Relmost began as a small enterprise with the aim of building the game of golf in the Czech Republic and beyond, and General Director David Trunda believes the experience of hosting the Challenge Tour has been crucial to their massive growth as they prepare for a first European Tour event next month.
The D+D Real Czech Masters takes place for the first time at Albatross Golf Resort in Prague from August 21-24, and the tournament will mark a culmination of hard work and dedication from the Relmost team, which has been strategically building their portfolio on Europe’s second tier.
The adventure began with the inaugural D+D Real Czech Challenge in 2012, which proved a massive success with Dane Andreas Hartø taking home the prize, and the Czech promoters – overseen by Chairman of the Board and main tournament sponsor Petr Dedek – have been making waves on the Challenge Tour ever since.
No wonder, then, that their journey will reach new heights this year with a maiden European Tour event, and as their latest Challenge Tour event – the inaugural D+D Real Slovakia Challenge - concludes this weekend, Trunda believes that the experience they have gained on the developmental tour has been pivotal to their success thus far.
“We have had three tournaments in the Czech Republic so far, this one in Slovakia is our fourth, and it has been great fun so far,” said Trunda. “We tried to build the project with these events and then get to The European Tour, which is coming in just over 35 days.
“All the steps have been taken and now the big part of the project is coming with the D+D Real Czech Masters. We are learning every day from the European Challenge Tour team and this is very important for us.
“We always planned to learn as much as possible with the support of the Challenge Tour team and try to get experience. Now we want to learn from The European Tour team as well and provide the best golfing experience for the Czech Republic.
“There has been a big gap of three years without a European Tour event in the Czech Republic and the Challenge Tour has been very positive for us in building towards this one. We want to involve more kids at the Czech Masters and bring out Interactive Family Zones to the event, bringing the game to young people.
“What we also want, along with Petr, is to bring the best platform for the Czech guys and the Slovak guys and give these players experience and this is the best way.
“It’s all about hard work, dedication and experience in this game and the Challenge Tour is the perfect place to learn these things. We hope we will get more local players making the cuts and progressing to show them what it takes on these tours.”
With Marek Novy becoming the first player to earn a Challenge Tour card last year, and other young Czech players showing promise, the game is certainly on an upward curve in the eastern European nation.
Trunda believes things will only get better, especially as his company continues to provide the perfect platform for young Czech players to succeed.
“They need to play Challenge Tour tournaments regularly,” he said. “We can provide that at Relmost as we manage many of the players. I personally think sooner or later we will have a new generation that will come through.
“The young guys are working really hard and they are showing great potential. They have good teams behind them and of course they need to see how good these guys are outside the Czech Republic, see that it’s not easy out here. It’s crucial they see the comparison.
“The Slovakian players who are now getting starts on the Challenge Tour are watching the players this week and it is very important they learn from these guys.
“Joel Sjöholm has been great for us this week, talking to the players and spending time with them, and also with the kids. It’s fantastic.
“It’s one big family here with Relmost, the Challenge Tour and European Tour and we hope all the players who play in our events see how important this project is and want to come back.
“We’re getting bigger step by step, we are growing as a company, have added some new staff and all the steps have been well planned. We want to achieve stable tournaments on the Challenge Tour and The European Tour.
“We hope it will be a very long project and we want to show the stability we have in this project, that it is a nice project to invest in to promote golf development in the Czech Republic.”
