15th July 2023
Match Play Flight A (1-8) – Final and 3rd & 4th Place Match
Spain (2) beat Denmark (1) 4-3 to win the 2023 European Men’s Amateur Team Championship Final at Royal Waterloo G.C. in Belgium.
The Victorious Spanish Team (Photo: EGA)
Spain’s two morning foursomes wins proved pivotal, particularly the one by Masaveu and Ayora on the 22nd Hole, as their top order struggled in the early singles before he late recovery saw them home.
Denmark v. Spain Championship Final Results (Graphic: EGA / Golfbox)
Ireland (4) beat England (3) 6-1 to win the bronze medal in a one-sided 3rd and 4th Place Match.
Ireland v. England 3rd & 4th Place Match Results (Graphic: EGA / Golfbox)
Here are the full Flight A Match Play results and upper half final standings: –
Flight A Match Play Results and Final Standings (Graphic: EGA / Golfbox)
Click here to view the – Match Play Flight A Final Scores
Match Play Flight B (9-16) Day 3
Finland (10) beat Wales (12) 3-2 in the Flight B Final to earn 9th place in the Championship.
Wales v. Finland 9th & 10th Place Match Results (Graphic: EGA / Golfbox)
Here are the full Flight A Match Play results and lower half final standings: –
Flight B Match Play Results and Final Standings (Graphic: EGA / Golfbox)
Click here to view the – Match Play Flight B Day 3 Scores
Here is my assessment of the Individual performances from the 18 home nation players that were competing.
Matt MCCLEAN (IRL), Barclay BROWN (ENG) and James ASHFIELD (WAL) were my three star men.
ME.
14th July 2023
Match Play Flight A (1-8) – Semi-Finals
Denmark (1) proved to be too strong for Ireland (4) in the opening semi-final beating them 4.5-2.5.
Whilst the morning foursomes were shared the Dane’s comfortably took the singles. Only Liam NOLAN was able to win a game for the Irish in this series.
Denmark v. Ireland Semi-Final Results (Graphic: EGA / Golfbox)
In a tighter match England (3) lost 4.5-2.5 to Spain (2) in the second semi-final. Having lost both of the morning foursomes England needed a big bounce back in the singles to progress. In the end only Barclay BROWN and James CLARIDGE were able to produce wins which left the team short.
England v. Spain Semi-Final Results (Graphic: EGA / Golfbox)
Click here to view the – Match Play Flight A Semi-Final Scores
Match Play Flight B (9-16) Day 2
Wales (12) beat Switzerland (9) 3-2 to reach the Flight B Final. James NASH and Caolan BURFORD continued their strong partnership in the foursomes before good wins from James ASHFIELD and Matt ROBERTS in the singles sealed the deal.
Switzerland v. Wales Match Results (Graphic: EGA / Golfbox)
Click here to view the – Match Play Flight B Day 2 Scores
ME.
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13th July 2023
Match Play Flight A (1-8) – Quarter Finals
All four Quarter Finals went the way of the highest seeded teams.
Each Flight A match consists of two foursomes and five singles.
Here’s a summary of the Quarter Final results: –
Flight A Quarter Finals Results (Graphic: EGA / Golfbox)
Ireland (4) beat France (5) 4.0-3.0 in a tighter match. Two late singles wins from Matt MCCLEAN, who had earlier also won his foursomes with Caolan RAFFERTY, and Alex MAGUIRE helped the Irish over the line.
Ireland v. France Results (Graphic: EGA / Golfbox)
England (3) beat Netherlands (6) 5.5-1.5 winning both of the foursomes and three of the five singles. John GOUGH and Jack BIGHAM paired up successfully in the morning before going on to both win their singles in the afternoon.
England v. Netherlands Results (Graphic: EGA / Golfbox)
Click here to view the – Match Play Flight A Quarter Finals Scores
Match Play Flight B (9-16) Day 1
Wales (12) beat Germany (13) by 4.5-0.5 as they seek to finish as high up the rankings as they can and more importantly extinguish any possibility of relegation to Division 2.
