May 2017
The IC of Great Britain has won the V IC Viva Mallorca Tennis Golf Challenge
1st - 4th November 2017
Venue: Cala Mesquida, Mallorca
The IC of Great Britain has won the V IC Viva Mallorca Tennis Golf Challenge, which took place in Cala Mesquida from November 2-4, 2017. The event was organized in different venues, with the tennis staged at the Son Besso Club and the golf in Capdepera Golf, Son Servera and Pula. The IC of Great Britain ended the event in first position after defeating the IC Belgium by 6 points to 0 and to the IC Spain by 5 wins to 2 on the last day of the competition.
This special IC Competition combines tennis and golf and owes its existence to the President of the IC Spain, Mr. Juan Mª Tintoré, who instigated and staged the first edition in Barcelona in 1989. Under a format developed by Mr. David Waite, each tie includes three points for tennis, two for golf and two combining both tennis and golf. On this occasion the IC of Spain joined forces with the Viva and Vanity Hotels to stage the event on the northeastern coast of the Mediterranean island, home of some of the best sports facilities in Europe.
Two Belgian players - Vicent Limauge and Alain Carlier - had recently been in action at the European Senior Club Championships in Mallorca, and led the IC Belgian tennis team. Following an unfortunate injury-enforced withdrawal from the Spanish IC players at the last minute, IC Spain competed with a combined IC and local team. The number one Belgian player opened with a straight set win over Lorenzo Fons and the second Spanish tennis player, Toni Gomez scored the first point for the IC Spain with a close win over Alain Carlier, 7/5 6/4. The doubles gave the second point to the Belgians with a close win on a third set championship tie break. The tennis golf ended with two more points for IC Spain and the golf provided one additional point for each of the teams, concluding the tie with a 4/3 win for the host nation.
On the second day of the Competition, the IC Great Britain got a clear win over the Belgians by a difference of six points. David Collins and Collin Bennet scored clear victories over Limauge and Carlier in their tennis matches. The tennis golf and the golf also went in favour of the British team.
The final day saw some outstanding tennis matches from the British team with clear wins over the top local players Ivan Vives and Toni Gomez - 6/1 6/1 and 6/1 6/2 respectively. The doubles of the tennis golfers also saw a clear advantage for the British, with David Collins and David Mills beating Albert Tintore and Paul Kelly. The Spanish team did manage to score two close victories by the golfers, both of which went down to the last hole, but it left the British side with a clear 5 points to 2 win.
The social side of the competition saw an official dinner at the La Terraza restaurant with the presence of the representatives of Viva Hotel and also with the President of the IC of Spain, Mr. Juan Mª Tintoré. The captain of the IC Great Britain, Mr. Shamus Donald and the President of the IC Belgium, Mr. Michele de Marneffe, expressed their gratitude for the organization and committed to returning for future editions of the competition.
Water and tennis balls for the competition were kindly provided by sponsor Rossbacher.
Please see the documents below for further event information and the order of play.
For guides and competition rules please visit the further Information page to view available downloads.