1997 European Amateur Team Championship

1997 European Amateur Team Championship
	Aerial View of Portmarnock Golf Club and peninsula
Tournament information
Dates	25–29 June 1997
Location	Dublin, Ireland; 53°24′25″N 6°07′26″W / 53.407°N 6.124°W
Course(s)	Portmarnock Golf Club, Championship Course
Organized by	European Golf Association
Format	Qualification round: 36 holes stroke play; Knock-out match-play
Statistics
Par	72
Length	7,097 yards (6,489 m)
Field	22 teams; 132 players
Champion
	Spain; Juan Carlos Agüero, Sergio García,; José Manuel Lara, Raúl Quirós,; Oscar Sanchez, Juan Vizcaya
	Qualification round: 785 (+65); Final match: 4.5–2.5
Location map
	Portmarnock GG Location in Europe Portmarnock GG Location on the British Isles Portmarnock GG Location in Ireland Portmarnock GG Location in the Dublin Area
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The 1997 European Amateur Team Championship took place 25–29 June at Portmarnock Golf Club in Portmarnock, County Dublin, 10 kilometres north-east of the city center of Dublin, Ireland. It was the 20th men's golf European Amateur Team Championship.

Venue

There were strong winds on the links course during the tournament.

Format

Each team consisted of six players, playing two rounds of an opening stroke-play qualifying competition over two days, counting the five best scores each day for each team.

The eight best teams formed flight A, in knock-out match-play over the next three days. The teams were seeded based on their positions after the stroke play. The first placed team were drawn to play the quarter-final against the eight placed team, the second against the seventh, the third against the sixth and the fourth against the fifth. Teams were allowed to use six players during the team matches, selecting four of them in the two morning foursome games and five players in to the afternoon single games. Games all square at the 18th hole were declared halved, if the team match was already decided.

The eight teams placed 9–16 in the qualification stroke-play formed flight B and the six teams placed 17–22 formed flight C, to play similar knock-out play, with one foursome game and four single games in each match, to decide their final positions.

Teams

A record number of 22 nation teams contested the event. Teams representing Croatia and Slovakia both took part in the championship for the first time. Each team consisted of six players.

Players in the leading teams

Country	Players
Denmark	Søren Hansen, Klaus Molholm, Christian Kjaergaard, Lars Storm, Mads Vibe-Hastrup, Peter Thomsen
England	Matthew Blackey, Matt Carver, Justin Rose, Shaun Webster, Robert Wiggins, Gary Wolstenholme
France	Olivier David, Grégory Havret, François Illouz, Georges Plumet, Christophe Ravetto, Fabrice Stolear
Germany	Florian Bruhns, Tobias Dier, Felix Lubenau, Philip Neels, Benjamin Schlichting, Stephan Wittkop,
Iceland	Kristinn Bjarnarsson, Thorsteinn Hallgrimsson, Örn Aevar Hjartarsson, Thordur Olafsson, Björgvin Sigurbergsson, Björgvin Thorstensson
Ireland	Richard Coughlan, Jody Fanagan, Noel Fox, Peter Lawrie, Garth McGimpsey, Keith Nolan
Netherlands	Marten van den Berg, Rutger Buschow, Niels Kraay, Maarten Lafeber, Ralph Miller, Vincent Rotenburg
Scotland	Michael Brooks, Alastair Forsyth, Barclay Howard, Graham Rankin, Craig Watson, Steven Young
Spain	Juan Carlos Agüero, Sergio García, José Manuel Lara, Raúl Quirós, Oscar Sanchez, Juan Vizcaya
Sweden	Joachim Bäckström, Mattias Eliasson, Peter Hanson, Daniel Olsson, Henrik Stenson, Jonas Torines
Wales	Jamie Donaldson, Nigel Edwards, David Park, Mark Smith, Yestin Taylor, Mark Pilkington

Other participating teams

Country
Austria
Belgium
Croatia
Czech Republic
Estonia
Finland
Italy
Norway
Portugal
Slovakia
Switzerland

Winners

The host nation Ireland won the opening 36-hole competition, with a 39-over-par score of 759, 24 strokes ahead of defending champions Scotland on 2nd place, while the difference between the 2nd and 8th placed teams were 17 strokes. Four of the Irish players finished within the top nine individually. For the first time since 1975, eight-time-winners England, with future professional major-winner Justin Rose in the team, did not make it to the quarter-finals, finishing ninth.

There was no official award for the lowest individual score, but individual leader was Keith Nolan, Ireland, with a 7-over-par score of 149, one stroke ahead of fellow country man Noel Fox.

In the windy conditions on the second day of the stroke-play competition, 109 players in the 132-man-field failed to broke 80, including future European Tour winners Henrik Stenson, Søren Hansen, Sergio Garcia, Maarten Lafeber, Peter Hanson, Grégory Havret, Jamie Donaldson and Martin Wiegele.

Team Spain won the gold medal, earning their first title, beating defending champions team Scotland in the final 4.5–2.5.

Host nation Ireland earned the bronze on third place, after beating Sweden 5.5–1.5 in the bronze match.