Wales v. Germany Results (Graphic: EGA / Golfbox)
Click here to view the – Match Play Flight B Day 1 Scores
ME.
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12th July 2023
Stroke Play Qualifying – Round 2
Denmark (-32) earned medalist honours in the 36 hole Stroke Play Qualifying competition at the European Men’s Amateur Team Championship.
The lowest five scores from each six-man team counted towards each countries round and total scores at Royal Waterloo Golf Club in Belgium.
Spain (-29), England (-27), Ireland (-23), France (-20), Netherlands (-17), Italy (-16) and Sweden were the other teams to qualify for the all-important top 8 Flight A Match Play Stage which will determine who takes home the trophy and medals later this week.
Team Stroke Play Qualifying Results (Graphic: EGA / Golfbox)
England (-27) finished 3rd with round scores of 350 and 343.
England Team Stroke Play Qualifying Results (Graphic: EGA / Golfbox)
Barclay BROWN (ENG) -10 finished 2nd in the Individual rankings and was therefore the leading GB&I player in the field.
Barclay Brown’s Stroke Play Qualifying Rounds 1 & 2 Scorecard (Graphic: EGA / Golfbox)
Ireland (-23) finished 4th with round scores of 352 and 345.
Caolan RAFFERTY (-7) 5th and Max KENNEDY (-7) 8th were their leading contributors over the two days.
Ireland Team Stroke Play Qualifying Results (Graphic: EGA / Golfbox)
Wales (-5) finished 12th with round scores of 350 and a disappointing 365 which sadly saw them tumble out of contention.
Matt ROBERTS (-7) 10th can be pleased with his efforts in the Stroke Play Qualifying.
Wales Team Stroke Play Qualifying Results (Graphic: EGA / Golfbox)
Here are the leading Individual scores from Belgium with the recent European Men’s Amateur champion José BALLESTER (ESP) -11 again showing his class: –
Individual Stroke Play Qualifying Results – Top 30 (Graphic: EGA / Golfbox)
The average score from the 96 players was 72.16 (+.16) in Round 2.
Click here to view the Stroke Play Qualifying Leaderboards – Team and Individual
ME.
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11th July 2023
Stroke Play Qualifying – Round 1
Denmark (-15) and Spain (-15) delivered the best Round 1 scores on the opening day of the Stroke Play Qualifying competition at Royal Waterloo G.C.
England (-10) and Wales (-10) are 6th and 7th respectively, after a applying the sixth player score to break the tie, and Ireland (-8) 10th.
Team Stroke Play Qualifying Round 1 Scores (Graphic: EGA / Golfbox)
Tiger CHRISTENSEN (GER) produced the lowest Round 1 score with a 64 (-8). European Amateur champion José BALLESTER (ESP) and Jack INGHAM (NED) 65 (-7) were one shot further back on a low scoring day.
Individual Stroke Play Qualifying Round 1 Scores – Top 30 (Graphic: EGA / Golfbox)
The lowest GB&I round came from England’s Barclay BROWN who posted a 66 (-6) which included an eagle and six birdies.
Barclay Brown’s Stroke Play Qualifying Round 1 Scorecard (Graphic: EGA / Golfbox)
Welsh pair James ASHFIELD and Matt ROBERTS both recorded 68’s (-4) with Liam NOLAN (IRL), Dylan SHAW-RADFORD (ENG) and Max KENNEDY (IRL) nearly as impressive with 3-under 69’s.
The average score from the 96 players was 71.80 (-0.2) in Round 1.
Click here to view the Stroke Play Qualifying Leaderboards – Team and Individual
ME.
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10th July 2023
Introduction
The 40th European Men’s Amateur Team Championship will be played between Tuesday 11th and Saturday 15th July 2023 at Royal Waterloo G.C. in Belgium.
