New venue for Madrid Masters

The stunning Spanish Golf Federation-owned Centro Nacional de Golf is the new venue for the Madrid Masters, which will carry a prize fund of €1.5million – an increase of €500,000 from last year. The second edition of the tournament will be played from October 8-11 over the 7,242 yards par 72 course, which was officially opened in 2006 by Juan Carlos I, the King of Spain. A year later Centro Nacional de Golf hosted the Open de España, which was won by South African Charl Schwartzel, who continued his love affair with the Spanish capital last year when he captured the inaugural Madrid Masters. Schwartzel triumphed by three strokes at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid, where six Spaniards finished in the top ten, led by Pablo Larrazábal in third place. Triple European Tour champion Schwartzel, currently 28th in The Race to Dubai, will now return to Madrid to defend his title, intent on claiming the €250,000 first prize. This year’s event will again be promoted by GFC Golf & Business, the company co-owned by four-time European Tour champion Gonzalo Fernandez-Castaño of Spain. The four main tournament sponsors are Turismo Madrid, Caja Madrid, the Madrid Golf Federation and the Spanish Golf Federation. Fernandez-Castaño, currently ranked eighth in The Race to Dubai, said: “Thanks to the generosity and support of our sponsors we have been able to increase last year’s prize fund by €500,000, which should help us attract another quality field to this year’s Madrid Masters.“Madrid has always been a fantastic place to play golf – there are now 95,000 golfers in the city, and I’m sure many of them will turn out to see some of the best players on the planet in action. “Last year’s event was a great success, but I’m confident this year’s will be even better. The course at Centro Nacional de Golf is a great venue, and I can’t wait to tee up with many of my friends from The European Tour.” As well as a championship course, Centro Nacional de Golf also boasts an academy for aspiring young golfers.