MADRID, Spain – Jan. 26, 2004 – Where Ignacio Cruz is from, golf means Seve Ballesteros and Jose Maria Olazabal and Miguel Jimenez and Sergio Garcia. In a modest way, Ignacio wants to make an impact on a game that is ranked third, at best, among Spain's sports.
He'll start by planting the seed that is LeaderBoard of Madrid, to score golf tournaments in a way they've never been scored in Spain, and he hopes that seed will grow the way golf has since Ballesteros became a clubhouse name more than 25 years ago by winning the British Open.
"Right now, I would take the whole of Spain!" laughs Ignacio. "My idea is to start small with the Madrid area, to focus there and then extend this and be LeaderBoard of Spain."
Ignacio and his wife, Elena Torres, will operate the 22nd office of LTS LeaderBoard, and the first in Europe. That means Spanish golfers will be treated to playing in tournaments scored the LeaderBoard way: scannable scorecards, proprietary multimedia software and a presentation of scores - and more - that is pure entertainment.
For Ignacio and Elena, it begins with Madrid. "In Madrid and the surrounding area, there are 18 good courses," he says. "In Spain, about 260. I'll see what happens, but I would like to do this in Year Two or Year Three."
Unlike many of his colleagues in North America and Australia, he expects to work more corporate tournaments than charity. "Maybe I think that way because of my background," explains the 37-year-old second-generation financial expert, who spent more than a decade in the credit risk industry. "Maybe 80-20 corporate, not counting member tournaments."
After graduating from Universidad Pontifica Comillas (ICADE E-1) with a BA in Law, Cruz spent two years at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, earning a Masters in Business Administration. It was there that he fell in love with golf, but also with the idea of being an entrepreneur, passions that have now converged as LeaderBoard of Madrid.
"I played more there than afterwards," this high-handicapper says of his Wake Forest years. "Since there are not so many golf courses in Spain, it was tougher. And I was in the corporate world, so you had to play on weekends. There were other things you had to do on weekends so you cannot afford to spend four hours on the golf course."
Professionally, Elena complements Ignacio's skills and, like him a lawyer, she has also quit a good job (Telefonica) to operate the LeaderBoard franchise.
"She is probably better than me at how to really get to know the people," says Cruz. "She has that sixth sense. Yes, people skills, not so much in being friendly but in understanding people, knowing what everything is about."
Indirectly, he found LeaderBoard at Wake Forest. He bought Entrepreneur magazine and after returning to Spain, subscribed to it. That led him to Entrepreneur's website, to LeaderBoard's website and eventually to Las Vegas for the company's annual convention.
Ignacio explains it this way: "So I asked: 'Why can I not do this?' It was now or never, and Elena supported me: 'Let's do it!' I had a well-paid corporate job. I left not because I wasn't well-paid, not because I had a boring job, not because I wanted to be my own boss. It was not because of all that. In this job, I'm going to have a better life. It is not all about money. It's also what you like to do. If I could make $2 million and be stressed out, I would not like it. Right now, I'm starting to feel like LeaderBoard is part of me. I am now proud of putting the LeaderBoard logo on my shirt."
It's a logo that he and Elena are anxious to share with the golf world in Spain.
Media Contact:
Ignacio Cruz
+34 629 13 85 01
Gerry Lev, President
LTS LeaderBoard
604-468-2211 (ext. 103)