England, Ireland and Wales will all be competing this week. Scotland were relegated to Division 2 at last year’s Championship.
In a Walker Cup year the performances of the chosen players will be carefully scrutinised by The R&A selectors.
Spain are the defending champions having beaten Sweden in last year’s final at Royal St. George’s G.C. in England.
The 2022 Spanish Team (Photo: European Golf Association)
The European Ladies’, Boys’ and Girls’ Team Championships are also being played elsewhere in Europe this week.
I will provide daily updates on play in the Men’s event on this page throughout the competition and score links to all of the other Championships on the Results page of this website and on Twitter and Threads.
2023 Teams
16 national teams of 6 players will contest the 2023 European Men’s Amateur Team Championship.
The teams competing are Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Wales.
Just two of these teams, Estonia and Wales, will be represented by their top six ranked players in the latest WAGR list.
On paper Spain, Ireland, England, Germany, France, Denmark and Sweden appear to be the strongest teams likely to challenge for the medals.
The 2023 home nation teams are made up of the following players: –
ENGLAND – Jack BIGHAM, Barclay BROWN, James CLARIDGE, Arron EDWARDS-HILL, John GOUGH, Dylan Shaw-RADFORD
The English selectors have remained loyal to Arron Edwards-Hill and Dylan Shaw-Radford when some would have opted for one or both of Charlie CROCKETT and Will HOPKINS, two U.S. college players who have arguably shown better recent form.
The 2023 English Team (Photo: European Golf Association)
IRELAND – Max KENNEDY, Alex MAGUIRE, Matt MCCLEAN, Liam NOLAN, Mark POWER, Caolan RAFFERTY
Hugh FOLEY found his form too late to break into this line-up which combines experience and quality nicely and should finish in the medals. Alex Maguire, playing off +7.8, has the lowest handicap in the field.
The 2023 Irish Team (Photo: European Golf Association)
WALES – James ASHFIELD, Tomi BOWEN, Caolan BURFORD, Archie DAVIES, James NASH, Matt ROBERTS
The Welsh team picked itself and is as strong as I can remember for many years. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them perform well in Belgium this week.
The 2023 Welsh Team (Photo: European Golf Association)
Format / Schedule
The Championship is run by the European Golf Association, this year in partnership with The Royal Belgian Golf Federation.
Two rounds of stroke play qualifying are completed on the first two days, with the lowest five scores from each team counting. All ties will be broken by using the two non-counting scores.
These results then determine a seeded match play draw. The top 8 qualifying teams will play in a first flight (A), which will determine the medalists, and the next eight a second flight (B).
Fight A therefore starts off with 1st v. 8th, 2nd v. 7th, 3rd v. 6th and 4th v. 5th. Winning teams advance in their brackets while losing teams play against other defeated nations to determine the final positions 1-19.
The teams in Flight A play 2 foursomes and 5 singles whilst losing teams and those in Flight B play 1 foursomes and 4 singles.
A win earns 1 point, a draw half a point and a loss no points in all of the individual games that make up a match.
The teams that finish 14th to 16th in the match play stage will be relegated to the Division 2 Championship for 2024.
Royal Waterloo G.C., Belgium
Royal Waterloo Golf Club, situated 20 miles south of Brussels, was founded in 1923 and is therefore celebrating it’s centenary this year.
The Club moved to Lasne in 1960 and now has 45 holes in play; the La Marache (18), Le Lion (18) and Le Bois-Héros (9) courses.
The Championship is being played on the La Marache course which was designed by the English architect Fred Hawtree and opened in 1961. Fred’s son Martin oversaw the renovation of the greens to USGA specification in 2004/05 with the bunkers also completely rebuilt in 2022.
An undulating, tree lined course it plays to 6,859 yards off the Black Tees and has a par of 72. It has a Course Rating of 73.6 and a Slope Rating of 133.
