Describing a typical round of golf, Mac O’Grady, the American pro-golfer and golf teacher, once said ‘one minute you’re bleeding. The next minute you’re hemorrhaging. The next minute you’re painting the Mona Lisa.’ And what better place to do it than at one of the world’s funkiest golf tournaments in the city where Leonardo da Vinci began work on his famous portrait?
In fact, from Friday 18 to Sunday 20 December 2009, golf balls will be flying off the oldest bridge in Florence during the Tenth Annual Ponte Vecchio Golf Challenge. The Arno River will be converted into a golf course with three greens floating on the water. Landing your golf balls on any of them is more like a miracle than a challenge. But there to show us how it can be done are the champions invited to tee off this year. They include Jerome Theunis (Belgium), Gaurav Ghei (India), Benn Barham (England), Diana Luna (Italy), Jan-Are Larsen (Norway), Rolf Muntz (Netherlands), David Lynn (United Kingdom) and Robert Karlsson (Sweden). Entertainers and and sports stars will also be there to give it a whack.
The beautiful and recently restored 19th century station, Stazione Leopolda, will house the Sponsor Village where, in the area dedicated to the Federazione Italiana Golf, there will be an indoor golf hole, surrounded by trees and sand. There will also be a putting green. Added to this, a series of side events will enable participants and visitors to enjoy gastronomic tours, museums and exhibitions, wine tasting and walking and bicycle tours in Florence and the surrounding countryside.
If you can’t make it this year, put it in your golfing calendar for 2010. It’ sure will give you a golf story that’s hard to cap.
