Westwood, Daly, Donaldson – the main stars of tournament

The third year of D+D REAL Czech Masters will be held from the 18th to the 21st August, once again in Albatross Golf Resort near Prague. Lee Westwood is the confirmed star of this year’s tournament.

“The tournament has developed rapidly over the three years. The positive evaluation received from the European Tour and growing interest of spectators and business partners contribute to this. This year’s starting lineup will therefore be stronger than ever before in the Czech Republic,” Petr Dědek, the owner of the promoter RELMOST says.

The English player Lee Westwood is a former world number one. Westwood took down Tiger Woods in 2010 and has won 42 world titles so far. He is a regular support of the European Ryder Cup Team – he has turned 9 participations in 7 victories. At the beginning of his professional carrier, he played three European Tour tournaments in the Czech Republic. He played twice in Mariánské Lázně and once in Karlštejn between 1995 and 1997. He has keen memories of the Czech Republic, as he always ranked among the top ten players.

American John Daly celebrates fifty in April. Still among the players who attracted worldwide attention a large audience. He won two major tournaments. In 1991 he won the title at the PGA Championship and in 1995 he won The Open.

Welshman Jamie Donaldson was the first winner of the D+D REAL Czech Masters in 2014, he qualified for the Ryder Cup in Czech Republic. In the match against USA gained Donaldson the winning point for Europe.

The tournament has acquired certain major business partners. Raiffeisenbank has signed a three-year contract as the new general partner.

“I am very pleased that Raiffeisenbank as a long-term supporter of golf in the Czech Republic has become the general partner of D+D REAL Czech Masters. This is a logical outcome of our efforts to advance and popularise this noble sport with this tournament as the flagship of the Czech golf. We are also keenly aware of the benefits golf brings not only in terms of sport or social life, but also economically. The significant contribution of this sport to tourism generates interesting revenue for the private and public sector in the Czech Republic. Such unique combination of an attractive sport, pleasant leisure activity and economic potential deserves to be developed further,” Igor Vida, the Managing Director and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Raiffeisenbank a.s. says.

ŠKODA AUTO is the new Official Car Partner.

“We at ŠKODA AUTO ČR are excited to have the opportunity to be a part of this prestigious tournament and present the ŠKODA brand and our vehicles here. Besides being a sport for top professionals, golf increasingly attracts wider groups of people and entire families often dedicate their time to this sport. We perceive this as a logical link between golf and the focus and activities of the ŠKODA brand,” Michal Pres, the Marketing Manager of ŠKODA AUTO Czech Republic says.

Plzeňský Prazdroj has signed a new long-term contract. “Pilsner Urquell, the official beer of Czech golf, will once again be the proud partner of D+D REAL Czech Masters, the most significant golfing event in the Czech Republic. We are convinced that the quality and significance of the tournament will continue to grow and this is an excellent opportunity to present the best the Czech Republic offers – a beautiful country, outstanding golf and the original Pilsner,” says Grant McKenzie, the Marketing Director of Plzeňský Prazdroj, who comes from Scotland and himself is a passionate golfer.

The live broadcast of the tournament will be aired on the Fanda channel belonging to the Nova group. “This will be the most extensive live broadcast in the history of D+D REAL Czech Masters. Fanda will broadcast live 18.5 hours in total in addition to the recorded broadcast on Nova Sport 1 and 2,” Pavel Poulíček, Relmost’s Head of Marketing says.

Free entry for all registered players of the Czech Golf Federation is one of this year’s innovations. All you need to do is show your CGF card at the gate. Children up to the age of 15 years, seniors older than 65 years and disabled card holders also enjoy free entry to the tournament.
“The Czech Golf Federation highly values the increasing cooperation with the successful promoter of the D+D REAL Czech Masters tournament at Albatross,” Luboš Klikar, the Sports Director of CGF says. “We are pleased that Vítek Novák, last year’s nominated amateur has passed the cut and with the professional player Filip Mrůzek gave the Czech spectators the opportunity to support their players in the final rounds of the European Tour. The agreement between the CGF and the promoter, under which all golfers registered in the Czech Republic will receive free entry to the tournament in August this year, is unparalleled in the European context. We believe that this will raise the number of spectators from last year’s almost 20 thousand fans to nearly a double figure!”

