs during six months during which they could decide to buy up the complex. However, D.O.C. pulled out of the operation before it was legalised.
# 67. Letter from workers’ committee. 1st June 1979.
The situation did not get any better as the eight months approached their end and, after the application for an extension to the situation of temporary employment, it was felt that everything was lost. The workers had to go back to work as usual and the management offered them time off and, the tactic was soon worked out to be a way of not having to take the employees on again. It was on the 31st that the employees who had had temporary work contracts were all sent letters laying them off.
The reaction to these measures was practically immediate. All the workers, including those who had not been laid off, agreed to take part in a lock-in on the complex and to stop working outright. This was proof of the “all or none” spirit that prevailed throughout this difficult period and it was the last chance the employees had of doing anything to try and save their jobs.
As from the 1st September, and during forty days they gathered in the “Blue Patio” to wait for the outcome of what had become a desperate situation. Signs of human kindness and solidarity were witnessed throughout all that time. They had decided to do whatever it would take to save their jobs and, as a consequence, the complex.
# 68. Article in La Verdad newspaper, 2nd October 1979.
Democracy in Spain was making its first inroads into the Spanish political scenario and seemed as if it was going to take over from the totalitarian regime that had ruled Spain for nearly forty years. There was a whole array of union representatives and politicians who showed an interest in what was going on at La Manga and many visited the employees who were carrying out the "sit-in". The Mayor of Cartagena, after having been asked for help by the workers, sent out a message of support to them and commented on how the complex, which had given so much prestige to the area, was in grave danger of closing down forever. A loan of, in some cases, of up to 150 000 ptas. was granted to each of the 101 employees by one of the local banks under the agreement that they would pay the money back whenever they got a steady income again. It was a good stop-gap for all of them while they waited for the outcome of the legal proceedings that were taking place to decide on their future. Another way the staff of La Manga used to try and save the complex was by sending a letter dated the 6th September 1979 asking the Mayor ( the first Mayor to have been voted in democratically in the elections that had taken place in April of that same year) to take over the Club and make it a municipal sports centre and thus save it from going under.
The negotiations between the management and the workers went on relentlessly until the Labour Courts found the 85 dismissals to be wrongful thus forcing the company to reinstate them. This forced the need to reach an agreement. One was reached whereby 25 employees, who had been chosen by their work mates, of the 85 were taken back. Those who were not taken back received compensation that was considered to be very good at the time.
The employees not only received all the back-pay they were owed, but also 90 days pay for every year that they had worked for the company. There was also a clause in all of their agreements whereby they were first in line for any job that came up on the resort. Once La Manga started to recover this clause was respected by the management in practically every case as most of the workers were taken on anew.
It was once the agreement had been reached that the situation started to improve as the Creditors’ Commission, made up by the Marine Midland Bank, the State Street Bank and Trust Company and the Constructora de Guardamar S.L. (this last company was placed in sole control of the complex as from the 24th March 1979 i.e. it had the right to decide whether to sell, lease or exchange La Manga Club) was able to sell off the complex to a strong English company that had plans to give it the boost it needed to get off the ground again.
During all the time that the sit-in had gone on, 40 days in all, the grounds had not been watered nor looked after. It was astounding that the grass had not dried up too much and it was possible to get it looking good again without too many problems. A few years, later the new owners invested a large sum of money in the whole of the complex and totally remodelled them.
The King and Queen visit La Manga
# 69. Their Majesties, the King and Queen of Spain.
The labour dispute seemed to join everybody together and during all the time it went on the people involved did not forget their manners and professionalism despite the gravity of the situation. This can be appreciated in how they reacted when the King and Queen suddenly paid a visit to the complex without giving prior warning on a warm in August 1978.
Juan Almagro, who on the day was working on the reception desk and is now retired, often spoke of the visit in a proud and satisfied way. “A Spanish – Moroccan boat that had been built in Cartagena was going to be launched the following day and a supper for twenty two was planned to be held at La Manga and this meant that there was plenty of food in the kitchens ready to be cooked.” It was around ten o’clock in the evening on the 25th August that a call came through from the naval head quarters in Cartagena telling Juan that the King was on his way to the complex.
After taking in what he had just been told, Juan went to look for the hotel director who, as fast as he could, organised a reception committee. The committee was not as big as it should have been because of the few staff that there were in the hotel. It was made up by the director, Mr. Adorna Perez, and his wife, the head maitre d’, Mr. Vargas, Juan Pagan, Juan Almagro, of course, and one of the chambermaids.
It was not long before quite a large group of prominent people, including the King and the Queen, the Admiral for the Mediterranean and his wife and several other close friends of the King, turned up at La Manga.
Don Juan Carlos arrived driving his own car and as soon as he got out of the car he shook hands with all of the staff who were waiting for him to arrive. He then went straight up to the American Bar, which is where he had been told to go by his security escort. There was a table in front of the fireplace that had been laid for the King’s party. As it was to be expected His Highness sat at the head of the table and the food was prepared by Diego Pagan and Celedonio, his kitchen help. They proved how efficient they were by preparing a very tasteful regal dinner in no time at all. The dinner was served by Mr. Adorna himself, Mr. Vargas and Jesus Herrero, one of the usual waiters.
Meanwhile, the rest of the clients did not know anything about the illustrious company they had in the bar that evening as they were all enjoying the cool evening air, and their drinks and meals that were served by Carmelo Guil and Pascual Sanchez, outside on the terrace. After a couple of hours the group left the bar expressing how delighted they were with the dinner and the service.
The Royal visit was mentioned in the local press a couple of days later, the 28th August 1978: “ Their Majesties, King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia, spent the night of the 25th August in Cartagena. They had come from Palma de Mallorca onboard their yacht, the Fortuna, along with the Queen’s brother and his wife, the deposed King Constantino and Queen Ana Maria of Greece.
After docking alongside the Arsenal pier they went to La Manga Golf Club for supper accompanied by the Admiral for the Mediterranean and other members of the local authorities. Upon their arrival at the Club, the director’s wife handed the Queen a bouquet of carnations. The supper consisted of grilled king prawns, sirloin steak with sautéed vegetables and potatoes, sole meuniere and, for dessert, a delicious ice-cream cake. Doña Sofia had the sole. During the meal the King mentioned the time when he had been a midshipman onboard the Spanish training ship Juan Sebastian Elcano. Another subject mentioned was the Conclave that has recently been set up to choose the new Pope.
After supper the King said goodbye to all of the people that had served him throughout the evening and to chambermaids who appeared to bid him farewell. After returning to Cartagena and spending the night onboard the yacht, they sailed off bound for Motril in Granada shortly after half past ten in the morning.”
La Verdad newspaper also mentioned the brief visit in its edition of the 26th August: “Last night, King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia arrived in Cartagena from Palma de Mallorca onboard their yacht, the Fortuna, after having left the island at eight o’clock. The Fortuna, which was escorted into the port, docked near the submarine base near the Arsenal. The yacht had to stop to refuel and is leaving the port this morning bound for Motril.
According to the latest news, the King and Queen went to La Manga late in the evening. They were accompanied by the King and Queen of Greece and the Admiral for the Mediterranean. They all had supper at La Manga Golf Club.”
The business take-over
Dennington España takes over the property
# 70. Norberto Martin Casals.
The sale agreement should have been signed by the end of 1979,especially when it is taken into account that the application to Cartagena Town Hall to reactivate the Atamaria Ordinance Plan was sent in January 1980. It was also in that same month that Mr. Norberto Martin Casals, who later became the Chairman of Dennington España (the company that had just bought La Manga, took over the directorship of the complex while living in the Galua Hotel. Despite all these factors, it was not until the 28th January 1981 that the take-over was finally completed.