This is the third time the European Men’s Amateur Team Championship has been staged in Belgium. Waterloo is following in the footsteps of Brussels in 1961 (when Sweden won) and Royal Antwerp in 1995 (when Scotland won).
Weather Forecast
This week’s weather forecast for Belgium looks very good with good playing conditions currently expected throughout the week.
Tue 11th July – Sunny Intervals. Wind 11 mph SW. Temp. Min. 15°C / Max. 28°C.
Wed 12th July – Sunny Intervals. Wind 15 mph SW. Temp. Min. 12°C / Max. 22°C.
Thur 13th July – Sunny Intervals. Wind 12 mph N. Temp. Min. 11°C / Max. 22°C.
Fri 14th July – Sunny Intervals. Wind 7 mph W. Temp. Min. 16°C / Max. 25°C.
Sat 15th July – Sunny Intervals. Wind 11 mph N. Temp. Min. 15°C / Max. 27°C.
EGA Website Links – 2023 Scores / Information
Stroke Play Qualifying Leaderboards – Team and Individual
Match Play Draw / Results – Flight A and Flight B
European Golf Association Championship Website
2022 European Men’s Amateur Team Championship
Match Play Flight A
Spain (1) beat Denmark (5) 4.5-2.5 last year to win the European Men’s Amateur Team Championship at Royal St. George’s G.C.
Denmark (5) beat England (3) 5-2 to secure 3rd place with the hosts having to settle for 4th.
Ireland defeated Italy 3-2 to take 5th place.
Click here to view the – Flight A Match Play Results
Match Play Flight B
Wales (12) beat Belgium (15) 4-1 to finish in 13th place in the Championship.
Click here to view the – Flight B Match Play Results
Match Play Flight C
Scotland (17) beat Czech Republic (18) 3-2 in the final match of the three team ’round robin’ event to secure 17th place in the Championship.
It was of course a hollow victory as Scotland had already joined the Czech Republic and Portugal in being relegated to Division 2 following the Stroke Play Qualifying.
Click here to view the – Flight C Match Play Results
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Stroke Play Qualifying
Spain secured the top seeding for the Flight A Match Play competition with a 693 (-7) total.
England (-5) finished 2nd and Ireland (+4) 8th to also make the all-important Flight A which determines the medalists.
Wales (+15) were 12th so contested the Flight B competition.
Scotland (+26) were a hugely disappointing 17th and ended up in Flight C and certain relegation to Division 2 for the 2023 competition.
Team Stroke Play Qualifying Results (Graphic: EGA / Golfbox)
Julien SALE (FRA) shot two rounds of 67 to head the Individual standings on -6.
Arron EDWARDS-HILL (ENG) -4 was the leading GB&I player over the 36 holes finishing in 5th place.
John GOUGH (ENG) -3 6th, Caolan RAFFERTY (IRL) -2 8th – including a best of the competition 65 in Round 2, Mark POWER (IRL) -1 15th, Calum SCOTT (SCO) -1 21st, Olly HUGGINS (ENG) Ev 29th and Sam BAIRSTOW (ENG) Ev 33rd were all par or better for their respective teams.
Individual Stroke Play Qualifying Results – Top 30 (Graphic: EGA / Golfbox)
Click here to view the Stroke Play Qualifying Results – Team and Individual
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In overall terms Sam BAIRSTOW (ENG), Liam NOLAN (IRL), James ASHFIELD (WAL) and Calum SCOTT (SCO) were the leading home nation players in 2022.
History / Previous Results
The European Men’s Amateur Team Championship was first played in 1959.
It was played every second year until 2007. Since then it has been played annually save for 2012 when no Championship was held.
To date England have won 11 times, Scotland 8, Ireland 6, Spain 5, Sweden 3 and Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy and Wales once each.
Click here to view the full list of – European Men’s Amateur Team Championship Past Winners
ME.
Copyright © 2014-2023, Mark Eley. All rights reserved.
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