D+D REAL Czech Masters is a tournament of great sporting, social, but also economic significance for the Czech Republic. “The detailed analysis of the economic impact of the tournament completed by KPMG Czech Republic shows that last year’s tournament contributed more than CZK 29 million to the state budget. The so-called irretrievable contribution accounts for CZK 19.5 million of this total. This sum represents income of the state budget generated mainly by foreign visitors and teams, an income that would not have been available to the Czech state otherwise,” Petr Dědek explains.

This winter, the golf green at the Albatross Golf Resort has undergone the most significant remake since its beginning. Water is the common denominator of all new features. “We have built three new water hazards in addition to the new retention lake behind the green of the 13th hole. The first hazard is at hole 1, the second at hole 10 and the last at hole 12. All three lakes are in the game, in particular those at the 1st and the 12th hole, as they are situated very close to the green. The lakes are interconnected with streams, which cut across the fairways on the 1st and the 12th hole,” Stanislav Lisner, the General Manager of the Albatross Golf Resort describes.

Furthermore, the Albatross Golf Resort is newly one of the European Tour Destinations. This is a selection of world’s top-class golf greens of exceptional quality. Albatross is now in the company of golf greens such as Jumeirah in Dubai, Le Golf National near Paris, where Ryder Cup will be held in 2018, or London Golf Club – one of the most prestigious golf clubs in Great Britain.

The tournament village will be transformed into a family entertainment zone. Interactive zones will be extended owing to the participation of Raiffeisenbank and ŠKODA AUTO ČR. The 16th hole will also be transformed.

“We will shorten it to 140 on average and it will be played from blue teeing grounds. We want as many spectators as possible in the viewing area around the green. We will create a new passage through the village to the 16th hole and a new refreshments stand will be added to the area between the 16th and the 17th hole. All for the maximum comfort of our spectators,” Pavel Poulíček explains.

“The massive VIP hospitality venue will be built once again on the 18th hole, but this time longer by 15 meters compared to the previous years. The ground floor will newly feature a terrace for watching the game. A new tribune will be added to section one. We also plan golf clinics – Lee Westwood and Jamie Donaldson will hold one joint one-hour clinic with an autograph session. As spectators enter the resort, they will now be greeted by navigators, who will tell them what is happening in various parts of the resort and what the current highlights of the tournament are. We also plan to put in place one technical innovation, unique in the Czech Republic. There will be a radio with live commentary of the happening on the green. We will operate a local radio station for the 4 days.”

Relmost’s activities include two Challenge Tour tournaments. We celebrate the fifth anniversary of the D+D REAL Czech Challenge this year. The challenge will be held once again in the Kunětická Hora resort from the 26th to the 29th May. Approximately 15 or 16 Czech golf players will receive a playing card and the prize money is now increased to EUR 175 thousand.
The third year of D+D REAL Slovakia Challenge will be played again at Penati Golf Resort, Slovakia from the 7th to the 10th July. The prize money for this challenge has also increased by EUR 5 thousand to EUR 170 thousand. Approximately ten Czech players will have a chance to play in tournament.
The players of the RELMOST ProGolfTeam are also preparing for the new season. The team comprises Lukáš Tintěra, Aleš Kořínek, Petr Dědek junior as a new professional, Dan Suchan and our new talent from Slovakia, Ján Friesz. These players have a full program ahead of them – 7+1 tournament at the Challenge Tour and invitations to the European Tour. Adam Rajmont only plans to play the Czech and Slovak challenge this season.

Lee Westwood