An article speaking about the take-over was included in the “Linea” newspaper on the 14th March 1981: “The purchase of the La Manga Campo de Golf complex by European Ferries, in association with Dennington España, recently took place. Norberto Martin Casals was named as the director of the complex and spoke of how the new owners were prepared to give golf the boost it needed to get La Manga going again. He also spoke of restoring the courses and all the installations linked to them and set about building a new Clubhouse and 1500 chalets that will be put on sale to the general public.
The golfing side will be run by Manuel Ballesteros, Severiano Ballesteros’ brother, who will have another pro, Juan Matias Mellado helping him.”
Another article in the same newspaper mentioned that “Dennington España have taken over the property. The purchase deed was signed on the 28th January 1981 in the presence of Roberto Blanquer, a public notary in Madrid.
The company, called Dennington España S.A., had been formed for an indefinite length of time on the 23rd December 1980 before Ramon Fernandez, another public notary in Madrid. The main objective of the company was to buy, sell, construct and exploit land with an aim to promote tourism. This was to be especially applied to golf and tennis complexes.
All the capital that went towards to set up Dennington España was foreign and came from Dennington Investment Holdings N.V. A promotional leaflet of La Manga Club that spoke of the origins of the company, mentioned that “Dennington España S.A., a subsidiary of European Ferries Ltd and which was renamed Inmogolf S.A. in 1982, bought the property in 1980.”
The managing director in 1981 was Norberto Martin and he lived, with his family, on fixed basis in golf bungalow 128-129. He was originally from Catalunya.
The new company, headed by Mr. Martín, moved in ready to make up all the lost ground and it was going to put all the resources it had available into doing so. Among the first steps it took in this direction was to take on Manuel Ballesteros and J.M. Mellado as golf pros. It also contracted Severiano Ballesteros as the touring professional who would represent La Manga on the circuit between 1980 and 1988. Shortly after finishing the contract with La Manga, Severiano bought a villa that was on plot number 183. Having Severiano linked to the complex soon started to pay off as the complex started to attract golfers again after having been closed down for nearly three years.
International Golf Competitions, USA vs. The Rest of the World
One of these competitions, USA vs. The Rest of the World, was held on the 13th and 14th October 1980. It was one of a series in which the USA was represented by Lee Trevino and Johnny Miller while The Rest of the World was represented by Severiano Ballesteros and Nick Faldo.
The La Verdad newspaper, on the 14th October, spoke of the event in the following terms: “Yesterday there was a match between Ballesteros and Johnny Miller that was `played on the South Course. There was very little difference between both players’ play and they were keeping par on all the early holes. Johnny Miller reached the 9th one shot ahead of Severiano but Severiano holed two birdies on the 9th and the 10th and was on shot ahead on the tee of the 11th. Miller took over the lead again on the 13th and managed to keep it until the tee of the 18th.
Nevertheless, they were about to finish the 17th, a par three, with the same overall score thanks to a birdie from Severiano. However, Miller also holed a birdie on the 17th so the 523-metre par five 18th hole was the perfect setting for the deciding shots to be played.
Severiano managed to reach the green in three, after having been in a “barranco”, and holed out in four. Miller made par for the hole and there was, therefore, a draw. The crowd had two things to celebrate, Severiano’s recovery and the fact that the players’ final score, 2 under par, was a new course record. It took the players five hours to finish the round.”
# 71. Johnny Miller.
On the 15th October the same newspaper spoke about the second match, the one between Nick Faldo and Lee Trevino. “ The BBC cameras were there to follow both players in a match that proved to be very equal until the 9th hole. It was from this hole onwards that the match started going the American player’s way and Trevino reached the 17th tee with a two stroke advantage. However, Nick Faldo played the hole in two strokes while the American took four to hole his ball. It was exactly the same situation as the day before on the 18th tee.
On the 18th Trevino made par while Faldo managed to hole his ball in four, 1 under par, and the match went to Faldo, 72 - 73. This gave the victory to The Rest of the World team.
This was the last match in the series to be played in Spain. Two previous matches were played in Scotland and there is going to be another one played in Japan in the near future.”
The report the BBC made of the event was sent to wide variety of countries around the World. On a purely anecdotal note, Lee Trevino had arrived at San Javier airport in his private jet the day before the match started.
Another way Dennington used to promote the Club was staging the Henry Cooper Classic at the complex. This brought a whole variety of well-known people from the worlds of sport, films, television and so on to La Manga which made sure that the event had good coverage in the international press and magazines.
Several companies chose La Manga as the setting for their publicty shoots and fashion shows. This was the case, for example, with Lyle and Scott who set up a catwalk on which famous models showed off the company's elegant golf wear.
# 72. Severiano Ballesteros.
Well-known people started to visit La Manga privately as is the case with Dennis Thatcher, Margaret Thatcher's husband, who visited the complex on a regular basis during the 1980s.
At the same time that all these events were taking place, talk started of building the first hotel in La Manga Club, Las Mimosas. Kind Reiner wrote in his article for the General Community magazine, the Winter 1996 number, that the changes at La Manga in the early 1980s were largely due to the interest European Ferries chairman, Keith Wickenden, put into promoting the club.
La Manga Country Club and La Manga Club
As part of the attempt to change the image of the club and give it one of a sports complex with a wider variety of activities available and not just golf, in 1982 Dennington decided to change the name of La Manga Campo de Golf. They first changed it to La Manga Country Club and then, in September 1984, wider changes were made as the original logo, the silhouette of golfer making a swing, was replaced by the one which is still used today, a palm tree with the La Manga club written below it. By the time this last change was made the building work on Las Mimosas hotel had made quite good progress, the reforms and expansion of Los Miradores were practically finished, as were quite a few villas and Bellaluz. On the sports side, the Tennis Centre was just about ready and the Mar Menor Beach Club was available to all those wanting to sail, windsurf or water ski.
# 73. Logo used between 1972 and 1982.
# 74. Logo used between 1982 and 1984.
# 75. Present logo.
# 76. Mr Lees and Mr. Smith on the Tennis club terrace, 1986.
Also in 1984, two new managers arrived ready to promote the Club and work out a thorough marketing strategy. It was in January of that year that the new general manager, James M. Lees, arrived. Mr. Lees was described in an article in the LMC magazine as being a very good economist and as having acquired a lot of experience and contacts in the United States. The same article spoke of how he was the main person responsible for the name of the resort being shortened and he had been in charge of the market study that lead to a wider range of people coming to the complex. Among the members of his team there was a man, Nigel J. Smith, who had held important posts in very important hotels in Saudi Arabia such as the Royal Guest Palace and the Riyadh Equestrian Club. Mr. Smith was the resort director and Mr. Lees’ right-hand man.
Under the new management the resort gained prestige and received an increasing amount of visitors while, at the same time, all the villas and apartments that were built were sold very easily. The prices of the properties went up and some were sold for record prices, even reaching the million-pound mark in some cases. A publicity campaign was launched in September 1984 that included the new logo and name and its effect was practically immediate. It was in November of that same year that the sales figures were over a million pounds and the situation just got better and better from that moment onwards to the extent where the sales forecasts for 1985 spoke of reaching ten million pounds. This was a very realistic figure as in the first week of January alone property for the value of half a million pounds was sold. Another example of how well things were going is that all of the apartments in Los Altos 1 had were sold long before they had been finished.
Telephone centre and the main reception area
Two new areas, a main reception area and a telephone centre, were opened in early September 1985. They greatly improved the quality of service given to the guests and owners and were both next to each other. The telephone centre was open to the general public and had an automatic switchboard that could handle 774 lines as well as several operators and telephone booths.
These areas were mainly put in place to cover the increasing demand as Bellaluz, Los Miradores, Los Altos 1 & 2, the golf bungalows, La Quinta Club and quite a few private villas had already been built. It was not long before the finishing touches to Rancho and Los Molinos were made too.
