One year after moving to Camiral Resort, Mathieu Fenasse, has sealed a win at last month’s Ecco Tour. The young French golfer, who turned pro in 2015, was the driving force behind his parents’ decision to buy an apartment at the resort. The objective? To make the most of “one of the best golfing facilities” Mathieu has seen. We caught up with Mathieu on the Golf course to find out more about his career and his life at Camiral Resort.
How much of an advantage was it for you to live and practice at Camiral Resort during last month’s Ecco Tour?
It’s a huge advantage if you know how to manage it. I played the final stage Q School last year and I didn’t do so well because I had high expectations and sometimes that’s not an advantage. I learned from that and for the Ecco Tour, I turned it into an advantage, I remained patient. Obviously I know everything about the course, I know the greens and I took advantage of that”.
When did you make a decision to move to Camiral Resort?
When I turned pro I wanted to find a place with good facilities to practice. And here I have everything. The driving range is huge, I can hit from the grass all year-round and there are plenty of putting greens, chipping greens and two great courses. Obviously the weather is very nice. And, together with my parents, we learned that there were houses and apartments for sale here. We started to look into it and made the decision to buy an apartment here for me.
How much time do your parents spend at the Resort?
They come about every two months to visit me or even for them to rest, get some sun, play some golf… My dad plays more golf, my mum not really but for her it’s just a good place, she can go to residents club and use the pool, go to the sea only 35 minutes away… Sometimes she comes with me to the course to watch me play and it’s nice.
And after one year living here, how would you describe life at Camiral Resort?
Obviously 95% of my time I’m on the golf course and then I go to my apartment so I don’t really go out that much. I play a lot of tournaments and I’m not here all the time, and when I’m here I am here to practice but it’s obviously a very nice place. Girona is a great city and I go to Barcelona sometimes which is very nice too, the mountains are only one hour away, there’re everything you can ask for. I’m sure for someone just to live here it’s really lovely. For me it’s more about the Golf.
And talking about the Golf…Stadium or Tour?
The Stadium course is a fantastic course, I love every hole. I’ve been in the US for 4 or 5 years and I’ve had the chance to play some of the best courses in the world and I would say this is one of the best courses in the world. But I also play the Tour course a lot because it’s a little bit easier but it’s still challenging. As I’m currently playing the Challenge Tour, most courses are not as hard as the Stadium course so for me it’s also good to play the Tour Course to get used to scoring lower numbers, to get some more birdies!