Results

Qualification round

Team standings

Place	Country	Score	To par
1	Ireland	375-384=759	+39
2	Scotland	380-403=783	+63
3	Sweden	387-397=784	+64
4	Spain	387-398=785	+65
5	Germany	385-408=793	+73
6	Denmark	391-403=794	+74
7	Iceland	396-402=798	+78
8	Netherlands	398-402=800	+80
9	England	397-406=803	+83
T10	Wales *	400-404=804	+84
T10	France	392-412=804	+84
12	Finland	393-414=807	+87
13	Italy	395-413=808	+88
14	Belgium	401-410=811	+91
15	Norway	402-411=813	+93
16	Austria	407-426=833	+113
17	Switzerland	414-420=834	+114
18	Portugal	421-432=853	+133
19	Czech Republic	441-446=887	+167
20	Estonia	465-468=933	+213
21	Croatia	490-505=995	+275
22	Slovakia	516-539=1055	+335

* Note: In the event of a tie the order was determined by the best total of the two non-counting scores of the two rounds.

Individual leaders

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
1	Keith Nolan	Ireland	70-79=149	+5
2	Noel Fox	Ireland	76-74=150	+6
T3	Peter Lawrie	Ireland	75-76=151	+7
T3	Raul Quiros	Spain	75-76=151	+7
T5	Tobias Dier	Germany	77-77=154	+10
	Alastair Forsyth	Scotland	75-79=154
	Mikko Manerus	Finland	74-80=154
	Garth McGimpsey	Ireland	78-76=154
	Jonas Torines	Sweden	77-77=154

Note: There was no official award for the lowest individual score.

Flight A

Bracket

Quarter finals		Semi finals		Final



Scotland	5.5

Iceland	1.5
		Scotland	4.5

		Sweden	2.5
Sweden	5

Denmark	2
				Spain	4.5

				Scotland	2.5
Spain	4.5

Germany	2.5
		Spain	4.5

		Ireland	2.5	Bronze match
Ireland	6

Netherlands	1
				Ireland	5.5

				Sweden	1.5

Elimination matches		Match for 5th place



Denmark	4.5

Iceland	2.5
		Netherlands	4

		Denmark	3
Netherlands	5.5

Germany	1.5
		Match for 7th place



		Germany	5

		Iceland	2

Final games

Spain	Scotland
4.5	2.5
S. Garcia / O. Sanchez 3 & 2	G. Rankin / C. Watson
J.M. Lara / R. Quiros	B. Howard / S. Young 2 & 1
Sergio Garcia	Steven Young 7 & 6
Oscar Sanchez AS *	Graham Rankin AS *
Juan Carlos Aguero 1 hole	Michael Brooks
Raul Quiros 1 hole	Alastair Forsyth
José Manuel Lara 2 & 1	Craig Watson

* Note: Game declared halved, since team match already decided.

Flight B

First round elimination matches

England	Austria
4	1

Finland	Italy
3	2

France	Belgium
4	1

Wales	Norway
5	0

Second round elimination matches

France	Wales
4	1

England	Finland
4	1

Norway	Belgium
3	2

Austria	Italy
3.5	1.5

Match for 15th place

Belgium	Italy
3	2

Match for 13th place

Norway	Austria
3	2

Match for 11th place

Wales	Finland
3	2

Match for 9th place

France	England
4	1

Flight C

First round elimination matches

Estonia	Croatia
4	1

Czech Republic	Slovakia
5	0

Second round elimination matches

Switzerland	Estonia
4.5	0.5

Portugal	Czech Republic
5	0

Match for 21st place

Croatia	Slovakia
5	0

Match for 19th place

Czech Republic	Estonia
5	0

Match for 17th place

Switzerland	Portugal
3	2

Final standings

Place	Country
	Spain
	Scotland
	Ireland
4	Sweden
5	Netherlands
6	Denmark
7	Germany
8	Iceland
9	France
10	England
11	Wales
12	Finland
13	Norway
14	Austria
15	Belgium
16	Italy
17	Switzerland
18	Portugal
19	Czech Republic
20	Estonia
21	Croatia
22	Slovakia

Sources:^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]

References

^ Jansson, Anders (2004). Golf - Den stora sporten [Golf - The great sport] (in Swedish). Swedish Golf Federation. pp. 188–190. ISBN 91-86818007. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
^ "EM herrar" [Men's European Championship]. Svensk Golf (in Swedish). No. 8. August 1997. pp. 88, 92. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
^ "Mannschafts-Europameisterschaften" (PDF). golf.de, German Golf Federation. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 November 2021. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
^ "European Amateur Team Championship Results, 1997 - Portmarnock GC, Ireland". European Golf Association. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
^ Crockett, Scott (26 June 1997). "Scotland's Young refuses to be blown off course at Portmarnock, Irish out in front as new boys fail to master wind". The Herald. p. 17. Retrieved 13 April 2021.

External links

European Golf Association: Full results

[1] Jansson, Anders (2004). Golf - Den stora sporten [Golf - The great sport] (in Swedish). Swedish Golf Federation. pp. 188–190. ISBN 91-86818007. Retrieved 22 March 2021.

[2] "EM herrar" [Men's European Championship]. Svensk Golf (in Swedish). No. 8. August 1997. pp. 88, 92. Retrieved 13 April 2021.

[3] "Mannschafts-Europameisterschaften" (PDF). golf.de, German Golf Federation. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 November 2021. Retrieved 13 April 2021.

[4] "European Amateur Team Championship Results, 1997 - Portmarnock GC, Ireland". European Golf Association. Retrieved 13 April 2021.

[5] Crockett, Scott (26 June 1997). "Scotland's Young refuses to be blown off course at Portmarnock, Irish out in front as new boys fail to master wind". The Herald. p. 17. Retrieved 13 April 2021.

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