The 21st Portuguese edition of the World Corporate Golf Challenge Portugal kicked off on the 8th, with a perfect day of golf at Palmares Ocean Living & Golf, in Lagos, and a double luxury champion, team n. 2 of Turkish Airlines, consisting of Ricardo Pereira and Rui Coelho.
The former goalkeeper of the national football team, one of the heroes of national sport, and the Nike Golf representative in Portugal have been friends and partners for many years and have credits signed in this authentic world championship of companies, having represented Portugal in the World Final, in Cascais, in 2015.
Upon winning the net classification, Ricardo Pereira and Rui Coelho again put themselves in a position to repeat their presence in the WCGC World Final, scheduled for the Oitavos Dunes, in Cascais, from July 1st to 5th, as they were a of the eight companies to qualify for the National Final, on May 30 and 31, at Montado Hotel & Golf Resort in Palmela.
“It is a tournament to praise, not only for the quality with which these stages are organized, but whoever has the opportunity to play in the national and world finals feels the privilege. The players are treated almost like professionals ”, said the footballer who celebrated himself at Euro2004 for defending a penalty without gloves, but who does not dispense with the glove on his left hand in golf.
Although the WCGC has existed for 27 years and in Portugal for 21 years, this season of 2020 takes on a new guise, as the organizational license in our country was awarded to Golftattoo Eventos.
“It is a very big responsibility, a challenge of great prestige, this one to represent the WCGC brand in Portugal, a 27-year event that involves close to 40 countries and more than three thousand companies”, declared the director general of the Golftattoo Group , Pedro Castelo Branco, in an interview with the “Golf Report” program of SIC Notícias.
The first experience of the new organization was only praised by the 36 teams (72 players) present, a very pleasant number for the Regional Qualifications of the Algarve.
“This year also started exceptionally well, as was to be expected,” said Francisco Paixão, the Tuskish Airlines Regional Marketing Director, who does not play golf yet but promises to do so soon.
Francisco Paixão was obviously also pleased to have been one of his teams to lift the main trophy and take home two tickets for any Turkish Airlines flight to Turkey.
This stage of the Algarve in Palmares had Turkish Airlines as the “title sponsor”, a status that will be assumed by Garofalo in the western stage, already on the 15th, at Bom Sucesso Resort in Óbidos. Audi will also have the privilege of being the main highlight in the Greater Lisbon stage, on March 6, at the Club de Golf do Estoril.
Note that Turkish Airlines already supported the WCGC before 2020, but now begins a new cycle, with the will to continue for many good years.
“Turkish Airlines’ connection with golf comes from behind and the relationship with the WCGC started four years ago. This is our fourth edition. In the past it went quite well. The corporate target of companies is important to us and it is a partnership that makes perfect sense, linking the business to that of sport and socializing. It will be to continue. It is an event where there is competition, but in a friendly way and it is a relationship that has brought us fruit ”, stressed Francisco Paixão.
One of the most obvious synergies for Turkish Airlines is to link its own tournament to the WCGC. For example, in the prize table, two invitations were drawn for this tournament organized by the airline itself, whose place and date have not yet been announced.
But Turkish Airlines was even more creative. In Palmares he was entitled to five teams, to which he invited the following players: Sergio Garcia / Barbara Polzot (no. 1), Ricardo Pereira / Rui Coelho (no. 2), Gilberto Kaneko / Ricardo Coelho (no. 3), Miguel Morais / António Portugal (no. 4), and Manuel Gomes / Miguel Pinto (no. 5).
Francisco Paixão explained the selection criteria to us: “The players who were invited to our teams have already won almost all of our tournament. In that sense, we have a good relationship with everyone and it makes sense that they are Turkish Airlines ambassadors at WCGC ”.
Rewarding sporting merit also increases the likelihood of winning the title and there was this happy ending for the second Turkish Airlines team to have won exactly the tournament sponsored by the brand.
“It was very important. We had confidence in the teams we had invited and we knew that one of them would definitely win ”, smiled Francisco Paixão.
Ricardo Pereira (39) and Rui Coelho (37) totaled 76 net points and the former footballer and current commentator of SportTV, stressed the relevance to this result of the complicity between them, in addition to the good competitive environment created with the rival formation with which they played the 18 holes in the courses Alvor and Lagos de Palmares.
“It is always good to win and each victory is different. Today it was deserved because we played very well. The environment helped, as we played with João Paulo Pingo and Alan Morley, who are friends, and they also played well and pulled for us. Today was a wonderful day, with fantastic golf, on a beautiful course. We played with partners we know, which makes the day more fun. We left happy and winning is just the benefit of what was achieved on the field, because personal satisfaction is being pleased with our game, with the environment, and there is nothing transcendent about the negative ”, he specified.
This “square” was, in fact, chosen to measure, since João Paulo Pingo (39) and Alan Morley (33) placed their team, Restaurante Ostradouro, in 2nd place, with 72 net points.
3rd place smiled at Padaria Trigo Bom, with 71 points, represented by Vítor António (38) and Carlos Poucochinho (33).
The regulation also dictates the qualification for the National Final of the best team in the gross classification and that was Rogério Brandão, IMS, Lda., With 57 points, aligning the players Roger Brandão (36) and Duane Wessels (21).
It should be noted that Roger Brandão, Ricardo Pereira and João Paulo Pingo have had past experiences of competing (as amateurs) in PGA tournaments in Portugal, so it is not surprising that they were the ones that scored the most in the gross classification, respectively with 36, 38 and 34 points.
The following teams were also qualified for the National final, through the net classification:
4th place, Turkish Airlines nº4, 71 points, with Pero Moura Portugal (36) and Miguel Portela de Morais (35); 5th place, Pimenta Póvoas, 71 points, with Jorge Martinez (40) and Pedro Póvoas (31); 6th place, Senivis, 70 points, with Samuel Barros (35) and Carlos Tinoco (35); 7th place, Maquinar Mais, 69 points, with Vasco Alexandre (39) and João Almeida (30).
The following companies also participated: Aradepinta, Golftattoo, Fisiatris, Pamlares, Inal, Carga Quatro, Astrobalance, Restaurante O Branco, Garofalo, Rentals in Algarve, Sasaki, Mionetto, Frutas Pacheco, QPBLA, Chub Hotel Exploration, AlvorKitCenter, Oficina Vítor Pomba, Petrofregim, Aníbal Carvalho e Filhos and Roberto & Matias Lda.
“This stage at Palmares was a success and went well. The ultimate goal is golf. What we are looking for is to create an environment with quality service around, that makes people have a good memory of this day spent with us, with a team that has been working in golf for many years and has a lot of experience ”, evaluated the promoter, Pedro Castelo Branco.
In addition to the net and gross classifications, the Regional Qualifications of the Algarve awarded some skills, with offers from Turkish Airlines, Garofalo and Costa Verde, to the following players: Amanda Keighren (ball closest to the flag in hole 2), Claire Juster (drive more long on holes 8 and 16), Barbara Polzot (longest drive on hole 4), Roger Brandão (closest ball to the flag on hole 16 and longest drive on hole 4), Ricardo Pereira (longest drive on hole 18) and Carlos Martins (ball closer to the flag on hole 12).
The tombola that ended the tournament drew prizes offered by sponsors Illy, Turkish Airlines, Garofalo, Andros, Mionetto, Uriage, Palmares, Distintus, Costa Verde and Audi.
From: Golftattoo and World Corporate Golf Challenge
By Hugo Ribeiro / Golftattoo
