The 2022 European Team Shield Championships have been completed at Pannónia Golf & Country Club in Hungary. The competition features four-player teams from developing golf nations who have not participated in this year’s Division 1 or 2 European Team Championships.
The ladies’ event had 10 teams competing to claim the title while the men’s event had 11 teams competing for their respective title.
LADIES
Turkey was declared the winner of the 2022 European Ladies’ Team Shield Championship.
The Turkish ladies had taken pole position after the stroke play qualifying, earning the top seed. They faced team Greece in the semi-finals where they first lost the foursomes match which only seemed to motivate them even stronger for the singles. Turkish Zeynep Suolp imposed herself in the first single match by beating her opponent, Chara Aspetaki, 6&4. The outcome of the match would then be decided with the second single match which went on to a play-off on the 19th where Turkish Sude Boy finally defeated her opponent Paraveski Vergou.
Team Turkey then faced team Ukraine, who finished second in the stroke play qualifying round, in Saturday's final. Turkey kept their foursomes pairing allowing them to get a revenge on their loss of the day before. Turkish Deniz Kaya and Deniz Sapmaz imposed themselves by winning 4&2. Team Ukraine then won the point of the first single match thanks to Elvira Rastvortseva who defeated Sude Boy on the 18th to draw the score level.
The winner of the 2022 European Ladies’ Team Shield would then be decided on the second and last singles match opposing Zeynep Suolp to Maria Fedorowycz. The match went up to the 18th hole where Turkey was 1 up at the tee, but Ukrainian Fedorowycz scored a putt to win the hole back and therefore lead the match to a play-off. It was then on the 19th green that Turkish Suolp defeated her opponent by making a solid par and helping her team claim the 2022 European Ladies Team Shield Champion title and trophy.
MEN
Greece is the 2022 European Men’s Team Shield Champion.
The Greek team made an impressive comeback after they finished 6th in the stroke play qualifying round. Facing Hungary in the quarter finals, the host nation won the first point of the foursomes pairing. Team Greece then came back by winning both the singles matches and qualifying themselves for the semi-finals.
In the semi-finals, the Greek team was playing against team Turkey who also claim the first point of the foursome’s match. A situation of déjà vu for team Greece who already had learned from the day before and knew how to keep their calm in order to perform during the singles matches. Greek Christos Pantazidis first defeated his opponent Turkish Can Gurdenli by winning 2&1. Then, Panagiotis Pantazopoulos struggled hard to go on to the 19th hole and imposed himself over his opponent Ibrahim Tarik Aslan.
Team Greece would then face the number-one seed in the stroke play qualifier, Malta, in the finals. Malta finished second last year and was motivated to claim the trophy for this edition.
The final was a very tight match with impressive golf from both teams. The first point was won by team Malta in the first singles match, where Laurens Schulze Doering beat his opponent Christos Pantazidis 3&2. The second single match was won by Greek player Panagiotis Pantazopoulos who defeated Andrew Borg 3&2. The outcome of the match would all be decided by the foursomes’ pairings.
This time, the Greek foursome pairing, composed of Vasileios Koumpakis and Alexandros Palatsidis (same pairing for all match play rounds), wanted to redeem their previous defeats in the quarter & semi-finals. The foursomes match was all square after 18 holes and went to a play-off. Both teams made a solid par on the 19th to continue the match. It was then on the 20th hole where the Greek pairing made a strong putt for par. The Malta foursome pairing, Ruud Critien and JJ Micallef Vereist, then missed their par putt which awarded the title to team Greece.