The main role of the reception was to organise the renting of the apartments that were on the complex to those people who did not stay in Las Mimosas Hotel. The switchboard helped a whole series of new telephones to be installed as the one it replaced was totally saturated and could not cope with any more.
P&O buys La Manga Club
In 1987, what was most probably the most important and significant event for La Manga Club took place. It was in that year that P&O took over European Ferries, and therefore Inmogolf S.A. too, and that one of the most positive and promising periods began for the complex. P&O spoke of large-scale investments that would create many new jobs in the area and give it the boost it had needed for a long time.
P&O (Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company) was founded in 1837 and had mail ships that sailed between England, Spain and Portugal. Then it expanded its operations to the Far East and nowadays has over 300 subsidiaries that give work to over 70 000 people in 40 countries. It is one of the top companies in the shipping, passenger and cargo, world. Its fleet of cruise ships is one of the largest in the world and it includes the Sea Princess and the Canberra. P&O/European Ferries is the largest operator of ferries between the U.K. and the Continent while P&O container ships and P&O general cargo ships are in charge of moving all kinds of cargo between ports around the globe.
# 77. Lord Sterling.
It also owns several services companies that are involved in carrying out work at high sea, on rivers and canals and in ports and harbours. P&O’s companies are not all linked to the sea and water as one of its most important subsidiaries is the Bovis group, which was responsible for the building of the Villa Olimpica Hotel in Barcelona, the KIO Towers in Madrid and Disneyland Paris. The Villa Olimpica Hotel and the KIO Towers are two of the most important private projects there have been in Spain this decade.
The company’s headquarters are in Europe and it is on all the important stock exchanges world-wide. The Company Chairman is Lord Sterling of Plaistow, life peer since 1990, who was also the President of the European Community’s Ship Owners Association.
Jeffrey M. Sterling, Lord Sterling of Plaistow, joined the P&O board of directors as a non-executive director in 1980. Three years later he was named joint chairman and shortly afterwards he was named executive chairman. The expansion of P&O, which enabled it to take over companies like Inmogolf S.A., that took place during the 1980s is mostly put down to the importance Lord Sterling placed on diversification during those years.
P&O can play an important role in the future of the town of Cartagena if it agrees to the request made to Lord Sterling by the Chairman of the Port Authorities’, Adrian Angel Viudes, of making the town one of the ports of call for its cruise liners. This is quite a viable proposition due to the amount of cruises there are between North Africa, the Mediterranean and the Canary Islands. As part of his request Mr. Viudes enquired about the possibility of the world’s largest cruise liner, owned by P&O, stopping at Cartagena on its maiden voyage. In 1989, the Canberra, the third largest cruise liner after the Princess Royal and the Queen Elizabeth, was the first P&O cruise ship to call in at Cartagena with its 1500 passengers and 800 crew. The Canberra, which is described as a floating city by those that have been on it, prepares 7500 dishes a day using two and a half tons of food, which include 4480 eggs and 3500 pieces of fruit.
# 78. The Canberra.
During the first five years after the take-over many important changes happened at La Manga, mainly bought about by the need to recover all the ground lost during the post-Oil Crisis years. They were years during which the management team had to overcome a great number of obstacles.
Mr. Rateb. On the 23rd May 1989, at 3.15 p.m., a general staff meeting was held in the Las Parras restaurant. Most of the staff were there and Norbeto Martin introduced the new Managing Director of Inmogolf in Spain, Touran Rateb.
Mr. Rateb had worked in many hotels and complexes similar to La Manga before taking over from Mr. Martin. He had worked for Hyatt International in France, the Relais and Chateaux chains, as well as for P.L.M. Hotel Group.
In 1989, a whole series of changes was announced that included a new 5-star hotel, a restaurant that would serve international cuisine and others that were all designed to attract more tourists. The owners were not happy with all the projects and they soon considered the possibility of taking over the whole complex themselves. A work group was set up by them to see how they could go about raising the funds needed to go through with the purchase of all the Inmogolf properties.
At the same time that Mr: Rateb took over the directorship of LMC a new recession struck caused by the Gulf Crisis. Unforeseen changes had to be made as costs had to be reduced to be able to withstand the crisis. The new hotel was put on hold and quite a few employees lost their jobs. Those who were laid off were mainly people whose contracts had finished, but some were subtly shown the door. This created a very nervous feeling among the workers who felt their jobs threatened and a two-day strike was held in February 1992. After the strike and the talks between the staff representatives and the management the situation was much clearer and it was not long before it became obvious that P&O were true to their word and were going to carry out all the promised changes.
When the old hotel was closed down so that work on the new hotel could start, all the hotel side of the complex moved to Las Lomas, which had also suffered during the recession. The administration side moved to some offices that were set up next to the Las Parras restaurant and everything related to golf moved into the existing Clubhouse next to the driving range.
Mr. Rateb proved to be a tenacious businessman and it was thanks to this that the Principe Felipe Hotel, the first five-star hotel in Murcia, was finally built. The total investment in its construction rose to 3000 million pesetas ( £15million approx.) and is run by the Hyatt International chain, well-known throughout the world for its high class hotels. The Principe Felipe was opened in June 1993 and its first Director was Cees Houweling. Nicholas Montgomery took over from Mr. Houweling (both Hyatt men) in 1996 and is still heads the running of the hotel today (June 1999).
Touran Rateb, after having helped LMC get through some very difficult years, left his post and the complex and Tony Coles took over at the head of Inmogolf S.A. Mr. Coles knew all that was necessary to be able to run the complex as he had held various posts and lived here for quite a number of years. He had been very successful as Chairman of La Quinta Club since 1990, post which he left to join Inmogolf in 1995.
# 80. Tony Coles.
# 81. Nicholas Montgomery.
In little more than two years Mr. Coles has made quite important and wide-ranging changes in LMC. On the employee side, it is since he took over that the number of staff with permanent contracts has risen quite considerably and he has proven to be an understanding man always willing listen to his workers. He has also paved the way for the third casino in the region to be built, the laying out of five football pitches and vast improvements on the three golf courses. Many new villas are being built and there are many plans for expansion that will be taking place over the next few years.
The Christmas spirit at La Manga
Christmas has always been very important at La Manga and a time when everybody on the complex gets together with their families. For Spanish people, dinner on New Year's Eve is the most important Christmas meal while Christmas Day lunch is when the English have their family meal.
It is a time when dinners and parties are held and the most important one in the hotel is the New Year's Eve party which is held in the Grand Ballroom. It is not only a time for family meals as many companies gather all their employees for a meal as Inmogolf and Hyatt do themselves when they hold a joint staff Christmas party.
The traditional groups of people going around Atamaria singing Christmas carols were slowly replaced by the staff Christmas parties when Mr. Richards was at the head of the complex. Mr. Richards used to invite all the staff and their families to a Christmas gathering where presents were handed out and the Christmas spirit invaded the air. The staff parties are always very impressive as, on some occasions, up to 500 members of staff get together.
The tradition has been maintained since the Principe Felipe was opened as all the staff are invited to a party in the Grand Ballroom. The workers themselves are in charge of the entertainment and they take part in musical and theatrical numbers. There have been fashion shows and dance groups which have obviously needed a lot of rehearsing before the grand evening. The management teams of Hyatt and Inmogolf have also gone up on stage to entertain everybody there has also been the odd one-man show such as Jesus Corbalan's, the verses recited by Tomas Sanchez (the Hermanico, the "little brother"), the extraordinary presenters and organisers and the book's author, Rogelio Mouzo, with his accordeon.
# 82. The book’s author entertaining everybody at a staff Christmas party.
The Christmas spirit is not limited just to the people within the complex, it also stretched to the needy and poor in the area. Large sums of money are donated to local charities, such as the Hospital de la Caridad (literally, the Hospital of Charity), and the Red Cross. Other examples are, the joint donation Hyatt and Inmogolf made of 240 000 pesetas to the Marathon Against Drugs that was held in Cartagena in 1996, the donation made to the Los Dolores Shelter for the Down and Out and many more.
