February 10 to 23 at Murcia, Southern Spain

Belgian professional Lien will tune

up for 2008 season at Hacienda

del Alamo Festival .. why don't you?

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Tournament Controller, Hacienda del Alamo Women's Winter Golf Festival, Murcia, Spain

One of the most talented girl amateurs on the Continent of recent years has put her name down for the Hacienda del Alamo Women’s Winter Golf Festival at the five-star resort in the Murcia Region of southern Spain.
She is Lien Willems, pictured right, from Belgium, now a professional but not the possessor of full playing rights for the Ladies European Tour.
“Having turned pro in June this year, I came through the LET Pre-Qualifying at Le Fonti Golf Club in Italy in 19th position at three-under-par but missed the cut in the Final Qualifying tournament,” said Lien.
“For the 2008 season, I will play on the Telia Tour (in Sweden) and also try to get some invitations for LET events. The Hacienda del Alamo Festival seems to be a good preparation for the 2008 season.”
Lien has put her finger right on the button, the reason why Billy Sim, the Hacienda del Alamo director of golf, and I have put together this abbreviated version of what we hope will eventually lead to a Murcia Ladies Open Tour in January-February 2009.
Six competitions and unlimited practice over two consecutive weeks in what is almost guaranteed to be better, milder, even warmer Murcia weather than will be the case in the Britain, Ireland and the more northerly Continental countries should enable players to tune up for the new season, whether they be amateurs or professionals.
Lien Willems has been a Belgian national team member since 2000 when she was only 13. She played her first world championship in Malaysia in 2002, followed by Puerto Rico in 2004 and South Africa in 2006.
“In between, I played for the national Belgian team in about every European team championship and a lot of international amateur competitions. I won the Belgian International Juniors’ girls title in 2006 and had some top-10 finishes in the European Young Masters, the Dutch International Juniors, the Italian Ladies and so on,” says Lien who has her own website http://www.lienwillems.com/

The Hacienda del Alamo Women's Winter Golf Festival entry list so far:

PROFESSIONALS
Lauren Dibble (Celtic Manor)
Lien Willems (Belgium)
AMATEURS
Emily Ogilvy (Auchterarder) (+1)
Lauren MacCallum (McDonald Ellon) (7).
Michele Thomson (McDonald Ellon) (+1)
*Rachael Livingstone (Musselburgh Old) (scr)
*Mandy Easton (Dalmahoy) (5).
*Cara Easton (Dalmahoy) (8)
*To be confirmed

INQUIRIES FROM FAR AND NEAR
I’ve had inquiries from Sweden, Russia, United States, Scotland, England and Ireland but converting inquiries into confirmed entries looks like being a long, drawn-out process.
Golfers are traditionalists at heart. “Something new” takes a while to be accepted. A new concept of “Competition and Practice” – which sums up the Hacienda del Alamo Women’s Winter Festival – at a time of the year when most golfers in Britain have had their clubs in hibernation for a month or two takes a while to sink in.
Meanwhile the budget airline flight prices will be rising.
Let me just clarify some points:
1 Although I would like you to come to Hacienda del Alamo for both weeks, you don’t have to. You can come the first week or you can come the second week.
2 You can arrive when you like and leave when you like. If you can get cheaper flights flying out to Murcia on a Tuesday/Wednesday and flying home the following Wednesday/Thursday, then go for it.
3 You can be accompanied by your husband, partner of boyfriend, although they will not be able to take part in the competitions except as caddies.
4 You don’t have to stay at Hacienda del Alamo Golf Resort but you would certainly have to hire a car if you didn’t. The taxi fare from Murcia Airport to Hacienda del Alamo is not an arm and a leg job but Alicante Airport to Hacienda del Alamo by taxi is quite expensive.
5 You don’t have to play in every competition whether you are staying for one week or two.
6 Getting two, three or even four golfing friends to share a villa, brings the individual cost down considerably.
7 There is no minimum or maximum age limit. For amateurs, a single-figure handicap is the key of the door.
8 There is no deadline for entries but given the hours of daylight in mid-February, Billy Sim and I reckon we are looking at a capacity field of little more than 60 for each event, starting in threes at 10min intervals.
It’s first come, first served. If you notify the Tournament Controller (that’s me) that you want to enter, then your place in the Festival is guaranteed at the moment but that might not be the case if the word gets round and there’s a rush of entries.
My good friend Lisa D Mickey of the Duramed Futures Tour put details of the Festival up on the players’ noticeboard at this past week’s qualifying tournament at Lakeland, Florida.
That could lead to a few transatlantic entries over the next week when all the players get back to base.
All you have to do is E-mail your entry this weekend to colin@scottishgolfview.com
+++Details of how to book accommodation are available by clicking on the words HDA Women's Festival in the left-hand column of this screen. info@resortmanagementhda.com has been added to the list of E-mail addresses for inquiries about HDA accommodation.

====================LUXURY VILLA OVERLOOKING 12th HOLE ========

Angela Howells has a four-bed, four-bath luxury villa at Hacienda del Alamo Golf Resort overlooking the par-3 12th hole. Full details can be found on www.luxury-golf-villa.com

She is willing to rent it out to competitors in the Festival for one week or two at 1,000 Euros (£670) per week. It is still available at the moment.
Looks a reasonable deal for four (maybe more) sharing.
You can E-mail Angela at angie_howells@yahoo.com or telephone her at 07967 147761 or 07787 511867. She will be happy to answer any questions.