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Team Gibraltar Attends The Cairns Cup 2022

Three golfers from Gibraltar were recently invited to attend the Cairns Cup in London. 

A statement follows below:

When three golfers from Gibraltar with special needs were recently invited to attend the Cairns Cup in London it was an honour in itself but the added excitement of being able to take part in the week-long events for golfers with a disability, and play on the course itself, proved invaluable to their training and confidence. 

The Cairns Cup is disability golf’s premier match play event and was held in The Shire Golf Club in north London. In a week of activities for disabled golfers it culminated in a Ryder Cup styled competition between Europe and the USA, which was eventually won by the USA. Golfers Julian De Las Heras, Jeffrey Migliori and Nicholas Payas from Gibraltar all have special needs but train regularly at the San Roque Club under the careful tuition of professional coach Mark Emery. The San Roque Club is due to hold the tournament, which takes place every two years, in 2030 and the three golfers were invited to attend the Cairns Cup this year by the organisers. The event was sponsored by Amazon and has twice been postponed because of covid. 

After practising at the course in London on the Sunday “Team Gibraltar” took part in a charity Am-Am tournament there on the Monday. The event proved challenging on an interesting new course for them with plenty of bunkers and water to avoid, but under the careful guidance of Team Europe disabled golfer Roger Hurcombe, aided by Steve Skitt from British Inclusive Golf, the team put in an amazing performance with some impressive shots. Roger later said “it was inspirational to play with the three boys and I had the best day ever seeing them play and the smiles on all their faces when they had a good shot”.

The Gibraltar lads also attended a trick shot display by David Edwards and a gala dinner with entertainment on the Monday night. Later on in the week there was a disability skills day, and they then had the opportunity to watch the Cairns Cup itself being contested by the two teams of 16, before the week came to a close with a Presentation Dinner on the Friday night.

Our disability golfers get few opportunities to practice their sport and display their skills on foreign courses but this was one huge opportunity which all three took the maximum benefit from, and who knows, in future years maybe some of those who attended will represent Team Europe in a future such competition.