One of the largest donations was the one of £15 000 made in June 1997. The reason the donation was made was that a player had managed a hole-in-one on the 12th hole of the South Course during the World Corporate Golf Challenge. Altough the feat was a very difficult one to achieve the organisers had taken out insurance in case it were and, as a result, thedonation had to be made. The money was handed over to the Sagrado Corazon de Jesus (the Sacred Heart) Parish authorities during the closing ceremony of the tournament which counted with the presence of the Mayor of Cartagena, Pilar Barreiro. A social centre for under-privileged children, with a dining room and a workshop, was built thanks to the donation.
This type of charitable act happens on quite a regular basis at La Manga Club as, for example, each time the Henry Cooper Classic is held here a cheque of several hundred thousand pesetas is given to one of the local charities. The Community of Owners at La Manga, who donate 300 000 pesetas every year to the Red Cross, also showed their goodwill by organising several events with the aim of collecting money for a young girl from Cartagena who had leukaemia and urgently needed treatment and managed to collect several million pesetas.
# 83. Richard Lemmer, manager of Barwell Travel Agents, handing over a cheque.
Sports Facilities
The Tennis Centre and the Oasis
# 84. The entrance to El Oasis tennis centre.
From the time when the complex was at the drawing board stage in 1971, there were plans to build several additional sports facilities apart from the golf courses. Work on the foundations of the tennis centre started at the same time as on the courses as tennis facilities were considered to be a very important addition.
Proof of the importance tennis was given is that Manolo Santana, winner of Wimbledon and the US Open, was taken on as the Director of the Centre. During the opening of the golf courses the press asked Mr. Santana about how the work on the tennis centre was progressing. “If it had not rained recently the courts, or at least some of them, would have been ready by now. We are thinking of having five clay courts, two grass ones and five artificial grass ones. The grass courts have been put at the disposal of the Spanish Tennis Federation so that the players can use them to practice on prior to any championship that is played on this kind of court.
# 85. Panoramic view of the El Oasis tennis and leisure centre. 1988.
In July 1973, a LMCG news bulletin spoke of how twelve of the fifteen projected courts, a swimming pool and a children’s area would all be ready by the middle of the month. It went on to say: “The courts that are nearly ready are the eight hard and four clay courts. The fifth clay court, which is going to be the centre one, will be ready once the stadium has been finished. The two remaining ones are going to the first grass courts to be built in Spain. The ground is ready for the grass to be laid, which will be done once it has been decided which is the right type of grass for this climate and soil.
The tennis centre clubhouse, which will house the changing rooms, a restaurant and a tennis shop, has been designed and work on the building will start shortly and it should be finished in a year’s time. The official opening of the tennis centre will coincide with an international tennis championship and will make the centre an important addition to the facilities on the complex. The sports consultant, Manolo Santana, and the centre’s full-time tennis pro, Antonio Solana, will be the main people in charge of promoting the sport. Meanwhile, tennis players will have to use the golf clubhouse until the tennis clubhouse is finished.”
The La Verdad newspaper published an interview with Gregory Peters, on the 16th April 1975, where he spoke about the new projects. He also spoke about the tennis centre. ”We hope to finish the eight remaining courts soon. Also, a national championship is going to be played here between the 28th April and the 3rd May. The presidents of all the regional federations will be here as it will coincide with the Davis Cup match that is going to be played in Murcia on the same dates.”
Tennis pros
The first resident pro was Antonio Solana. Solana was the Spanish champion in 1972 and was Santana’s sparring partner on a regular basis. According to his own words, which were published in La Verdad on the 12th July 1974, he often played tennis with Santana because his game was good practice for the more veteran player and because Santana did not have anybody to play with in Madrid. He said that he also put Santana through his paces so that in five or six days he was ready to play in the following tournament. It also helped Santana because Solana was able to see his faults much more clearly. Solana also spoke quite highly of Murcian tennis and mentioned how the region’s team had reached the finals of the Spanish National Championships.
.# 86. The David Lloyd Racquet Centre.
Of all the events that took place during the early years, one that stood out from the rest was the visit made by Swedish tennis ace Bjorn Borg who came to the complex to play several exhibition matches.
As from 1981 and once the business crisis was over and Dennington España had had bought the complex, quite a number of pros were put at the head of the tennis centre such as Ramon Doval who was one of the region’s top pros and a very good teacher.
It was towards the beginning of 1985 that David Lloyd took over as director of the centre in an attempt to give it a much-needed boost. The name of the installations was changed to the “David Lloyd Racquet Centre”. It was in that same year that a new resident pro and latterly the centre’s director, Nick Walden, appeared on the scene. Mr. Walden did move on until 1990 when the name of the centre was changed once again. The new name was, and is, the “Oasis Tennis and Leisure Centre.”
# 87. David Lloyd (2nd from right) alongside a group of tennis players fromt the club.
Lorenzo Martinez is the longest-standing pro at the centre. He first arrived in 1987 and was given a job as one of the resident pros and he soon became the head pro. In 1991, he was made the tennis director and then, in 1994, he was put in charge of the whole tennis and leisure centre and he still holds the post. Lorenzo has played in many national and international tournaments as he started playing tennis seriously at a young age. It was in 1982 that he finally decided to become a full-time tennis coach. The people he has taught and those who he has had contact with all speak very highly of him. He is defined as a very prefessional coach who is easy to get on with and understand. Thanks to his dedication and the hard work of the rest of the staff at the centre, the “Oasis” has made a very good name for itself and many important tournaments have been held there. A preliminary round of the Fed Cup and a satellite tournament of the ATP are played here every year. These tournaments bring some of tennis’ most promising up-and-coming players from all over the world.
The opening of the Health and Beauty centre
The Tennis Centre building was opened to the public in June 1985 without all the planned work having been carried out on it. What had been finished was the reception area, the changing rooms, the showers and toilets, a restaurant, a bar and a small sports shop. However, the work on the building carried on non-stop, renewing and improving the installations until it was officially opened on the 26th May 1987. By then there was a gym, a sauna and several other complimentary services within the building.
Around three hundred people were invited to the opening and there were exhibitions in each of the main areas of the centre, aerobics, tennis, squash and bowls. Celebrities such as Paul Daniels, Kenny Dalglish, Tony Allcock and Terry Sullivan took part in the exhibition matches, which were followed by a cocktail party and a dance with live music. Even Mar Menor were at the event transmittng it live for the area.
It was around half past six in the afternoon, when the party was in full swing, that a telephone call was received at the reception desk of the beauty centre warning that a bomb had been placed on the premises. The people in charge of the centre quickly decided to get everybody away from the area in case the warning was true. In no time at all the area was clear and everybody had gathered on a court where one of the exhibition matches had been played in the hope that the party would soon be able to carry on uninterrupted.
Sadly, it was not until half past nine that evening that the Guardia Civil declared the area safe again. It had been a joke in very bad taste and, worst still, it was niether the first nor last time this kind of hoax took place on the complex.
The following day all the Tennis Centre staff got down to preparing everything again for the party. They blew up hundreds of balloons, set up the sound equipment and prepared the bowling green. The guests began arriving and by quarter past six all the exhibition matches and so on had started.
# 88. The tennis club. The first building that housed the Health and Beauty centre, 1985.
After Mr. Lees' speech, Kenny Dalglish cut the tape and declared the centre officialy open. It was all just as it had been the day before and despite the marble plaque commemorating the occasion says that the Tennis Centre was opened on the 25th May 1987, it was really opened on the 26th May.
