Seventy-one teams comprising of professional, amateur and celebrity golfers from 26 countries united at Europe’s newest golf destination from September 14-17, to participate in the Aegean Messinia Pro-Am, co-organised by AEGEAN and Costa Navarino.
The tournament builds further on the vision of AEGEAN’s founder Theodore Vassilakis and Costa Navarino’s founder Captain Vassilis Constantakopoulos, to grow the game of golf in Greece.
The event marked the first time that the two new José María Olazábal-designed courses at Navarino Hills – the world’s first International Olympic Academy Golf Course and The Hills Course – were used in competition since opening in February.
After some memorable individual and team play under sunny September skies, PGA of Austria Professional, Georg Schultes took top professional honours after the conclusion to the 54-hole tournament, which also featured The Dunes Course.
Schultes, who took victory with a winning score of 10-under-par, said: “It's amazing to win. This week has been so easy for us all, thanks to the organisers who took care of us so well. My team of amateurs have really loved their time here – the views from some of these holes are amazing.”
The Team Pro-Am event honours were taken by the team of PGA of Greece Professional, Christos Nikopoulos, and teamates, Maksym Kutkovskyy, Maryna Kutkovska and Aris Vovos with a total of 263 points (-47) after a battle that came down to the very last hole of the event.
As well as enjoying golf across three of Costa Navarino’s four signature 18-hole golf courses, the pro-am offered the opportunity for the players to forge new friendships by day and night at an array of events.
As part of a rich programme of evening events, participants enjoyed the breathtaking sunset views from The Hills Clubhouse during the ‘All in One’ themed welcome cocktail and danced the night away at the theme party night ‘Let’s Swing Again’ with a live swing band. The final ‘May the Fore be with You’ dinner and prize-giving ceremony, was hosted by top television and radio presenter Kate Mason and Ian Randell, chief executive of the CPG.
The event was sanctioned by the Confederation of Professional Golf (CPG) and held under the auspices of the PGAs of Greece and the Hellenic Golf Federation.
Alpha Private Bank and Athens International Airport were the event’s gold sponsors with Aercap and Korres supporting as silver sponsors and Vodafone Business, Coca Cola 3E and Pratt & Whitney, the tournament’s bronze sponsors. Other supporters include Volvo VELMAR, Gallagher, Autohellas-Hertz, Taylormade, Pages, MyTransfer, Vourakis, Karaververis, Kokotos Wines, Mevgal, Melissokomiki, Miran, Siambis, Navarino Icons, Athi Rodi and Argo.
For further details visit https://www.aegeanmessiniaproam.com/
To view a video of the Aegean Messinia Pro-Am, please go to https://youtu.be/sIKP3Uebdig