Adventures in Argentina as CPGA Member Mike Mezei begins '09 Can Tour Season
Hello,
This past week was the Argentine Masters, played at the Olivos Golf Club just outside the capital city of Buenos Aires.
Olivos (The Olives) G.C, founded in 1927, is without a doubt one of the best courses I've ever had the privilege to play. The layout is tremendous and with the rough grown out and the greens rock hard and fast, it was a true tournament test and could have sustained any level of play. It is ranked second in Argentina behind Buenos Aires Golf Club (I played the 2004 Argentine Open there), but in my opinion Olivos is a full class ahead of BA Golf Club.
It was pretty neat to see how much support the Argentines have for their sportsmen, especially golf. They were out in full force for the event (10,000 spectators someone told me were there last year, probably a bit less this year as it was a long weekend in Argentina) and all of their top players came back to play the event. PGA Tour winners Angel Cabrera, Andres Romero and Vincente Fernandez along with European Tour winners Eduardo Romero, Ricardo Gonzalez, Estanislo Goya and Daniel Vansik were on hand in their native Argentina for it's most prestigious professional event. Other non-Argentine PGA Tour winners like Len Mattice, Russ Cochran and Bruce Fleisher also were in the field along with several Nationwide Tour members such as Chris Baryla, Josh McCumber, Miguel Carballo, Sebastian Fernandez and Fabian Gomez.
The first round I literally hit 3 greens in regulation and shot a one over par 72 (par 71). The greens here are very dramatic and challenging; holding together that round probably made the difference in the tournament for me. I hit a few more greens the next round to fire a 69 and easily make the cut in T13th going into the weekend.
In the third round I played with European Tour winner Ricardo Gonzalez. I managed even a little better than the day before with a 7 birdie 67 that moved me up into T6th heading into the final round. My birdie on the final hole earned me a pairing in the final round with Argentine national hero and the 2007 US Open Champion Angel Cabrera. Needless to say we had a few people following our group, especially as Andres Romero was ahead of me and Eduardo Romero behind. I played steady all day in the final round, but didn't really gain any great momentum and finished with birdie on 18 for an even par 71. My birdie on 18 meant that I'd clipped Angel by a shot for the day, but he still had me by a shot for the tournament as he started the day two shots ahead of me.
Unfortunately the day ended with a bit of a disaster. I was keeping Cabrera's scorecard; after I signed his card and gave it to him in the scoring area, he checked it over but left without signing it. As a result he was disqualified on the spot and it was a big disappointment for the fans. He would have finished T5th; If you can imagine it would basically be the equivalent of Mike Weir being DQ'd from the Canadian Open in the final round after finishing in the top 5.
In the end I finished T7th with rounds of 72-69-67-71 for a 5 under par 279 total. It was another solid week for me; I was proud that I contended in the event with the quality of the field on hand.
Argentina native and Nationwide Tour member Fabian Gomez won the title with a record score of 13 under par (Cabrera had the previous tournament record at 12 under). It was a close finish though as Andres Romero (you may remember him as well from missing out on the Garcia/Harrington playoff at the 2007 British Open by a shot) eagled the 18th hole to get within one shot. Gomez held on strong through the tough finishing stretch and birdied 18 to win by two shots.
It was great being back in Argentina; the beef and wine were even better (and less expensive) than I remembered. An expensive bottle of wine in a restaurant here is ten dollars! We dined one night at a place for $18 US that was all you can eat salad bar, all you can eat freshly cooked to order steak and meat (they had about 20 different kinds from ribs to filet mignon type cuts, dessert and included not only a good bottle of wine but another bottle to take home. Good luck getting a just a steak half that good in North America for $18.
Even better was being able to stay with my good friend Gustavo Montone and his family again. Believe it or not they still had a pair of shorts I had forgotten there 4 years ago to the week! Gustavo and his family are such wonderful people and to have friends like that half way across the world is pretty special. The people in Argentina I've had the chance to meet have a certain way of living life and closeness of family and friends that you just rarely see in North America. It's a different, more relaxed style of life all together. Which made it difficult for me to fathom why everyone there drives like they have a gunshot victim in the back of their car. Posted speed limits in the city on major highways are 130 Kph (80 mph) and from what I can tell are barely a suggestion. I asked Gustavo if he had ever had a speeding ticket and he laughed; he's never heard of anyone getting pulled over for speeding!
I'd recommend to anyone who's never been to Argentina to go if you can. To visit Buenos Aires might take a bit more advanced planning than a place like Santiago because of the city's size and traffic, but would be well worth the effort. Southern Argentina, like Chile, is gorgeous with adventure type areas like Patagonia as well as distinguished wine regions such as Bariloche and Mendoza.
Next up for me will be a Tightlies Winter Series event in Houston at Blackhorse G.C on Dec.15th-17th then back home to Canada for the holidays.