# 89. A corner of the gym that is part of the Health and Beauty centre.
Ever since the first courts were built back in the 1970s, they have undergone constant improvements and new courts have been added. The rest of the installations have also been improved to the extent that the Oasis Tennis Centre, as a whole, is considered one of the best all-round tennis centres in Europe. Some important championships have been played there such as the Remington Trophy Finals, the Spanish Championship for Ladies, the Davis Cup match between Spain and Canada or the Fed Cup. Its centre court, which is similar in design to a Roman circus, can seat up to 1500 people.
At present, there are eighteen courts in all at the centre, ten clay, four artificial grass and four hard courts. Thirteen of them are floodlit and there is a whole array of equipment used for coaching. There are two paddle tennis courts and one squash court, as the other one has been turned into a tennis clinic. Inside the building one can also make use of the well-equipped gym, the sauna and dip pool, the jacuzzi, the Beauty Salon, the physiotherapy clinic or the tennis pro shop. There are changing rooms inside the main building and in a separate one next to the tennis courts.
In 1973 a good-sized swimmimng pool, which has an small island in the middle with palm trees on it, was built and has not been changed since. There is also a mini-golf and table tennis area next to the pool. In 1990 the original Caribbean-style building that had a bar and some changing rooms was knocked down and replaced by the building that stands next to the pool nowadays. The new building does not only have a bar and some changing rooms, but it also houses the Mini-Club, a nursery school that is open all year round.
Since 1995 there is a whole series of other activities that can be practised at the Oasis. These are: trekking, free-climbing, diving and mini-olympics.
On the 28th December 1990 the La Manga Tennis Centre became a member club of the Spanish Royal Tennis Federation. A document signed by the Federation president, Agustin Pujol Niubo, was presented to the club at the same time that La Manga was invited to take part in the organisation of regional and national tennis tournaments.
# 90. The tennis club and the present Health and Beauty centre, 1991.
Tennis Tournaments
So many tournaments have been held at the LMC Tennis Centre that it is impossible to list them all. However, there are some that have stood out from the rest due to their importance or to the fact that they are the type of tournaments that Manolo Santana, the first director of the club, had always envisaged holding at the installations. The most representative tournament of this group is Davis Cup.
A memo sent out to all the LMC employees by Mr. Rateb on the 17th November 1989, gave the news that the Club had been named the venue of the 1991 Davis Cup match between Spain and Canada. The fact that it had been granted to LMC was understood to be in recognition of all the good work and the excellent results of the previous tennis tournaments held on the complex.
The Davis Cup was created by Dwight Filley Davis in 1900 who, at the time was a student at Harvard University. It was first set up as a match between teams representing England and America but, since then, it has grown to become one of the world’s most prestigious sporting events.
The Spain vs. Canada Davis Cup Match
The La Opinion newspaper spoke of the forthcoming Davis Cup match on the 25th January 1991. “The Davis Cup match between Spain and Canada next weekend was officially had its official presentation yesterday in the Palacio de San Esteban (the equivalent of a town hall but the whole of the region of Murcia). The occasion was presided by Carlos Collado, the president of the regional government, and of the counsellor for culture, Esteban Egea. The total budget for the competition is 40 million pesetas and it will have daily television coverage over the three days.
The referee of the match will be Ken Farrar, from the United States, who is the ITF’s head referee, while the umpires will be Goran Sandstrom from Sweden and Jean Phillippe Marlet from France.
The Spanish team’s captain is Manuel Orantes and the players who make up the team are Emilio Sanchez, Sergio Casal, Juan Aguilera and Sergio Bruguera.
On the other hand, Pierre Lamarche, the Canadian captain, has picked Glenn Michibata, Grant Connell, Martin Wostenholme and Andrew Snazjer to represent their country.”
The same newspaper, on the 29th January, covered the players’ arrival at the complex. “The Spanish Davis Cup team has made itself at home at La Manga Club. Spain’s nº 1 player, Emilio Sanchez Vicario, had the following to say about the match.
- I’m looking forward to the match as I have not had too many good results lately, especially as I did not get the results I expected in Australia recently. However, there are times when the good results appear when you least expect them.
Emilio is the only player on the team who has played against any of the Canadian players.
- We have to beat them, but it is not going to be at all easy. Wostenholme is their clay court specialist.
He also spoke of how La Manga had been very important for him in his early tennis playing days as, ten years ago, he won an ATP tournament held in the region. Spain won both the two previous Davis Cup matches played in the region, against Denmark and Brazil, with a 5-0 score. It is obvious that Murcia brings the team good luck.
The Canadian team has asked for added protection because of the Iraq War as it feels that the security contracted by the organisation is not enough. Because of this request more security guards are going to be brought in to watch over each of the members of the Canadian team. The Canadian captain, Pierre Lamarche was also slightly put out by the fact that the matches are going to be played on clay when his players are all hard court specialists.”
# 91. Poster advertising the Davis Cup match, February 1991.
# 92. Both teams during the official presentation.
La Opinion on the 30th January. “Sergio Bruguera, the winner of the last Spanish National Championships, has made it into the Spanish Davis Cup team for the first time. Sergi spoke about his victory in last year’s Championships: –It has made me feel a lot more confident in my tennis and I hope that I can follow it with many more victories. We have a very good team but you never know what may happen. We are playing at home and on clay and have everything in our favour. We can’t even consider losing.-
Juan Aguilera is the big surprise on the team this time round. He has made back after not having played Davis Cup for six years. He has made it very clear that he is very happy that Orantes has placed his trust in him but that he also feels that he deserves the place as presently he is ranked 16th in the world and 3rd in Spain.”
The matches themselves
The La Verdad newspaper on the 2nd February spoke about how the Canadian were stiffer competition than everybody had thought they would be. Sergio Bruguera did not have such an easy first match as was expected. His opponent, Andrew Sznajder, made things difficult for Bruguera with his powerful serve and dangerous forehand but Sergi stood his ground as Spain’s number two player.
The first set was a very close-fought one and the Canadian started the first game with an ace. He went on to win the game without letting Bruguera make a single point. The games then went with serve and in the fourth game Bruguera managed to do what Sznajder had done in the first. Sergi then broke the Canadian's serve in the fifth game with a spectacular cross court drive giving him the winning point for the game. Sznajder then broke the Spaniard's serve in return. This did not seem to worry Bruguera at all as he then took the two following games to win the set after 38 minutes of play.
# 93. The players on the central court.
Sergi won the second set 6-2 but it was a longer set than the first, 41 minutes. The Spanish player was obviously better than the Canadian, playing some wonderful drop-shots and down the line drives.
# 94. Sergi Bruguera.
Sergi then started to relax during the third set and his opponent took full advantage of the situation and won the set 6-1.
Play was then stopped because of rain and when play was renewed Sergi was back on form and displaying the same tennis that he had played in the first two sets. He soon had a 3-0 lead and the match was his. Bruguera had won the first of five matches that the Spanish and Canadian teams had to play.
# 95. A match on the central court.
On the 3rd January the press made sure that all of Spain knew that the team had won the overall match as thay were leading 3-0. Sergio Casal had played a great doubles match that had meant the 3-0 victory over the Canadians. The last day's singles matches did not have to be played and the Spanish team was through to the second round of the World group of the Davis Cup. They were going to have to play the winner of the USA vs. Mexico match.
The point the team had managed in the doubles came after a very interesting match despite the Spaniards being clearly superior to their opponents. That same morning, Emilio Sanchez Vicario (Arantza's brother) had beaten Martin Wostenholme 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.
# 96. Emilio Sanchez Vicario.
In the doubles match between the Spanish pair, Casal and Sanchez Vicario, and the Canadian pair, Glen Michibata and Grant Canneli, Casal was the player of the match. He is helping the Spanish team improve its doubles game with his powerful volleys and great passing shots. Casal also served the ace which gave the Spanish team the first set, which had gone to the tie-break as it was the only set in which the Canadians gave any real competition. The first set lasted 56 minutes, while the second lasted 30 and the third 35.
