Hanse Golf Course Design wins the 2016™ Olympic and Paralympics Games golf course design contract
US based Hanse Golf Course Design has now landed the coveted honour of designing the Rio 2016™ Olympic and Paralympics Games golf course and the team of renowned designers will be heading to Brazil in a few months time.
The contract was lurking in obscurity for a considerable period of time and top-ranked golf designing brands such as Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus were pitched to win the contract.
Surprisingly though, the Rio 2016™ Organising Committee selected Hanse for the purpose, a firm which is barely known in the course designing business when compared with the giants who were biding.
President of Rio 2016™, Carlos Arthur Nuzman spoke on the occasion and said,
“As it marks the return of golf to the Olympic Games after over a century of absence, this course represents the beginning of a new chapter in the history of the sport. It will enable Rio to host important events in the international calendar and it will be an example of sustainability and preservation of an environmentally protected area”.
Golf is returning to mainstream Olympics after a lapse of over a 100 years and it was featured in the games from the years 1900-1904.
Hanse Golf, owned by Gilbert S. Hanse, 48, the founder and President of the company, teamed up with the LPGA star golfer Amy Alcot in their bid to reinforce their pitch to land the honour.
Winner of no fewer than 29 LPGA titles in the course of her career, Alcot has won five major titles. The consortium will work closely to come up with the final design which is both environmentally and technically sustainable.
Peter Dawson, President of the International Golf Federation, said, "The IGF would like to thank all of the architects who worked so hard on their bids and whose presentations demonstrated great vision".
Hanse Golf Course Design was created in the year1993 by Gil Hanse and was later joined in by his colleague and friend Jim Wagner, with headquarters in Malvern, PA.
The company boosts of a high profile resume and has the honour of designing renowned course like the Castle Stuart-venue of the Scottish Open.
Hanse was also awarded the “Architect of the Year” accolade by the Golf Magazine in 2009 for his design of the Castle Stuart course.
Some of the big guns of the sport from both present times and the past were bidding to land the contract.
The Organising Committee finalised eight contestants who were to fulfil the final selection criteria to win the contract.
The companies included Gary Player Design, Greg Norman Golf Course Design, Hanse Golf Course Design, Hawtree Ltd., Nicklaus Design, Renaissance Golf Design, Robert Trent Jones II and Thomson Perrett.
Panel of judges comprised of Peter Dawson, President of the International Golf Federation, Carlos Arthur Nuzman, President of Rio 2016™, Augusto Ivan, Adviser to the President of the Municipal Olympic Company; and Arminio Fraga, member of the Rio 2016™ Golf Advisory Committee.
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