It’s been a European weekend to remember for England Girls who won their first European Girls’ Team Championship in 19 years at Gothenburg’s Golf Club in Sweden.
The Girls reached the match play stages of the competition, defeating Denmark 5-2 and Italy 4-3 to reach Saturday’s final, and despite being 2-0 down to Germany after the morning foursomes, the Girls were in scintillating form to win four of their five singles matches in the afternoon, to seal a 4.5-2.5 win.
Assistant Women’s & Girls’ Performance Manager India Clyburn said: “The team clearly played well all week but the highlight has to be the comeback on the final day. From losing both foursomes to going on to win in the final, it took immense steeliness and self-belief, and an ability to hit great shots under big pressure. It was even more impressive as our original flight to Finland was cancelled so we only had one practice round heading into the competition! The Girls are now part of history and have shown future teams that England can win at this level.
“It’s now five gold medals for the female programme in the last seven years of European Championships that England have competed in. This is an incredible achievement and one that England Golf should be very proud of. We have a world-class coaching team and we can’t thank them enough for everything they do to support these performances and the development of these young women.” Check out the Girls’ results here.
The Boys’ team also had a great weekend after picking up a silver medal in the European Boys’ Team Championship at Diamond Club in Austria. They beat Finland 4.5-2.5 and Sweden 4-1 (due to a reduced competition because of inclement weather), before being beaten 3.5-1.5 by France in the final. Check out the Boys’ results here.
Men’s Performance Manager Stephen Burnett said: “It’s another fantastic European campaign for the Boys, three medals in three years now post-covid, after several years before that since earning a top-three spot. It also means it’s three years on the bounce that we’ve qualified for the Junior Golf World Cup in Japan too, and it’s the first time for the girls, and both teams will be competing together in Japan 2025.”
The Women had another fine tournament as they picked up yet another medal at Real Sociedad Hípica Española Club de Campo, Spain. They beat Italy 6-1 before going down 4-3 to France in the semi-finals, but managed to see off Ireland 5-2 on Saturday to finish in 3rd-place in the European Ladies’ Team Championship. Check out the Women’s results here.
Women’s Performance Manager Becca Hembrough added: “(Women’s National Coach) Steve Robinson and I are really proud of the Women’s team and their resilience. They dug in across seven days on a very physically demanding course in 35-degree heat. Everyone contributed to qualify strongly and despite taking a knock in the semi-finals, they bounced back when energy levels were low to beat a fighting Irish team. It’s great to be heading home with a medal.”
Elsewhere the Men’s team finished 7th in the European Team Championship at Royal Park, Italy. After reaching the match play stages, they went down 4.5-2.5 to the Netherlands, and then 3.5-1.5 to Italy before bouncing back to beat Spain 3.5-1.5 on the final day (both latter matches reduced due to adverse weather). Check out the Men’s results here.
Burnett added: “The men can take heart with qualification into the top flight again in a competitive tournament and despite not finishing as highly as they wanted, it was an important victory in the final match against Spain. We are wishing both Matthew Dodd-Berry and Dominic Clemons the best of luck this week as they now head to Troon for The Open.”
Comments