On the last day the Spanish team did not get off to a good start as Emilio Sanchez Vicario lost his singles match against Sznajder 7-5, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours and 23 minutes. Bruguera then won his match against Wostenholme in great style, 6-1, 7-6(7-5 in the tie-break), making the final score 4-1 to Spain.
The 43rd Spanish Tennis Championship for Ladies
The La Verdad newspaper on the 28th October spoke of how “no less than 100 ladies are taking part in the qualifying round when there are only six places available on the championship table.
It is the first time that a championship of this kind is held at La Manga Club. It is a pity that it has taken so long in coming as the club is the ideal place for any tournament of this category. It is also a pity that Conchita Martinez, just as much Spain’s number 2 player as Arantxa Sanchez Vicario is our number 1, has turned down the opportunity to play here. It could have made for a very interesting final if she had.
Arantxa, who has been training on the La Manga courts for nearly a week can vouch for the perfect state of the courts, the ideal installations at the club and the beautiful surroundings.
The LXIII Spanish Tennis Championship for Ladies got under way yesterday, the 27th October 1990, at La Manga Club with the first matches of the qualifying round.”
# 97. Poster advertising the 43rd Spanish tennis Championships for Ladies.
On the 30th October La Verdad reported that the final rounds were going to start that afternoon. Among the 32 players that were going to take part were the Spanish number 1 player and top seed, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, and her sister, Marisa, who is ranked 32 in Spain. Immediately behind Arantxa on the rankings were Ana Solas, Cristina Torreus, Estefania Bottini, Marta Alastruez and Elena Ordinaga.
# 98. Arantxa with a group of line judges after a victory at La Manga Club, 1990.
La Verdad on the 1st November. “Arantxa proved to be far superior to her rival, the15 seed Ana Salas, who she easily beat 6-1, 6-1 in only one hour and five minutes.” The same newspaper, on the 2nd November, reported that “ Arantxa overwhelmingly beat Bottini 6-0, 6-0 in the second round. Estefania did not make it easy for Arantxa as won at least one point in every game and reached 30-40 in 8 of the 12 games played in all. In the second set she even had the odd game point to her advantage.”
On the 2nd November, the article in La Verdad read: “The Championship semi-finals are taking place this afternoon with the first one starting at one o’clock. In the first match Inmaculada Varas is playing against Pili Perez and in the second one Arantxa Sanchez Vicario is playing Neus Avila.
Yesterday Arantxa played Virginia Ruano on the centre court and, despite Virginia playing well, she won the first set quite easily. Virginia proved to be a brave opponent and started off the second set making it clear that she had all the intentions of winning it. This 17 year-old played some marvellous shots and broke Arantxa’s serve twice to take a 2-0 and then a 3-1 advantage. It was when the score was 4-3 to Virginia’s advantage that Arantxa’s reaction came and the more experienced player won the following three games and, therefore, the match.”
# 99. Arantxa receiving the winner’s trophy, 1990.
La Verdad on the 4th November. “Arantxa beat an outstanding Neus Avila after having played what has, most probably been the most difficult match for her so far, especially in the second set. The crowd was obviously behind the weaker player and thoroughly enjoyed the five consecutive games that she won.
With a 5-4 advantage to Neus, there was a dubious call on one of her shots. The crowd all thought the ball had been good but the umpire gave in to Arantxa’a protests and conceded her the point. The point made the score 5 all and despite Arantxa winning the following game Neus still had the gumption to break her opponents serve and force the tie-break, which Arantxa won.
Neus was deeply upset at the end of the match and walked off the court in tears. – I had it all to my favour in the second set with the 5-1 advantage but I suddenly got all nervous. Then, with the score being 5-4 claimed that one of my shots had gone out when it hadn’t. She intentionally stood on the mark the ball had keft and showed the umpire another mark left by a ball that had really gone out. The umpire obviously believed her and gave her the point. If the match had gone to a third set it is anybody’s guess what might have happened. It is a pity that the match should have ended as it did but, all the same I am happy with how I played.-
All Arantxa had to say about Neus’ comments was that the loser always tries to find an excuse for losing. “I don’t steel points and, anyway, I don’t need to...”
The main sports news of the day in La Verdad on the 5th November was the final itself. “Arantxa kept on to her title as Spain’s top lady player by beating Pili Perez 6-2 and 6-3 in the final that took place at La Manga Club yesterday. The winner of this year’s French Open did not come across too many problems to prove herself to be Spain’s number 1 by winning the Championship for the fourth year running. In just under 40 minutes and in front of around 2000 spectators, Arantxa easily won the first set 6-2. The second set was even faster as it only lasted half an hour; however, it was a closer fought one than the first set. Pili managed to break Arantxa’s serve after having started the set losing to make the score 4-3 to the number 1 seed. It seemed as if she was going to able to draw level when Arantxa suddenly lifted her game and bombarded Perez with some of her best drop shots and passing shots.
Esteban Egea, the provincial councillor for Culture, Education and Tourism, shared the tribune with Enrique Martinez, Joaquin Ataz, Antonio Vallejo, the Mayor of Cartagena, Duran Rateb, the managing director of Inmogolf, and Juan Torner, the vice president of the Spanish Tennis Federation. Mr. Torner handed the corresponding trophies to the winner and the runner up and, during his speech, remarked on what a worthy venue La Manga Club had been and, as always, on how well the Murcian crowds had risen to the occasion.
The Galea-Valerio Cup at La Manga
This cup is the under-18 version of the Davis Cup. The teams that took part in the round played at La Manga were Spain, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Mexico and Portugal. The top two teams at the end of the tournament classified for the final round that was going to be played at Vichy in France.
The Spanish team was captained by Javier Duarte, who was sponsored by Bimbo (Spain’s largest bread and cake company). The players who made up the team were: Alberto Berasategui, the present world junior champion; Alex Corretja, and; Juan Gisbert. Berasategui and Gisbert had just played in the final of the Mediterranean Games.
# 100. Poster of the Galera-Valerio Cup.
La Verdad, on the 11th July 1991. “Everything is ready for the Galea-Valerio Cup which for the first time ever in the history of both tournaments (they were joined together to make one this year) that they are played on Murcian soil. It is going to be played at La Manga Club and Touran Rateb, the club’s managing director, has spoken of the importance the club places on holding this type of tournament.
Tono Paez mentioned yesterday that Spanish national television is going to cover the Cup and that there is going to be a special programme on TVE2 on Sunday afternoon. He also mentioned the fact that he trusts the Spanish team will do well in the competition as one of its members is the winner and another is the runner up of the Orange Bowl, one of the closest tournaments to being the junior world championships. Also, the team is lead by Berasategui as he is a more all-round player and has one more year’s experience in the world of professional tennis.
# 101. Alex Corretja during a match in the Galera-Valerio Cup.
13th July, La Verdad newspaper. “Spain vs. Czechoslovakia is the final that is going to take place today at La Manga Club and have both qualified to play in the final round of the Galea-Valerio Cup that is going to take place in the French town of Vichy. Just because they have qualified for the final, it does not mean that the final, which is starting at eleven o’clock this morning, is not any the less important as the winning team automatically becomes the top seed in France. Spain beat Denmark 3-0 in the semi-final with Spain’s Alex Corretja beating Allan Arsen in the first match.
Alberto Berasategui, the Spanish number 1, beat Kenneth Larsen in two also, 6-2 and 6-4. In the doubles match the Spanish pair, Alex Corretja and Juan Gisbert, defeated the Danes, Kenneth Karsen and allen Larsen 6-2 and 6-4. The Czechs beat the Portuguese team 3-0 in the other semi-final.”
