The Award Ceremony of the "1st Aegean Airlines ProAm" included speeches delivered by, among others, the Minister for the Development of Tourism, Mrs. Fani Palli-Petralia, the Chairman of the Organising Committee of the event, Mr. Theodoros Vassilakis (Chairman and Managing Director of Aegean Airlines), the Member of the Board of Directors of the Professional Golfers Associations of Europe, Mr. Leif Ohlsson, and the Managing Director of the Crete Golf Club, Mr. Andreas Metaxas.
The tournament, held between June 2 and June 4, was the initiative of Aegean Airlines, a company that has thus verified its dynamic role in the strategic development of Greek tourism by conducing towards the reinforcement of its most qualitative aspects in practice. The golf market is deemed an exceptional market where tourism is concerned, since it makes up 50 million consumers of high income status and 32,000 golf courses worldwide. Despite our excellent weather conditions and unique natural landscapes, there are currently no more than 6 golf course facilities in Greece. Five of them are 18-hole golf courses (in Attica, Hersonissos/Crete, Rhodes, Porto Carras/Chalkidiki and Corfu), whereas the Elounda golf course on the island of Crete is a 9-hole facility, at a time when the competition in the Mediterranean numbers several hundreds - Greece is coming in with a late start.
The priority of the "1st Aegean Airlines ProAm" lay in conducing towards the propagation of golf, a popular sport around the world, among Greek fans. The tournament was held at a professional "Desert Course", equally combining modern infrastructure, international specifications and the enchanting natural landscape of Hersonissos. The game was of extreme interest, since renowned professional golfers from 13 different countries (Greece, Cyprus, Germany, Ireland, England, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Turkey, Israel and the United Arab Emirates) took part. Participants created 52 teams, each of which comprised one professional (Pro) and three amateurs (Am). The organisers offered monetary prizes of a total value of €70,000 to the professional players, as well as substantial prizes to the amateurs that stood out.
With regards to the final results of the event, Mr. Liam Bond (Great Britain) ranked first in the professional category (individual), followed by Mr. Paul Wesselingh (Great Britain) and Mr. William Milne (Germany) who ranked second and third respectively. The team from Great Britain ranked first in the team category of the event, led by the professional golfer, Mr. Kyle Rushall. The Bulgarian team, led by the professional golfer, Mr. Neil Turley, and the team from Switzerland, led by Mr. Rohan Throssell, ranked second and third respectively.
The event was sponsored by the companies Aegean Airlines, Navarino Resorts, Autohellas-Hertz, Maris Hotels, Athens International Airport (AIA), VAKAR-SAAB, Coca-Cola Hellas and Ermenegildo Zegna. The channel Supersport was the communication sponsor.