The race to qualify for the 2025 European Junior Ryder Cup team is well underway with the third counting events now complete for both boys and girls.
Six players will automatically earn their spots on the 12-player European team - set to take on the USA this September - through a season-long ranking system organised by the European Golf Association.
The French International Junior Championships, also known as the Carlhian (boys U18) and Esmond (girls U21) Trophies, held over Easter weekend, served as the latest counting events in the qualification race for Team Europe.
European Junior Ryder Cup Rankings - Update 3 (.pdf)
Despite missing the third counting event, Hugo Le Goff (FRA) maintained his lead in the Boys’ ranking thanks to his breakthrough win in the Spanish International Amateur Championship last month.
The Netherlands’ Björn Driessen has moved up one position to second after reaching the round of 16 of the Carlhian Trophy, but it was Charlie Rusbridge that emerged as the last man standing in the prestigious international boys’ event.
The English player finished third in the stroke play qualifying at Golf du Prieuré before cruising to the quarter-finals with 5&4 and 6&5 wins.
His next two matches en route to the final would be much tighter however, with 1up wins against both Kuan Zhou (USA) and Louis Le Sager (FRA) to set up a 36-hole final with Matous Zach (CZE).
Two rounds weren’t enough to separate the pair, with the English player ultimately claiming victory on the 41st hole of the day. The win vaults him from 15th to third in the Boys’ Ranking.
Louise Uma Landgraf (FRA) continues to lead the Girls’ Ranking. The winner of the first counting event of the season in Portugal reached the final four in the French International Girls’ U21 Championship at Golf de Saint-Cloud. The winner of the second event, Nagore Martinez (ESP), moved into second in the ranking after reaching the last-16.
But it was 15-year-old Alice Kong who lifted the Esmond trophy in Paris. The French junior tied for the lowest score in the qualifying stages but narrowly avoided a loss to Germany’s Sofia Maier-Borst in the opening match play round, winning on the third extra hole.
Comfortable wins in the round of 16 and quarter-finals set up a semi-final with Liz Siyu Hao Zhang (ESP). Another tight match would see Kong progress to the final after 21 holes, where she defeated Guia Vittoria Acutis (ITA) 5&4 to claim the title.
Having previously represented the Continent of Europe in the Junior Vagliano Trophy and Team Europe at the Junior Solheim Cup, Kong has now strengthened her bid to qualify for another European team this year. Her win pushes her up to 3rd from 9th in the Girls’ Ranking.
Formerly second in the Girls’ Ranking, Sara Brentcheneff wasn’t in the field for the Esmond Trophy. But, after two strong finishes in the opening tournaments, she remains in the mix and is well-positioned to return toward the top-three in the coming championships.
The next events for both boys and girls will be the junior German International Amateur Championships, set to take place at Golf Club Bad Saarow from 15 to 17 May.
ABOUT THE JUNIOR RYDER CUP
Six boys and six girls will take on the United States in New York from September 23-25, 2025, with the first two days of the Junior Ryder Cup being played at Nassau Country Club before the decisive singles matches are held at Bethpage Black, the Ryder Cup venue, on the eve of the 45th edition of the biennial contest between Europe and the United States.
Three boys and three girls will earn a place on the European Junior Ryder Cup team through a season-long ranking system, which has been organised by the European Golf Association, while the remaining six players will be selected by Stephen Gallacher, the European Junior Ryder Cup Captain.
Players will earn points for the Rankings based on their finishing position in selected elite amateur events in 2025 and these points will be allocated using the World Amateur Golf Ranking system. The qualification process will end following The R&A Girls’ and Boys’ Amateur Championships on August 16, 2025.
Boys and girls who are citizens of a European country as defined by the International Golf Federation’s Nationality Policy by no later than January 1, 2025, under 18 years of age on January 1, 2025, have not represented a non-European country in an international golf competition during 2025, and who are not enrolled at, or committed to attend, a college in the USA during 2025 are eligible to participate in the 2025 Junior Ryder Cup.
The Junior Ryder Cup has produced a plethora of golfing stars and once again in 2025 the best male and female junior amateurs from Europe and the USA go head-to-head in the mixed event.
Rory McIlroy, Nicolai Højgaard and Nicolas Colsaerts, the 2023 European Ryder Cup Vice-Captain, all triumphed in the junior event before also winning the Ryder Cup, while Suzann Pettersen, Carlota Ciganda and Emily Kristine Pedersen succeeded as amateurs before lifting the Solheim Cup.
