The 2021 CPG Annual Congress

A Week of Growth and Collaboration

The CPG Annual Congress brings together the organisation’s Member Countries, businesses, many golf stakeholders and other industry experts together to create one of the most valuable weeks in the calendar year for business networking, collaboration, education and sharing of ideas and good practice.

ABOVE: The victorious PGA of Holland team represented by (L-R) Ralph Miller, Mark Reynolds and Ruben Wechgelaer.

ABOVE RIGHT: ITC Team Shield winners PGA of Slovakia, represented by (L-R) Peter Svajlen, Juraj Zvarik and Martin Tavoda. As a mainstay and flagship event on the CPG calendar, the hosting of the CPG Annual Congress, combined with the International Team Championship provides a monumental opportunity for PGAs, Federations, Partners and other leading golf stakeholders to come together to meet and discuss the state of play within their respective territories.

In recent years, the Annual Congress has seen delegates from across the world travel to incredible locations including Turkey, Greece and Portugal. For attendees, the event provides them with an opportunity to reflect back on what they and their organisations have achieved over the past year, whilst also having the chance to forge valuable relationships with some of the most important individuals and businesses in golf.

Further adding to the week’s value is the fact that PGAs and CPG Commercial Partners, both big and small, meet on a level playing field. No matter size, territory or objective, the Annual Congress is an opportunity for companies and PGAs alike to work together and learn from each other. The event creates a space for individual views and experiences to be expressed and it provides a medium for constructive challenge and debate to be fostered. The result? A more united and collaborative effort across the CPG’s network and in turn, a platform is developed for future growth and success.

As we approach the remaining few months of 2021, we can begin to look forward to another hugely important staging of the CPG Annual Congress, when it returns to the venue of the 2019 event - Penina Hotel & Golf Resort, in the Algarve region of Portugal.

As important as the business side of affairs is during the week, there is also the small matter of the International Team Championship to be contested! The ITC sees teams from across its 43 Member Countries to compete over 54 holes. Running simultaneously with the ITC is the

International Team Shield, which looks to ensure smaller and emerging member PGAs (signified by a membership size of 100 PGA professionals or fewer) compete alongside the larger PGAs in the ITC.

Here’s a refresher on what happened in the last edition of the event…

International Team Championship 2019

The 2019 Annual Congress and International Team Championship (ITC) took place at Penina Hotel & Golf Resort from 2-5 December 2019.

Running alongside the Annual Congress, the ITC saw teams from across the CPG’s member countries battle it out on the Penina’s Championship Course, dubbed ‘The Home of Portuguese Golf’.

After three days of fierce competition, it was the PGA of Holland who emerged victorious in the main event, with a commanding fourshot victory. A scintillating final round from their neighbours at the PGA of Belgium was not enough to claw back the deficit, and they finished runners-up alongside the PGA of Italy.

At the start of the day only one stroke separated PGA of Holland professionals Ralph Miller, Mark Reynolds and Ruben Wechgelaer from their nearest rivals, the PGA of Italy. However, they put the experience of coming up short in the previous year’s tournament to good use, as they combined composure with a strong game plan to move clear in the final round, taking victory on the Algarve with a fantastic score of -13.

The Shield was a slightly tighter affair as the PGA of Slovakia edged to a two-shot victory over Poland, to claim the title for the first time in their history.

The title seemed destined to be a two-horse race between the PGA of Poland and the PGA of Greece, only for Slovakia, represented by Juraj Zvarik (Captain), Martin Tavoda and Peter Svajlen – to put together a sensational -5 final round and overtake both for victory, finishing at +4.