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Aloha Tiger!

15 Mar

Miguel Ángel Jiménez is not one to give up easily. As in previous years, when he caught up with Tiger Woods during the latest World Golf Championship event in the US, the Málaga-born star invited Woods to the Open de Andalucía event his promotional company Grupo MAJ has organised – and partly funded – the past six years. […]

From Marbella… to Melbourne

28 Jan

It all essentially began for Victoria Azarenka in Spain last April. The then 21-year-old Belarusian confirmed her top seeding by winning the third edition of the Andalucía Tennis Experience to rise to a career best fifth in the WTA world ranking. She had dropped only 14 games on her way to the final at Marbella’s Puente Romano Tennis Club, eventually beating Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu 6-3, 6-2.

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Post Prime Rate

6 Jan

One-time world record-holding boozer Bob Hawke (aka as Australia’s Prime Minister from 1983 to 1991) couldn’t resist the challenge. And, to be fair, what true blue Australian could! Hawke, who recalled in his memoirs that he had once set a world speed record for drinking two and a half pints of beer in 11 seconds while studying in Oxford, was walking through the stands during the second cricket Test against India in Sydney when offered a plastic cup of beer. “One for the country, Robert!” he was encouraged by a voice in the crowd, and the Rhodes Scholar patriotically obliged – the moment being caught for viral posterity on a mobile phone.

SPAIN’S elusive HOLY GRAIL

27 Oct

Unfinished business at Valderrama

Spanish contingent in confident mood... (Photo: Fernando Herranz)

SEVE BALLESTROS went close in 1988. The late Spanish star finished second two shots behind Nick Faldo in the inaugural Volvo Masters at Valderrama.

Six years later, he was again second, a bogey on the last hole leaving him one short of Bernhard Langer’s winning score and level with Vijay Singh. Miguel Ángel Jiménez was fourth that same year, having opened with a six-under 65 that included the first albatross carded in competition on Valderrama’s notorious 17th hole. […]

ONLY in New Zealand!

9 Sep

Sonny Wool takes over Paul the Pulpo’s mantle…

OPEN to other pleasures

18 Jul

ALWAYS REASSURING to discover that not all modern-day professional golfers are metronomic gym freaks with personality bypasses…

 

 

Andalucía TENNIS EXPERIENCE

2 Apr

Tour stars return to Marbella

Anabel Medina

SEVERAL OF THE world’s leading women tennis payers will be taking to Puente Romano’s clay courts for the third edition of the Andalucía Tennis Experience, part of the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) international circuit, from 2 to 10 April. […]

TIGER sharpens CLAWS

8 Mar

Nice guy Benji in fight of his life

ONE WEEK before, Wests Tigers and New Zealand star Benji Marshall had been named the “face of rugby league” as the new NRL season loomed. He said at the time he wanted to be “the player that kids want to be when they grow up”. […]

ON the GRID

20 Feb

Patient Webber set for another tough challenge

(Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

LAST SEASON Mark Webber became the first Australian since Alan Jones in 1981 to lead the Formula 1 driver’s championship. Coming into the final race in Abu Dhabi he had a chance of joining Jones (1980) and Jack Brabham (1959, 1960, 1966) as the only Australian world champions but a poor pit strategy thwarted his chances and he finished third overall in the season-long championship behind arch-rival and Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso.

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FINE-TUNING in JEREZ

15 Feb

Formula 1 stars prepare for new Grand Prix season

Fernando Alonso

AFTER FOUR days of testing at the Jerez racetrack, Williams driver Rubens Barrichello gained an early psychological edge with the best time of the final session and an overall advantage during the week. Home favourite Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) was third on the final day. […]