The top golf and maritime institution, the Greek Maritime Golf Event, which has emerged in recent years as the best golf event in Greece and Cyprus, returned on September 7-10, 2023, at Costa Navarino, Messinia bringing together once again top executives of the global and Greek maritime industry.
Two days full of golf
For the 9th year, the Greek Maritime Golf Event offered unique moments and experiences at the two signature 18-hole courses The Dunes Course and The Bay Course, in an idyllic landscape full of centuries-old olive trees with a stunning view of the Ionian Sea, the historic bay of Navarino and the picturesque port of Pylos.
With amazing weather, on Friday, September 8, participants took part in a shotgun scramble at The Bay Course, while on Saturday, September 9, the golfing action moved to The Dunes Course for another shotgun scramble.
In addition, the event took care of non-golfers who had the opportunity to attend the Golf Clinic and learn the basics of the Olympic sport at The Dunes Course.
photo by Dimitris Tosidis
All together for a good cause
The Greek Maritime Golf Event is a tournament with great social work every year. This year, the top golf event supported Parents Association of Children with Cancer “Floga”. More specifically, during this year’s award ceremony to the winners, on Saturday, September 9, attendees had the opportunity to directly contribute the amount they wished by taking part in raffles for significant lottery prizes. The total amount collected was given to Floga, which stands by children suffering from cancer and their families, fights for better medical, mental, and social care for them, shares their fears and concerns, supports their struggle in any way possible, and vindicates substantial presence in issues relevant to the medical, mental, and social care of these children. The Auction Partners who contributed with rich gifts to the implementation of the lottery were Miele, Costa Navarino, The Margi, Tsikeli Boutique Hotel Meteora, Iliada Sunset Suites, Namaste Boutique Apartments, Marmari Bay Hotel, Semeli Estate, Ogarden Suites, Grand Meteora Hotel, Platanos Steakhouse.
Side activities
On Friday, September 8, the event greeted its participants at the Welcome Cocktail by Marine Tours, under lounge saxophone music. The people were welcomed by Mr. Konstantinos Oikonomou, CEO of Marine Tours Group, the leading travel organization in Southeastern Europe, with a long tradition of covering the professional travel needs of the maritime community (Marine & Offshore Travel). Marine Tours company traditionally supports the event and embraces its actions every year, as well as its charitable purpose.
During this event, guests had the opportunity to enjoy the unique cocktails of Grey Goose and the wide selection of wines, from the whole variety of Oreinos Helios, of the top Greek winery from Nemea Semeli Estate, by chilled in the wine cooler of Miele, which keeps the wines at the ideal temperature.
photo by Dimitris Tosidis
A Unique Golf Experience
The Greek Maritime Golf Event’s production team made sure to provide a rich golfing experience throughout the tournament. The specially trained team of Miele Hellas was present at the golf courses offering freshly ground coffee, from beans of its own production and coffee machines with the ability to identify the user, for the best result, as well as tasty creations such as pizzas, German-style toast with syglino from Mani and sfela from Messinia, cheese pies and chicken pies with handmade phyllo, with the signature of Miele’s Chef. At the same time, all participants began their day with a breakfast starting kit containing nuts, dried fruits, breadsticks, and pasteli from Miele as well as unique sugar-free cereal bars from Daily Deli. At the food and beverage stations, all players enjoyed the authentic Greek cuisine with unique Greek souvlaki and fresh fruits from Messinia from Poseidonia Restaurant, exquisite products such as turkey, and authentic pastourma from Miran, they were hydrated with Minoa Water, the first Greek bottled water in environmentally friendly recyclable paper packaging, they drank ready-made refreshing Bombay Sapphire Gin & Tonic cocktails and the unique Messinian beer NEMA Beer, and tasted the Messinian juice made from natural ingredients Athi Rodi. The golfers used Messinian Spa sunscreens rich in natural ingredients, based on Kalamata olive oil, for their protection from the sun and had the opportunity to try the excellent selection of Habanos cigars at the cigar station that had been set up. Finally, Miele sponsored the event’s Hole-In-One award with a gift of great value.
In the context of this year’s event, the recognized Greek PGA golfer and organizer of the Greek Maritime Golf Event, Mr. Thanos Karantzias, stated: “It is my great pleasure and honor to see the maritime community growing every year, always standing by us all these nine years and continue to support our actions and work. It gives us the strength to continue and leads this top institution even higher. The players showed their enthusiasm through golf for another year, lived unique moments at the Costa Navarino signature golf courses, and practically contributed to the important social work carried out by ‘Floga’. I would like to sincerely thank all the sponsors and partners who helped make this tournament possible. We are renewing our appointment for the 10th anniversary year, a milestone in the history of the event, with even more experiences and surprises for everyone”.
The winning team of Heard, Papadopoulou, John Gallagher with Mr. Theo Xenakoudis Chief Commercial Officer / Managing Director, Piraeus-Greece της IRI/The Marshall Islands Registry (photo by Dimitris Tosidis / Greek Maritime Golf Event)
The winners
In the overall team standings, the team of Heard, Papadopoulou, and John Gallagher won the 1st place. The first-place team was awarded by Mr. Theo Xenakoudis Chief Commercial Officer / Managing Director, Piraeus-Greece of IRI/The Marshall Islands Registry, internationally recognized for its outstanding customer service and high-quality fleet. Second place went to the team of Oikonomou, Angelakis, Tziotis, Sorotos, while the team of Chiotopoulos, Kanellakis, Dalakouras, Vezlihvtsev took the third place. In the other categories, two more special awards were given. Specifically, George Manouilidis won the “Closest to the Pin” award and Taxiarchis Vezlihvtsev the “Longest Drive” award. The winning teams were given premium bottles of Grey Goose, magnum delear bottles of Semeli Estate, and Bombay bottles, while all the winners were given rich Messinian Spa gifts. The “Closest to the Pin” winner received the collectible Miele Riedel glassware collection and the “Longest Drive” winner a club from Handy Chart.
photo by Dimitris Tosidis
Significant companies embraced the event
Greek Maritime Golf Event was attended by some of the most significant maritime companies from Greece and Cyprus, and many other important Greek companies that supported the event.
IRI/The Marshall Islands Registry was the event’s Platinum Sponsor.
Mainline Shipping Company was the event’s Gold Sponsor.
Aegean Baltic Bank, Arrow Hellas, DNV, Marine Tours, and Swift Marine were the event’s Silver Sponsors.
Miele was the Official Sponsor.
All transportation was carried out with absolute safety by the event’s Logistics Partner DHL.
Poseidonia Restaurant and Grey Goose were the Official Supporters.
The pioneer in technical sportswear Under Armour, was the Official Clothing Partner, which dressed all participants and the production team in the event’s official t-shirt.
Messinian Spa was the event’s Official Beauty Partner.
Minoa Water was the event’s Official Water.
Karalis Beach Hotel, which offers luxury and comfort overlooking the historic Navarino Bay, as well as Miran, Athi Rodi, Daily Deli, NEMA Beer, and Semeli Estate were the event’s Partners.
The award-winning production company Boo Productions was the Audio Visual Partner.
photo by Dimitris Tosidis
The event was held under the auspices of the Ministry of Tourism.
Greek Maritime Golf Event was organized by Birdie Events, through an initiative of the recognized Greek PGA golfer, Mr. Thanos Karantzias. The Sports Marketing Agency of the Year ActiveMedia Group undertook the event’s Golf Production.
The golf tournament was exclusively addressed to distinguished executives of the maritime industry.
