Sunny start for the boys competition

The sun is shining bright and clear above GC St. Leon-Rot, as the annual European Boys Team Championship is commencing. On the first day of the strokeplay qualification, Team England steps into the lead.

St. Leon-Rot. It is July 5th and everything is set for the start of one of the most prestigious youth golf events. Host of this years European Boys Team Championship (EBTC) is the well-respected GC St. Leon-Rot, that is known to many of the participants as the host of the annual German Boys and Girls Open. GC St. Leon-Rot also hosted the 2015 Solheim Cup and the accompanying PING Junior Solheim Cup.

>>> Pictures of Day One

The club offers an unmatched infrastructure including flood light practice areas, a fitness center exclusively for athletes and extensive social facilities. But most importantly GC St. Leon-Rot offers two state-of-the-art championship courses. Marcus Neumann, sports director of the DGV, is glad to host the event: “It is a big pleasure for us to welcome Europe’s most promising under age amateur players to one of the best golf courses on the continent. It is not uncommon to see future major winners with stunning performances at a European Team Championship. With GC St. Leon-Rot we have an experienced partner, who provides a very well prepared and challenging course.“ 

The 18 teams are playing on the St. Leon course. It is designed in a links style manner and is remindful of courses in Scotland or Ireland: sandy soil, many water hazards and beautifully shaped sand traps. Roughs and semi roughs will be higher than usual and the greens will be hard and fast. Precision is key, if one wants to score low. And the 108 boys will find out over the next five days. 

On the first day of the strokeplay qualification, the sun has drenched southwestern Germany and as the weather is said to stay hot and dry, physical fitness will likely play a vital role over the coming days. As always, the tournament is made up of two parts. The first part is the strokeplay qualification, during which two rounds will be played. After that, the tournament changes into a matchplay mode. The best eight teams of the strokeplay phase will proceed to Flight A. And only the teams in this flight will continue to fight for the title. All other teams will play for rank nine and downwards.

England in the lead

The German boys are starting as the defending champions and they are literally playing on home turf, as St. Leon-Rot is their home base. Nevertheless, Team England stepped into the lead on this first day of the competition. All five of their counted results are below par, with Harley Smith leading the team with 66 strokes (-6). England’s total after day one is 343 strokes (-17). Sweden and the Czech Republic share second place with 350 strokes (-10). 

Just like the English team, Sweden has managed to keep all counted results below par. And in the Czech team, Louis Klein and Matej Baca have been able to also score a 66 - tying Harley Smith for the best individual round. Furthermore, all teams down to ninth place have managed to keep their team score below par. 

The second day of the tournament will again start at 07:30 o’clock local time. It will bring the first very important results, that will effect the further course of the tournament.