The field at the 2020 Spanish Hickory OpenAugust 12 – San Sebastian, Spain
Gonzalo Retana Ardanaz reports:
On Aug. 11, the Real Nuevo Club de Golf SS Basozabal held for the second consecutive year a golf prize in the hickory modality, that is, with clubs from the years before 1935 and with the rules corresponding to the beginnings of golf.
For the occasion all participants played dressed in the clothing of the time. The day passed with great expectation due to the novelty of practicing and watching golf in its pure state.
All the players used bags provided by Freddy Lilly and Iain Forrester, made up of five irons with a wooden shaft and a drive (head and wooden shaft).
Following tradition, each player carried his bag on his shoulder and was dressed for the occasion: they wore a tie or bow tie, a long-sleeved shirt, wool knickers and long socks; ladies wore a long skirt, a shirt closed at the neck and a hat.
The championship was attended by Jose Luis Garcia de Madinabeitia of the Photographic Society of Guipuzcoa who immortalized moments of the day.
In addition to the members of the club of Basozabal, the field included Fernando Berridi, Jaime Villar, Agustin Sanchez, Marta Gil, Larraitz Gainberri, Ana Bastarrica, Arantza Bengoetxea, Simon Arrieta, Manolo Ubarrechena, Maria Leuna, and the family Retana Bronte formed by Cecilia Bronte, Pablo Cortés, Gonzalo, Gabriela, Guillermo and Cecilia Retana, as well as Charli López, Valentín Hernandez, Jose Luis Jimenez, Fran Garcia and the member of the Zarautz Golf Club Jose Luis Ayestarán.
The professional representation led by Jose Maria Olazabal was composed by Basozabal teachers Rafael Ortiz de Urbina and Alejo Cuadra and from Madrid came Freddy Lilly, Jose Antonio Balcones, Miguel Carrasco and Andres Navarro. (Jose Maria designed the course. He shot a 77, by the way and the tournament was won with a 75.)
The organization was carried out by Gonzalo Retana, Freddy Lilly and the Basozabal Golf Club, under the USGA rules of the Society of Hickory Golfers (SoHG), which it was impeccable. All the players offered good results in spite of not being familiar with clubs from more than a hundred years ago.
The organization was accompanied by Golf Inteligente, Z1 Golf Academy, AZEN Proyectos y Obras and Iain Forrester from Holland; and Tad Moore from USA. Before the beginning of the championship, a Wellcom Pack was distributed by ISDIN, composed of two top quality sun creams, especially for outdoor sports.
The absolute winners of the tournament were Freddy Lilly and Rafael Ortiz de Urbina in the professional category Ex aequo and Guillermo Retana in the amateur category. In the ladies handicap category, Cecilia Bronte won for the second consecutive year and Cecilia Retana was runner-up. In men, Valentin Hernandez from Madrid took the victory by a blow to Gonzalo Retana who was runner-up.
All the players were transported to the origins of golf for a day, an experience they undoubtedly wish to repeat next year.
Jose Maria Olazabal, winner of the 1994 and 1999 Masters and designer of the Real Nuevo Club at San Sebastian, was in the field at the tournament. Above, he tests a putter at an early event in 2016 at Real Zaurutz.
Dutch professional and international hickory player Iain Forrester poses with Jose Maria Olazabal at the 2016 event in Real Zaurutz.
Golfers head off the tee at the Real Nuevo Club Golf De San Sebastian Basozabal in Spain.
The Real Nuevo Club Golf de San Sebastián Basozabal lies in mountainous terrain and offers a panoramic view towards all of the most famous peaks in the area. The course lies in a large amphitheatre, crossed by an irrigation channel where the waters from the surrounding hills converge, and there are two beautiful lakes which come into play: the first between the 3rd and 9th holes and the second between the 13th and the 15th. Basozabal is a long course, 6,499 metres from the white tees, and it is extremely varied and technical.
A poster prepared for the Spanish Hickory Open shows the support of the SoHG’s own Tad Moore.
