Denmark, England, Spain and Sweden Crowned 2017 European Team Champions

Denmark, England, Spain and Sweden Crowned 2017 European Team Champions

Spain wins the 2017 European Amateur Team Championship in Austria, England defends European Ladies’ team title in Portugal, Sweden wins girls’ gold in Finland and Denmark becomes European Boys’ Team Champion in Spain.

At the end of a long week of amateur golf at the highest level, four new teams have been crowned as European Champions. After two rounds of stroke play qualifying, the best teams competed over three days of match play. Each medal-contention match consisted of two foursomes in the morning followed by five singles in the afternoon, while consolation rounds were played for final positions with one fourseom and four singles.

At Diamond Country Club (CC) in Austria, Spain won European team gold for the fourth time since the inauguration in 1959. In an exciting final against England, the match was all-square after the morning foursomes, with England taking the first point and Spain taking the second on the first extra hole. After both teams earned two more points each from the singles matches, the championship was decided on the last hole by Adriá Arnaus, who was 1-up against Matthew Jordan going down the 18th hole. The Spaniard holed a 2-metre putt to halve the hole, winning his fifth point from six matches and securing the deciding point for his team. England’s Alfi Plant, the 2017 European Amateur Champion, also managed to win five of the six matches he played. Jesper Svensson, Sweden, was the third player to score five points this year, although his team lost 4 - 3 to Italy in the bronze medal match. The 2018 edition will be played at A-Rosa Scharmützelsee near Berlin, Germany.

The final day in Portugal was as tight as the Men's. Defending champions, England, faced Italy, who were attempting to win the trophy for the first time. England was off to a flying start winning both foursomes matches in the morning. Lianna Bailey, who was first out in the afternoon, went on to win her singles match leaving her team only one point short of victory with four matches still out on the course. The match was decided on the 18th hole when Italy’s Angelica Morseco, who was 1-down, lipped out for birdie leaving Gemma Clews two putts to halve the hole, win her fifth match of the week, and clinch the decisive point for her team. Alice Hewson also featured in England’s victory at the 2016 edition and picked up her second gold medal. Sophie Lamb, alongside Gemma Clews, was the only other player to remain undefeated in Flight A of the match play, helping her team to a record tenth victory in the European Ladies’ Team Championship.

Despite the disappointment of missing out on gold in the final, Italy’s silver medal marks their best-ever result, and first ever medal, in the European Ladies’ Team Championship.

The bronze medal match was won by Sweden over last year’s runners-up, Spain, by a score of 4½ - 2½. The 2018 championship will be played at GC Muhrhof in Austria.

In Finland, the Swedish girls’ team defeated defending champions Italy 5 ½ - 2 ½ to take home the gold. After several wins in individual ladies and girls’ events since the start of the year, the Swedish girls continued their fine form and demonstrated their current dominance in European girls’ golf. This year’s win is a record eighth European girls’ team title for Sweden. Third place was taken by England, who beat France 5-2 in the bronze medal match. England’s third-place finish was helped by Lily May Humphreys, who won five points for her team from a possible six. The 2018 Girls’ Team Championship will take place at Forsgårdens Golfklubb in Sweden.

At La Manga Club, Denmark put its name on the boys’ trophy for the third time. They denied the hosts, Spain, a victory on home soil, winning the match 4 - 3. Rasmus Højgaard won both his matches on the final day to help his team to victory and take his tally to four points for the week. Despite winning a silver medal, Alejandro Aguilera was the stand-out performer of the week with five wins from six matches. Italy took third place with a 4 ½ - 2 ½ victory in the bronze medal match over Sweden. The 2018 edition will be played at Golf Resort Kaskada Brno in the Czech Republic.

In Hungary, Finland, Portugal and the Netherlands earnt promotion to next year’s European Amateur Team Championship to be played at A-Rosa Scharmützelsee near Berlin. They will be replacing Belgium, Switzerland and Wales, who finished in the last three positions of the championship this year. Finland, who beat Portugal in the final of the Division 2 Championship 6 - 1, were helped by Aleksi Myllymaki and Sami Valimaki, who both won all four of their matches over two days.