All the best,
Mike
This past week was the Argentine Masters, played at the Olivos Golf Club just outside the capital city of Buenos Aires.
Olivos (The Olives) G.C, founded in 1927, is without a doubt one of the best courses I've ever had the privilege to play. The layout is tremendous and with the rough grown out and the greens rock hard and fast, it was a true tournament test and could have sustained any level of play. It is ranked second in Argentina behind Buenos Aires Golf Club (I played the 2004 Argentine Open there), but in my opinion Olivos is a full class ahead of BA Golf Club.
It was pretty neat to see how much support the Argentines have for their sportsmen, especially golf. They were out in full force for the event (10,000 spectators someone told me were there last year, probably a bit less this year as it was a long weekend in Argentina) and all of their top players came back to play the event. PGA Tour winners Angel Cabrera, Andres Romero and Vincente Fernandez along with European Tour winners Eduardo Romero, Ricardo Gonzalez, Estanislo Goya and Daniel Vansik were on hand in their native Argentina for it's most prestigious professional event. Other non-Argentine PGA Tour winners like Len Mattice, Russ Cochran and Bruce Fleisher also were in the field along with several Nationwide Tour members such as Chris Baryla, Josh McCumber, Miguel Carballo, Sebastian Fernandez and Fabian Gomez.
The first round I literally hit 3 greens in regulation and shot a one over par 72 (par 71). The greens here are very dramatic and challenging; holding together that round probably made the difference in the tournament for me. I hit a few more greens the next round to fire a 69 and easily make the cut in T13th going into the weekend.
In the third round I played with European Tour winner Ricardo Gonzalez. I managed even a little better than the day before with a 7 birdie 67 that moved me up into T6th heading into the final round. My birdie on the final hole earned me a pairing in the final round with Argentine national hero and the 2007 US Open Champion Angel Cabrera. Needless to say we had a few people following our group, especially as Andres Romero was ahead of me and Eduardo Romero behind. I played steady all day in the final round, but didn't really gain any great momentum and finished with birdie on 18 for an even par 71. My birdie on 18 meant that I'd clipped Angel by a shot for the day, but he still had me by a shot for the tournament as he started the day two shots ahead of me.
Unfortunately the day ended with a bit of a disaster. I was keeping Cabrera's scorecard; after I signed his card and gave it to him in the scoring area, he checked it over but left without signing it. As a result he was disqualified on the spot and it was a big disappointment for the fans. He would have finished T5th; If you can imagine it would basically be the equivalent of Mike Weir being DQ'd from the Canadian Open in the final round after finishing in the top 5.
In the end I finished T7th with rounds of 72-69-67-71 for a 5 under par 279 total. It was another solid week for me; I was proud that I contended in the event with the quality of the field on hand.
Argentina native and Nationwide Tour member Fabian Gomez won the title with a record score of 13 under par (Cabrera had the previous tournament record at 12 under). It was a close finish though as Andres Romero (you may remember him as well from missing out on the Garcia/Harrington playoff at the 2007 British Open by a shot) eagled the 18th hole to get within one shot. Gomez held on strong through the tough finishing stretch and birdied 18 to win by two shots.
It was great being back in Argentina; the beef and wine were even better (and less expensive) than I remembered. An expensive bottle of wine in a restaurant here is ten dollars! We dined one night at a place for $18 US that was all you can eat salad bar, all you can eat freshly cooked to order steak and meat (they had about 20 different kinds from ribs to filet mignon type cuts, dessert and included not only a good bottle of wine but another bottle to take home. Good luck getting a just a steak half that good in North America for $18.
Even better was being able to stay with my good friend Gustavo Montone and his family again. Believe it or not they still had a pair of shorts I had forgotten there 4 years ago to the week! Gustavo and his family are such wonderful people and to have friends like that half way across the world is pretty special. The people in Argentina I've had the chance to meet have a certain way of living life and closeness of family and friends that you just rarely see in North America. It's a different, more relaxed style of life all together. Which made it difficult for me to fathom why everyone there drives like they have a gunshot victim in the back of their car. Posted speed limits in the city on major highways are 130 Kph (80 mph) and from what I can tell are barely a suggestion. I asked Gustavo if he had ever had a speeding ticket and he laughed; he's never heard of anyone getting pulled over for speeding!
I'd recommend to anyone who's never been to Argentina to go if you can. To visit Buenos Aires might take a bit more advanced planning than a place like Santiago because of the city's size and traffic, but would be well worth the effort. Southern Argentina, like Chile, is gorgeous with adventure type areas like Patagonia as well as distinguished wine regions such as Bariloche and Mendoza.
Next up for me will be a Tightlies Winter Series event in Houston at Blackhorse G.C on Dec.15th-17th then back home to Canada for the holidays.
All the best,
Mike