La Verdad, on the 15th July. “Spain has been a very worthy winner of its group in the Galea-Valerio Cup as yesterday our team beat the Czech team 2-1 to become group winners. The first match of the day was between the Spanish number two player, Juan Gisbert, and Lukas Thomas. Thomas won 6-2 and 6-0. The following match, Alex Corretja vs. Karol Kucera went to the Spanish player with a final score line of 6-0 and 7-5.
It was then all down to the doubles match that was played in the afternoon. The Spanish pair Berasategui and Corretja beat the Czech pair Thomas and Kucera 6-4 and 6-3. In the match for the third and fourth places the Portuguese team beat Denmark 2-1.
The International Tennis Circuit (ATP)
Four of these circuits are held in Spain, Catalunya , Costa Calida (Murcia), Andalucia and the Basque Country. They each offer a total of $50 000 in prize money.
The ATP tournaments held in Murcia decide whether a player can take part in any of the major tennis tournaments, as he has to manage to score enough ATP points to move up the rankings. They are mainly for players who need to acquire experience before playing in the major tournaments.
They are very hard tournaments to play in because of the large number of players in them (to begin with there are maybe 600) and players from any of the WTA-member countries can enter in them. However, only 120 players, plus 8 guest players invited by the organisers, can take part in the qualifying round of each tournament. After a hard struggle in the qualifiers eight players make it through to join the other 24 who qualified directly for the main tournament because of their ranking. All the qualifying matches need not be played at the same club but the last series, once there are only 32 players, takes place at just one venue.
The various ATP tournaments that have been played in Murcia have bought, to the LMC tennis installations, a number of players who later have become some of the world’s best players. When they passed through La Manga they were making their way in tennis rankings and now they are well-known throughout the tennis world and beyond: Carlos Moya, Mantilla, and all the players previously mentioned in this chapter.
The first “Gran Premio Pino Real” ATP tournament
# 102. A poster of the tournament.
This tournament took place in the region between the 21st and the 27th March 1983 and was played at five different clubs: El Palmar, Lorca, La Manga, Murcia and Cartagena. This coincided with the week before Easter which is when the Cartagena Challenge Trophy had always been played, so both tournaments joined up and are played together since then.
La Verdad on the 25th March 1983. “The first ATP tournament to be played in the region of Murcia has moved on to La Manga Country Club as it is now in the final stages. Several rounds of the first “Gran Premio Pino Real” ATP tournament are being played at the club after the early rounds which have been played at Lorca and El Palmar. After La Manga, the tournament moves on to Cartagena and then to Murcia for the final rounds.
More than 70 players are going to be taking part in the qualifying rounds and eight of them will go on to join the other 28 who have automatically qualified because of their ATP rankings. There are also special guest players who play in the last rounds.”
The tournament, which is point scoring towards the world rankings, has always counted with the presence of some of the most promising young players who then go on to play in the major tournaments. To begin with the total prize money to be shared among the top players was $25 000 and it has now gone up to $50 000. There has also been an increase in the points scored at the tournament, as they are now three times more than in the early years. This has obviously attracted a larger number of players and now the number of participants in the qualifying rounds reaches as many as 354 of some of the world’s top tennis players.
The first “Gran Premio Pino Real” ATP tournament was won by Emilio Sanchez Vicario.
The 6th “Murcia Costa Calida” ATP tournament
The 6th “Murcia Costa Calida” ATP tournament was held between the 31st January and the 1st March 1992. The first competition was played at Murcia Tennis Club and was won by Alberto Berasategui who beat Federico Sanchez 6-2 and 6-0 in the final. The tournament then moved on to the La Manga Club tennis centre with an entry list of 32 players.
# 103. Poster of the International Costa Calida ATP tournament
After several rounds the doubles final had Burillo and De Miguel facing N. Goran and G. Solvees. Burillo and De Miguel won in three sets, 6-2, 4-6 and 6-3.
This was the second time that the “Murcia Costa Calida” ATP tournament was played at La Manga Club.The singles champion was Carlos Baguena, who beat David de Miguel in the final that was played on the centre court.
The match previous to the final had been between Theine and Aparisi and, without counting the points played in the tie breaks, these two had played 63 games in all. Baguena started the match in a way that made it clear that he did not want it to go on for as long as the Theine-Aparisi one and did not let de Miguel win a point in the first game and then broke his serve in the second. The third and ninth games were the two hardest fought ones but Baguena kept the lead throughout the set. The second was much the same as the first one and de Miguel did not give in and even saved a couple of set points against him. The umpire of the match was Francisco Gansoles Valeriola.
The trophies were handed to the winner and the runner-up immediately after the match. De Miguel was handed his by Enrique Martinez, the Secretary of State for Culture and Sport and Tono Paez, the Murcian Tennis Federation president. Baguena was handed his by Emilio Laencina, chief admiral of Cartagena Navy Base, and by Duran Rateb, the managing director of Inmogolf.
The Caja Murcia ATP tournaments
The Murcia Costa Calida tournament was renamed when Caja Murcia took over its sponsorship. Four editions, the 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th, of this tournament have been played at La Manga Club. Even though the 11th edition, played in February 1997, is the last one we make reference to, the tournament has been played here in 1998 and 1999 as well.
The 11th Caja Murcia ATP tournament
# 104. A poster advertising the tournament.
The third section of the Caja Murcia ATP tournament was played at LMC tennis centre and one of the biggest upsets of the tournament took place there. On the 20th February 1997, Carlos Portas, from Catalunya and the top seed, was knocked out by Juan Ignacio Carrasco with a score of 3-6, 6-2 and 6-4. Portas had won both previous sections of the tournament and had gained a lot of confidence from the victories but, nevertheless, he was defeated. Another of the favourites to reach the final, David Caballero, was knocked out by Alex Calatrava with an impressive 6-3, 6-2.
The singles final of the 3rd La Manga Club ATP Trophy took place on the 23rd February between Alex Calatrava and Alberto Martin. Calatrava easily beat Juan Carrasco 6-4 and 6-3 in the first semi final, while Martin got through the other one nearly as easily by beating David Miketa 6-4, 6-4.
# 105. The tournament winners, Alex Calatrava and Alberto Martin.
Alberto Martin, this year’s winner of the Orange Bowl, never quite got into the match and found it hard to reply to Calatrava’s powerful shots. His nerves got the better of him and he continuously slammed his racquet onto the court. Calatrava defeated Martin in two sets, 6-3 and 7-5, and was handed the winner’s trophy by Tono Paez.
Twenty eight of the players who took part in the La Manga Trophy did likewise in the Cartagena Masters, also part of the Caja Murcia ATP tournament, and the winner of it was also the winner of the 48th Challenge Cup.
The players who were present in the Cartagena Masters were those who had won the most ATP points during the three previous sections of the Caja Murcia ATP tournament. The winner of the Masters could be any of the players taking part in it but only Portas, Calatrava or Martin could be the outright winner of the Caja Murcia ATP tournament. This was because Portas, Calatrava or Martin had each won one of the previous sections and none of the other players could equal them in ATP points.
Calatrava won the final by defeating Albert Portas 6-3 and 7-5 on the centre court of Cartagena Tennis Club. This meant that the Cartagena Masters title obviously went to Calatrava but he had to share the Caja Murcia ATP tournament title with Portas as they both ended on the same points.
The prize giving took place straight after the match. Albert Portas was handed the runner’s up trophy in the Caja Murcia tournament by the sub director of Caja Murcia and, the runner’s up trophy in the Cartagena Challenge, by vice admiral Antonio Cea Salgueiro. Alex Calatrava received the winner’s trophy of the Caja Murcia tournament and of the Cartagena Challenge from the bank’s Youth and Sports director, Agustin Alacaraz.
