The amateur golf year in Spain ends this week with the Copa Baleares, the competition that is held at Pula Golf from Wednesday to Saturday and that includes Jorge Hao among its participants, probably the greatest sensation that has occurred in the Spanish youth academy since Jon Rahm.
Copa Baleares, results
The 16-year-old from Madrid, already among the top 150 in the world ranking, has won four titles this year, including the National Under 16 and Under 18 titles in the same season, as Rahm had achieved in 2010.
Second last year at Son Montaner three shots behind Alejandro Aguilera, Hao will have Ángel Ayora as his great rival. Just turned 18 and with a handicap of -5.0, the young man from La Cañada shows off a great punch.
He played the Estrella Damm Andalucía Masters in Valderrama last October and in recent weeks he won the Puerta de Hierro Cup and was fifth in the Tailhade Cup in Argentina that Aguilera won. The appointment at the Son Servera resort, which announces its mild winter (18 degrees maximum) for the four days, has other enormous talents such as Álvaro Pastor, from Retamares (-5.2), who led Madrid’s victory in the Inter-autonomous, Sergio Jiménez, the Valencian Rubén Lafuente and the locals Jaime Jaume, Joan Tous and Miguel Bisellach.
The level is so high that none of the participants has a positive handicap. The Balearic Cup has among its winners, among others, the names of Jon Rahm (2011) -in an edition in which Adri Arnaus and Scott Fernández also participated-, Mario Galiano (2013), Alejandro Larrazábal (2014) and Eduard Rousaud ( 2016).
Madrid, the capital in the center of Spain, is a city characterized by elegant avenues and large, well-kept parks, such as the Buen Retiro park. Many European works of art are kept in Madrid, such as the paintings by Goya, Velázquez and other Spanish masters which are found in the Prado museum.
Plaza Mayor, surrounded by arcades, is the heart of Habsburg Madrid. Not far away, there is the Baroque Royal Palace and its Armory, where ancient weapons are exhibited.
