England challenges Germany for the title

Day four of the EBTC has been full of great golfsport moments. Most importantly the semi finals have found their victors. Germany beats Spain with an impressive 4,5:2,5. And England wins 4:3 against Sweden.

St. Leon-Rot. The hosting GC St. Leon-Rot has been the witness of two great semi finals, that ultimately lead to the duel for the crown of the European Boys Team Championship 2022. Many matches have been played on this sunny day, but only four teams were still in the race for the title. In the first semi final, Germany sweeps to a convincing victory, although things didn’t always look that clear: after the foursomes, the result was 1:1 - everything was evened out. The singles however turned into a show of force by the defending champions. 

Every point scored by the germans was achieved prematurely. And even the last match between Tim Wiedemeyer and Sergio Jiménez, which was called off due to the german win, was at that time led by the Munich based player. In the end, the result is 4,5:2,5 and Golf Team Germany proceeds to the final, where coach Herrmann and his team want to defend their title. Unfortunately for the german team, Peer Wernicke, who scored the decisive point during the quarter final, was sick.

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The second semi final was played between England and Sweden. The english team was able to score an early advantage as it retained both points from the foursomes. Both matches ended 3&2 for England. And the afternoon started exactly like the morning had ended: with a somewhat dominant english team. But: this semi final was not going to be a walk in the park. Team Sweden had other plans.

As the singles matured over the course of the afternoon, England scored another point with Harley Smith (ENG) derailing Vincent Stjernfeldt (SWE) with a dominant 7&6. But on the other hand, Sweden managed to find a good lead in two of the matches. And the Scandinavians reeled these points in: William Wistrand (SWE) beat Tyler Weaver (ENG) 2&1, after giving away an even higher lead. And Nils Svanberg (SWE) won against Josh Hill (ENG) 3&2. 

Things came down to the wire, as Filip Fahlberg-Johnsson (SWE) turned his match against Josh Berry. The Swedish player won hole 17 to even out the match for the first time in the round. And he took the momentum to also win the 18th hole. Suddenly the whole semi final was at 3:3. And there was only one last flight out on the course.

In this group, Frank Kennedy (ENG) was leading Albert Hansson (SWE) 1up with one last hole to go. Hansson was under pressure to win this last hole in order to force England into a playoff. But on the last green the Swede could not convert his will into deeds: even if his long putt of more than ten meters had dropped, Frank Kennedy still would need to miss his five foot putt. It was not to be. Kennedy, who has not lost a matchplay point so far, kept his lead and secured the decisive fourth point for Team England. 

The match for the gold medal will start at 08:32 o’clock from tee one. The match for third place will start right before that at 08:12 o'clock, with Spain and Sweden at the tee.

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