The tournament has acted as a springboard for many of Spain and Europe’s up and coming players. Carlos Moya, the flamboyant runner up in the Australian Open in 1998, was hardly noticed when he had played here two years earlier. He was knocked out in the first round by Wuyst Bart, from Belgian, with an overwhelming 6-1, 6-1. It was only two years later that Moya was being spoken about in the whole of Spain because of his tremendous performance in the Australian Open.
The 1995 Fed Cup comes to La Manga
If the 1990 Spanish Tennis Championship for Ladies bought some of Spain’s top lady players to La Manga, the 1995 edition of the Fed Cup bought some of the world’s leading players to the club. Players such as Jana Novotna, at the time the world number 2, and a young Martina Hingis, who has been the world number 1 player since 1997.
# 106. A poster of the 1995 Fed Cup tournament.
The La Opinion newspaper spoke of the event on the 17th April 1995 in the following terms. “A large number of the world’s top female players are gathering this week at the La Manga Club to represent thier countries in the Fed Cup. This is the first year that the world team championship of the International Tennis Federation has divided the teams into groups. The winners of the first round in Group One will have to play against the losers of the first round of the World Group to decide which team takes part in the elite group, i.e. the World Group, the following year. The representative of the International Tennis Federation spoke of how the new system is much more competitive and gives it a higher profile within world tennis.
The executive director of the tournament, Deborah Javams, spoke of how the Federation wants to “improve the image of the Fed Cup so that it is on a par with the Davis Cup.”
Sixteen countries are taking part in Group 1. The matches are going to be played on the clay courts at The Oasis tennis centre, which is one of Europe’s finest. A whole series of tennis events have been held there since it was opened, such as: the Spain vs. Canada Davis Cup match 1991, several national championships, veteran’s world cups and the Austrian Cup.
Yesterday morning the Group One draw was held and the presence of some of the top female tennis players, such as Jana Novotna (the world number 5) and Helena Sukova (the world number 22) from Czeckoslovakia, was confirmed . The Czeck team is one of the favourites along with Croatia, whose most representative player is Iva Majol, and Bielorussia with Natalia Avereva. Another player to keep an eye on is Martina Hingis, from Switzerland, who won the ITF Youth World Championships and Wimbledon when she was 14."
The groups and the players
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Group A
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Group B
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Group C
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Group D
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Player World Ranking
Czeck Republic
1.Jana Novotna 5
2. Helena Sukova 20
3. Radka Bubkova 91
4. Petra Langrova 132
Poland
1. Katazyna Nowak 68
2. Magda Grzbowska 439
3. Aleksandra Olza 459
Great Britain
1. Clare Wood 183
2. Shirley Ann Sidall 214
3. Julie Pullin 288
4. Jo Durie 337
Slovenia
1. Tina Krizan 103
2. Barbara Mulej 201
3. Karin Lusnic 422
4. Tjasa Jezernik 495
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Player World Ranking
Russia
1. Elena Likhotseva 46
2. Elena Makarova 47
3. Eugenia Maniokova 150
4. Olga Ivanova 209
Ukraine
1. Natalia Medvedeva 64
2. Olga Lugina 263
3. Talina Beiko 400
4. Irina Sonkhova
Hungary
1. Andrea Temesvari 106
2. Andrea Noszaly 254
3. Petra Menadula 335
Georgia
1. N. Louarsabichvili 190
2. Victoria Bakhadze
3. Lafi Zerekidze
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Player World Ranking
Belarus
1. Natalia Zvereva 10
2. Tatiana Igustieva 105
3. Vera Zimkovets 393
4. Marina Stets
Finland
1. Nane Dahlman 120
2. Petra Thoren 203
3. Katrina Saarinen 758
4. Karna Katri Aalio 932
Lithuania
1. L. Sarvchenko 33
2. S. Blumberga 916
3. Una Buschevitsa
Switzerland
1. Martina Hingis 56
2. Geraldine Dondit 436
3. Joama Manta
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Player World Ranking
Belgium
1. Sabine Appelmans 43
2. Laurence Courtois 79
3. Nancy Feber 104
4. Els Callens 146
Croatia
1. Iva Majoli 12
2. Maja Palaversic 172
3. Nadine Ercegovic
4. Silvija Talaja
Roumania
1. Ruxafandra Dragonir 63
2. Catalina Cristea 174
3. Florenta Mihai
Israel
1. Anna Smashnova 45
2. Shiri Burgstein 369
3. Hila Rosen 410
4. Tzipora Cbziler
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La Opinion newspaper on Tuesday 18th April 1995. "Belgium surprised Croatia on the first day of the Fed Cup Competition which got under way yesterday. Sabine Appleman's (world number 43) victory over Iva Majoli (number 12) made the 2-1 overall victory possible. The rest of the scoreboards yesterday did not show any surprises and all the teams that started as favourites won their matches. Only one match was not played and it was the one between Georgia and Hungary as the third Hungarian player, Andrea Noszly, is eaching La Manga today.
The results
The results of yesterday's matches in the four groups were as follows:
GROUP A. Czeck Republic - Poland (3-0). Sukova bt. Thoren 6-1and 6-2, Novotna bt. Nowak 6-4 and 6-3 and Bobkova and Langrova bt. Gryzbowska and Olza 6-3, 3-6 and 6-2. Slovenia - Great Britain (2-1). Mulej bt. Pullin 6-1 and 6-3, Krinzan bt. Wood 4-6, 6-1 and 6-1 and Krinzan and Jezarnik lost to Durie and Wood 6-2, 1-6 and 2-6.
GROUP B. Russia - Ukraine (1-1). Makarova bt. Beliko6-4, 4-6 and 8-6. Likhosteva lost to Lugina 7-5, 3-6 and 6-8. The doubles still has to be played.Georgia - Hungary (3-0). The Hungarian team only showed up with two players, making the match a walk-over for Georgia. The third member of the team is arriving today.
GROUP C. Belarus - Finland (3-0). Ignatieva bt. Thoren 6-1, 6-1, Zvereva bt. Dahiman 8-6, 6-2 and Ignatieva and Zvereva bt. Dahiman and Thoren 6-3 and 6-1. Lithuania - Switzerland (2-1). Bushevitsa bt. Manta 6-1, 6-1, Neiland lost to Hingis 2-6, 2-6 and Blumberga and Neiland bt. Dondit and Hingis 7-5, 5-7 and 7-5.
GROUP D. Belgium – Croatia (2-1). Courtois bt. Palaservic 6-2, 7-6, Applemans bt. Majoli 6-2, 6-2 nad Applemans and Callen lost to Ercegovic and Talaja 3-6 and 6-7. Rumania – Israel (3-0). Cristea bt. Rosen 6-1, 6-3, Dragomir bt. Smashnova 6-3, 3-6 and 6-0. Cristea and Dragomir bt. Burstein and Oblizer 6-4, 6-4.”
# 108. Martina Hingis.
La Opinion on Wednesday the 19th April. “Four countries managed their Fed Cup second victory yesterday. These are: the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Belarus and Belgium.”
The surprise of the day came for the Russian team members who were beaten by the Hungarian girls by a clear 3-0. Petra Mandula, number 335 in the world rankings, beat number 46 Elena Makarova 6-4 and 6-1. Meanwhile, Andrea Temesvari, number 106, beat Elena Likhotseva with the same final score line. The Croatia vs. Israel match ended in a 3-0 victory for the Croatian team. Despite finally winning her match, Iva Majoli, number 12 in the world, had a few problems during her match against Anna Smashnova, ranked 45. Majoli won the first set with an imposing 6-1, but then had a slight hiccup in the second set and lost it 4-6, to then go on and win the third set 6-3 and the match.
Yesterday’s results were.
GROUP A. Czech Republic – Great Britain (3-0). Slovenia – Poland (2-1). The Czech Republic and Slovenia both have one victory each.
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