The final competition brought together 72 players, 40 of whom were Spanish, mainly from Andalusia, Levante, and Catalonia, who faced a large representation of local, Moroccan, French, English, and German players,residents of these towns still marked by the memory of the Spanish legacy, now enhanced both by the renewed boom in Spanish and the establishment and consolidation of numerous companies and investors from across the Strait of Gibraltar.
Tangier Bay
In addition to the euphoria unleashed by the upcoming 2030 World Cup, Tangier will have completed, by that date, on the site of the old merchant port, a gigantic marina with more than a thousand berths for sports and recreational boats, and will offer the option of at least three golf courses: Al Haoura, Cabo Negro, and Royal Country, the latter built in 1914, making it one of the oldest and most emblematic on the African continent.
The first, designed by Graham Marsh and the legendary 2000 Augusta winner Vijay Singh, covers 110 hectares next to a protected forest and dunes, Mediterranean vegetation, and views of the sea and the Strait of Gibraltar, located near Asilah, a typical fishing village on the Atlantic coast.
Tetouan Square
The Royal Golf Cabo Negro is nestled in the most exclusive residential area of the former capital of the Spanish Protectorate, Tetouan, and was the setting for the filming of the movie “El tiempo entre costuras” (The Time Between Seams), based on the book of the same name by María Dueñas. Designed by Cabell B. Robinson and opened in 1976, it is located on the slopes of the Rif Mountains and is surrounded by dunes, lagoons, rivers, pine trees, and eucalyptus trees, with a wild feel in some areas.
As for the Royal Country Club of Tangier, it was designed by the British Henry Cotton and Frank Pennink in 1914 and renovated in 2021, combining technical difficulty with wide fairways for the most accomplished hitters.
Royal Golf Club de Tanger
Anas Medouar, one of the organizers of the City of Tangier Tournament, who worked for ten years in the design and development of golf courses in Spain, tells us that he has embarked on an intense campaign of correspondence with Spanish courses located in the most touristy areas of Murcia, Alicante, and the Costa del Sol, which are once again becoming saturated after the crisis caused by the recent pandemic.
Tangier beach
Taking advantage of Spain’s proven experience in turning the Costa del Sol into the Costa del Golf, for example, Moroccan authorities and businesspeople have welcomed this undoubted engine of development, which is leading to the construction of new housing developments, thereby boosting new jobs, increasingly specialized in the golf industry: course management, administration, gardening, maintenance, ancillary industries, and, of course, the full range of related entertainment and catering services, which is already translating into new jobs for an insultingly young population, as the average age in Morocco is 29.
The country received more than eight million tourists last year, but with a future projection that multiplies that figure several times over. Far from seeing it as a competition to take a large share of tourism away from eastern and southern Spain, the promoters prefer to opt for the closest possible collaboration with Spanish businesspeople and leaders who, thanks to golf, have changed the landscape and the level of quality demanded by a sporting and recreational activity whose practitioners spend ten times more than each sun and beach tourist.
At the Al Haouzira golf course, Pedro Gonzalez with José María Río, the inspiration behind this tournament along with Mohamed Larbi, and Luis de la Torre as his playing partner.
As for the 17th edition of the City of Tangier tournament, local players Jean-Claude Charlo and Jason Scott Hovingh took the top two places in the handicap category, while fellow locals Mohamed Achakkar, Hicham Khatabi, Hassan Houhriz, and Achraf El Harram took the top four places in the scratch category. Antonio García was the top Spanish player in both classifications, while Pedro González, from Atalayar, had to settle for fifteenth place out of 72 participants. Not bad at all.
