European Amateur Team Championship (Diamond CC, Austria)
England, Italy, Sweden and Spain progressed to the semi-finals of the European Amateur Team Championship after the first day of match play.
First-placed stroke play qualifiers, England and eighth place qualifiers, France were tied at one point each after the two morning foursomes matches. It was a tight match until the end, with the scores level at three points each and one match left out on the course. French player, Frederic Lacroix, was one up with six holes to play against England’s Alfie Plant. However, the English 2017 European Amateur Champion managed to turn things around, winning the match by one hole and securing a spot in the semi-finals for England.
England will play Italy on the penultimate day, who beat Ireland by 4 ½ to 2 ½.
On the other side of the Flight A bracket, Sweden beat Scotland by four points to three, which was set in motion with victory in both morning foursomes matches. They will play Spain, who beat Denmark by four points to three, despite losing one of the morning’s foursomes matches on the 24th hole.
At the bottom of Flight B, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and Wales will now fight to avoid relegation to Division 2, after losing their matches today.
European Amateur Team Championship, Division 2 (Zala Springs Golf Resort, Hungary)
Finland and Portugal both tied at the top of the leaderboard following the two qualifying stroke play rounds on a one-under par total of 719 strokes. They finished 28 shots clear of third-placed Netherlands.
Michal Brezovsky, playing for Slovakia, led the individual rankings, finishing on a seven-under par total of 137.
Finland will play Serbia and Portugal the Netherlands in the match play semi-finals for the chance to gain promotion to the 2018 European Amateur Team Championship
European Ladies’ Team Championship (Montado Golf Resort, Portugal)
In Portugal, the top-four qualifying teams from the stroke play all won their matches to make it into the semi-finals.
Sweden beat Belgium by six points to one to progress to the semi-finals and will face defending champion, England, who beat Germany by four points to three in a tight match that came to a decision on the last hole.
Italy started their match well after winning both their foursomes matches in the morning. After Clara Manzalini, the best individual player in the stroke play qualification, had won her match against Zhen Bontan early (7&6) and Roberta Liti had defeated Roos Haarman 2&1, Italy was through to the semi-finals.
Italy will face Spain in the semi-final, who beat Denmark 4 ½ to 2 ½. Spain were playing against a strong Danish team, which took the first foursomes point. The second match was only decided for Spain after one extra hole. This left everything open for the afternoon. The first sinlges match was won by Spain, the second by Denmark, but with two further wins in the singles, the five-time champions from Spain kept their chance alive to lift the trophy for a sixth time.
European Boys’ Team Championship (La Manga Club, Spain)
In Spain, the top-four placed boys’ teams from the stroke play qualifying rounds have all also progressed to the semi-finals.
First place stroke play qualifiers and hosts, Spain, beat Ireland by five points to two to reach the semi-finals. Ignacio Montero, who tied for the lowest individual stroke play score, won both his morning foursomes and afternoon singles matches.
Spain will play fourth place qualifiers Italy, who beat Germany by four and a half to two and a half points.
In the other half of the draw, Denmark beat England by four points to three, earning them a semi-final match against Sweden. Sweden beat defending champions, France, by four and a half to two and a half points.
European Girls’ Team Championship (St. Laurence Golf, Finland)
In Finland, the top-four placed teams from the stroke play qualifying rounds all also won their matches on the third day of play.
Last year’s runners-up, Sweden, beat Germany by four points to three to earn a semi-final against France. Mathilde Claisse, who topped the individual stroke play scoring, won both her matches of the day to help the French team to a six to one victory over Denmark.
Lily May Humphreys, playing for England, won both her quarter-final matches by six holes to help her team to a six to one victory over the Netherlands. England will face defending champions, Italy, who progressed to the semi-finals after beating Spain by 4 ½ to 2 ½.
The Italian Teams have only won four European Team Championship titles in their history, but still have teams in all four semi-finals. The Swedish Teams, who have 22 European Team Championship Titles to their name, are the only other country with all four teams still in the competition this year.
For live scoring of the match play rounds, follow the link below:
