Organised by La Liga and FootGolf Malaysia, the tournament served as an awareness campaign to bring some attention to the lesser known of the official La Liga teams.
Twenty teams of four competed over the three days, and a total of 108 holes were played in Match Play format, meaning the teams were split into pairs and they took alternate kicks.
The teams were randomly assigned a La Liga team to represent, and they played through the tournament stages from group to the finals, with the finals being split up into three categories:
- Cup – for the winning teams
- Plate – for the runners up
- Bowl – for the ones that tried really hard, but struggled a bit on the day
To make the game more interesting, free kick dummies were added on hole 1, 5 and 7, as well as other strategic places. And the addition of a sandy bunker on hole 1 proved to be quite problematic for the players.
“The sandy bunker, which is a new concept to FootGolf,” explains Jeff, the GM of FootGolf Malaysia, “has a back stopper which forces players to chip the ball, much like golf, instead of just rolling through the bunkers usually found on the course. The sport will hopefully adopt this new idea as it creates a more challenging, and fun experience.”
The competition was quite fierce with most of the players being seasoned FootGolfers, and the Cup was finally won by the Alaves representing team.
“We admire the spirit of every player in the twenty teams!” said Amzar, the captain of the winning Alaves team. “This tournament gave us a valuable experience and we realised the level FootGolf has reached locally.”
Alaves beat Atletico Madrid in the Cup final, while the Plate was taken home by Real Betis and the Bowl won by Sevilla.
The weekend-long tournament ended with an official prize-giving, and it was apparent by all the smiles, and also some tired faces, that it was enjoyed by all, winners and runners up alike.
“We’d like to thank everyone for taking part in the first La Liga Footgolf Tournament,“ added Jeff, “and we hope all enjoyed the three day event. It was worth every penny!”
“This was a pilot event between FootGolf Malaysia and La Liga. We hope after our post mortem discussions that we’ll be able to build a better event for next year,” said Jeff. “Congrats to all who participated, without u guys there would be no success.”
Keep an eye out on FootGolf Malaysia’s social media for some photos and videos to be uploaded in the coming days and weeks. See you at the next tournament! In the meantime, get on the course and practice, practice, practice!