"That experience left a mark on me. Since then, I've been making the most of every moment and giving thanks for what I have, because at any moment it could end." These were the words of Jon Rahm when he recalled the punishment he was given in 2011. Jon was an amateur and the Spanish Golf Federation wanted to sanction the anger and bad gestures of the 16-year-old Spanish player by sending him to rake bunkers in an adapted golf tournament. His vision of sport and life changed forever.

That same feeling of being lucky is what remains with any mortal who had passed last weekend through the Encín Golf, a spectacular course on the outskirts of Alcalá de Henares, which was built at the time weighing in the Ryder Cup. Nearly 90 heroes without capes, but with golf clubs, competed for three days in the framework of the Daikin Madrid Open of Adapted Golf that celebrates its sixteenth edition, one of the most important initiatives developed every year by the Madrid Golf Federation.

Around the greens and fairways of El Encín, dozens of dramas, stories of overcoming, laughter, tears, impotence, but above all optimism have been intermingled. An ode to life through golf divided into five categories, where players without legs or arms, blind, paralyzed or even fighting against the cruel tremors of the relentless Parkinson's, have enjoyed three days of golf.

The Madrid stadium should have been full of stands, of spectators crowding each of these personal feats, but the spotlight is elsewhere. Only the volunteers and staff of the Madrid federation, as well as the autumn cold, accompanied each of these stories.

Mccormack

The American Paul McCormack, finally sixth after leading the first 18 holes, worked as a policeman in the New York department until after the 11/<> attacks on the Twin Towers left him blind due to being exposed to toxic elements during the rescue of the victims.

For his part, Alejandro de Miguel, blind due to congenital glaucoma, recognizes the importance of this sport in his life: "It has become my tool to be able to stay alive and discover the world." The winner of the British Open for the blind and other prestigious tournaments lost his sight before the age of 30. "I've learned a lot from people who are in the same circumstances as me," he reveals.

The Dominican Manuel de los Santos was a professional baseball player and hours before signing a contract for the major leagues, specifically the Toronto Blue Jays, cruel fate left him without a left leg after a motorcycle accident. In El Encín he finished seventh.

The drama is much more recent for Fernando Vega de Seoane: just over a year ago a skiing accident caused him a 'complete spinal cord injury'. "I managed to get on a paragolfer, it has been an engine of mental and physical recovery," he says about a kind of motorcycle to which he anchors his body and modulates his height to be able to gain verticality and thus hit the ball.

Carlos Cofrades has ended up lost in the mid-table positions, but he doesn't really care, at almost 50 years old he lives with Parkinson's and is clear about what is really important: "From being stuck in bed with depression to playing golf with your friends". This is their true victory.

There are many victories in this weekend tournament, although the numerical one corresponded to Juanele Postigo in tough competition with Cameroon's Issa Nlareb Amang. The Cantabrian is a player on the adapted DP World Tour circuit. He was born with a congenital malformation of his right leg. A disability that has not prevented him from succeeding in the world of golf and accumulating a new title this weekend with rounds of 76 and 73 shots.

Perhaps the most surprising story of the tournament is that of the Cameroonian, second placed, who was making his debut in this tournament. The player confessed that "his first link with golf was to take balls from the course to be able to sell them and eat". After becoming a caddie, Amang became the most promising golfer in sub-Saharan Africa, winning the Senegal Open and becoming the first golfer in that area to earn a card for the Alps Tour (third division of the European Tour).

His luck and career were cut short at a tournament in Egypt. A bacterium caused a very serious meningitis. "I only remember my last swing in Egypt, on the 9th hole, which was very good," the Cameroonian plays down the drama of his story, although he continues with the very harsh story: "I don't remember anything about the rest, I was in a coma for five days and I was dying, the only solution was to amputate." She had to be transferred to Belgium to have both her legs and eight fingers cut off, she only keeps the thumb and little finger of her right hand. "I just had to accept my circumstances, the world doesn't stop because you don't have legs or fingers, I learned not to give up and to enjoy life which is very beautiful," she says.

A week later he was back on the golf course and, as best he could, hit a ball. "I knew then that I would play again," he recalls. The Cameroonian got help with prosthetics and devised a system by tying his hands to hold the golf club. So much tenacity and sacrifice has paid off: Amang is handicap +2.8, the lowest of the entire competition this weekend. In addition, in 2021 he achieved one of golf's most impressive milestones: he returned to the Alps tour to compete with the pros again and, without legs or fingers, made the cut at the Ein Bay Open with rounds of 70 and 71 strokes and finished in 51st place. Since then, he hasn't made any more cuts, but his dreams remain intact. "My dream is to play the DP World Tour, I know it's complicated, but I fight every day for it," he concludes.

  • Jon Rahm