Soccer-mad Argentina has hosted a novel tournament that featured plenty of soccer balls, but no goals as such: the second-ever FootGolf World Cup.
Instead of dribbling, tackling and sliding around getting muddy, FootGolf players boot a soccer ball large distances into a 53cm-wide hole in as few kicks as possible.
Spectators follow the players around each of the 18 holes over a course complete with flags, slopes and bunkers.
Photo: AFP
Keeping to a golfer-like dress code, players wear harlequin-patterned socks and pristine white shorts and caps.
Said to have been invented in the Netherlands in 2009, the sport has spread worldwide.
Players from Australia, Britain, Ireland and the US joined their Argentine hosts in the tournament in Pilar, a posh suburb of Buenos Aires, that wrapped up at the weekend.
The first FootGolf World Cup was held in Hungary in 2012, with 77 players from eight nations taking part. This year, turnout multiplied, with 230 players from 26 nations.
“It far surpassed our expectations,” Argentine FootGolf Association president Javier de Ancizar said. “This was the first tournament we have played with spectator stand, and they were full.”
Argentine Christian Otero was crowned FootGolf World Cup champion on Sunday after topping the players’ table.
“I had to win. I felt a lot of pressure and I am very happy,” Otero said.
“This sport is incredible. There are not many sports that have such a lovely setting,” he added, speaking near the green expanse of the upmarket Golf Pilar Club.
A good FootGolf player “has to have a strong mind, a good touch and cool-headedness, because in this game, you make a lot of mistakes and the important thing is to get back into it quickly,” he said.
Japan’s Shohei Ohtani is the record-breaking baseball “superhuman” following in the footsteps of the legendary Babe Ruth who has also earned comparisons to US sporting greats Michael Jordan and Tom Brady. Not since Ruth a century ago has there been a baseball player capable of both pitching and hitting at the top level. The 30-year-old’s performances with the Los Angeles Dodgers have consolidated his position as a baseball legend in the making, and a national icon in his native Japan. He continues to find new ways to amaze, this year becoming the first player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases
Zhang Shuai yesterday said that she nearly quit after losing 24 matches in a row — now the world No. 595 is into the quarter-finals of her home China Open. The 35-year-old is to face Spain’s Paula Badosa as the lowest-ranked player to reach this stage in the history of the tournament after Badosa reeled off 11 of the last 12 games in a 6-4, 6-0 victory over US Open finalist Jessica Pegula. Zhang went into Beijing on a barren run lasting more than 600 days and her string of singles defeats was the second-longest on the WTA Tour Open era, which
Taiwan’s Tony Wu yesterday beat Mackenzie McDonald of the US to win the Nonthaburi Challenger IV in Thailand, his first challenger victory since 2022. The 26-year-old world No. 315, who won both his qualifiers to advance to the main draw, has been on a hot streak this month, winning his past nine matches, including two that ensured Taiwan’s victory in their Davis Cup World Group I tie. Wu took just more than two hours to top world No. 172 McDonald 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) to win his second challenger tournament since the Tallahassee Tennis Challenger in 2022. Wu’s Tallahassee win followed two years of
UP IN SMOKE: More than half a dozen riders crashed out of the race, with Marquez’s title chances in doubt after driving off the track with flames flickering from his bike Jorge Martin yesterday won a crash-filled Indonesia MotoGP to extend his championship lead, while closest rival Francesco Bagnaia limited the damage by claiming the final podium place. The win leaves the Pramac Racing rider 21 points ahead of his Italian Ducati rival, who finished third behind Spaniard Pedro Acosta in sweltering conditions at the Mandalika International Street Circuit on Lombok island. In front of a crowd of 60,000 in motorbike-mad Indonesia, the 26-year-old put his tumble in Saturday’s sprint behind him, canceling out the gains his title rival Bagnaia made after securing victory in that race. “Thank you Indonesia. I am very happy.
RSS