. Isabel Mas and Juan Miró, from Castellón, with numerous titles to their name despite their youth, are major figures in the competition.

Returning after the forced break caused by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, the Spanish Under 16 and Benjamin Pitch & Putt Championship, one of the star events of the short game, is held this time at the Barbanza Golf course in A Coruña between August 18 and 21.

One hundred and thirty golfers under the age of 16 in total, spread across the different age groups, face the challenge of achieving the best possible result in a competition that begins with the youngest (under 10 years old) on August 18 and 19 and continues, on August 20 and 21, with the cadets, children and juniors, all of them in pursuit of the titles of the different categories.

This is the tenth edition of a tournament that celebrates a golf specialty that is booming in our country and that brings together players from the youngest age groups (under 10 years old), juniors (11 and 12 years old), children (13 and 14 years old) and cadets (15 and 16 years old).

In all cases, the golfers who have registered, despite their young age, have already developed an interesting sporting career and are destined to make important progress within Spanish golf.

Special mention for the significant participation despite the restrictions still in place due to the Covid-19 pandemic, one hundred and thirty young players who demonstrate the interest that this tournament arouses among the youth of Spanish golf, although it is regrettable that the cancellation of the female junior category as it did not reach the minimum number of six participants required to be able to carry out the competition.

Isabel Mas and Juan Miró, from Castellón, are major figures in the field.

As with other tournaments involving the youngest group in the Spanish golf academy, establishing benchmarks in this Spanish Under 16 and Benjamin Pitch & Putt Championship is a complicated exercise, although, considering the playing handicaps and recent past performances, it is possible to establish some mentions that, once on the course, they have to confirm with their play.

This is the case of Isabel Mas and Juan Miró from Castellón, both members of the prolific Costa de Azahar youth academy, who arrive in A Coruña with more than proven credentials that make them potential winners in their categories.

Cadet Isabel Mas, for example, boasts the 2016 Spanish Benjamin Championship in her record and, specifically within the Pitch & Putt specialty, the titles of Spanish Benjamin P&P Champion 2016, Alevín P&P Champion 2017 and 2018, Infantil P&P Champion 2019 and Under 16 P&P Champion 2019. As if that weren't enough, she is the player with the best playing handicap, -1.9.

Despite all this glitz and glamour, the current Spanish Under 16 Pitch & Putt Champion faces a formidable opponent: Keyra González from the Canary Islands, who has also demonstrated her immense talent over the past few years: 2014 Spanish Benjamin P&P Champion; 2015 Spanish Benjamin P&P Runner-Up; 2016 Alevín P&P Champion; and third in the 2017 Alevín P&P and 2018 Infantil P&P Spanish Championships.

The accumulation of victories also occurs in the case of Juan Miró, current Spanish Junior Champion, with the best handicap in his category (1.8) and with a background that also includes the Spanish Benjamin P&P Championship 2018 and 2019 and a second place in the Spanish Benjamin Championship 2019.

The competition will most likely come from José Antonio Salas from Cantabria (handicap 5.3), who, as runner-up, challenged him for the victory in the recent 2021 Spanish Junior Championship, and from Miguel Fuertes from Valencia, with a handicap of 5.7.

Other categories, such as the Boys' Cadet and Junior divisions, are much more open. In the former, attention is focused on Daniel Varela from Galicia and Pedro Betoret from Valencia, with the highest playing handicaps, -0.5 and 0.9, respectively.

Among the children, there is even more theoretical competition given that the handicap differences between Pablo Sordo from Cantabria (3.8), Simón Gómez from Galicia (4.3) and Joaquim Rousaud from Catalonia (4.6) are very small.

The same can be said of the Girls' Junior category, where the head-to-head between Nerea Garrido from the Canary Islands (handicap 2.6), Carla Barrio from Madrid (2.7) and Mónica del Valle (2.9) and María Carlón (3.6) from Castile and León seems assured, taking into account that Nerea Garrido was runner-up in the Spanish Junior P&P Championship in 2019 and that María Carlón aspires to improve her performance after winning the runner-up titles in the Spanish Junior P&P Championship in 2017 and 2018 and Junior 2019.

Another spectacular clash is predicted in the Girls' Under-12 category, where sisters Carmen and Cristina García from León have maintained an intense family rivalry for years, a rivalry backed by statistics: Cristina, the current Spanish Under-12 runner-up, won the 2019 Spanish Under-10 Championship, where Carmen finished second. África Oliva from Alicante, with a handicap of 6.2, is the one with the best chance of challenging them.

Finally, in the Benjamin Male category, which starts the competition on August 18 and 19, everything is uncertain due to the limited information available about these young players under 10 years old.

Julio Fernández from Galicia leads the list with the best playing handicap (13.2), closely followed by fellow Galician Jorge de la Riva (14.0), the current Spanish runner-up in the Benjamin category; Guillermo Alonso from Asturias (14.5); and Martín Fuertes from Valencia (14.8). These four contenders arrive at Barbanza Golf with a handicap under 15… and are all under 10 years old. A spectacular show is therefore more than guaranteed in this category, promising four days of exciting competition.

The latest winners

Cancelled in the 2020 edition due to the pandemic, we have to go back to 2019 to praise the game of Álvaro Revuelta and Isabel Mas, who achieved victory in the tournament held as on that occasion at Bilbil Golf.

Additionally, Juan Miró and Andrea Revuelta were the best in the Benjamin category.

Additional information, departure times and participant lists can be found below in the Related Links section.