ONE WEEK TO GO – TEAMS FINALISED FOR EUROPEAN GOLF TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS

With one week to go until the historic European Golf Team Championships tee off at Gleneagles, teams have been finalised with players from 15 nations set to compete for medals across five days of competition.

In a ground-breaking format, both male and female professionals will compete in a revolutionary Mixed Team format as well as a Men’s and Women’s Team event, as part of the innovative multi-sport Glasgow 2018 European Championships.

Teams from Great Britain will lead the way with a maximum representation of six teams – three each in both the men’s and women’s event – while Sweden will be represented by five in total, two men’s teams and three women’s.

Four-time Major winner Dame Laura Davies, will headline the women’s draw playing with Solheim Cup star Georgia Hall, while 2019 Solheim Cup European Team Captain Catriona Matthew will get the chance to see the PGA Centenary Course at Gleneagles in competitive action when she lines up alongside England’s Holly Clyburn for the second GB team.

In the Men’s Championship, Callum Shinkwin and Lee Slattery will play together in the first Great Britain team while an all-Scottish team of Connor Syme and Liam Johnston will be hoping for victory on home soil. Michael Hoey will represent Ireland alongside Neil O’Briain looking to follow up on his last victory in Scotland at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in 2011.

Elsewhere, male players ranked in the top 3 for their nations outside of those competing in the US PGA Championship, will represent Italy, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, Norway, Iceland and Poland.

Michael Hoey said: “It’s always an honour to represent Ireland, so I am looking forward to teeing it up with Neil at Gleneagles. It’s always amazing for us playing close to home in Scotland, the atmosphere created by the fans always makes it special for us, the venue is spectacular and with the team element added to this event, it is definitely going to be a lot of fun for everyone involved.”

Olivia Cowan, who will represent Germany, added: “I am really excited to be playing for Germany again. That’s the one thing I really miss about being an amateur is playing the European Team Championships for Germany. Being in a team and representing your country is the best feeling. And I’m happy about having Karo as my partner, we are good friends and I think we’ll make a great team.”

The European Golf Team Championships will take place at Gleneagles in Scotland from 8-12 August 2018, featuring a 50/50 gender split in the field with male and female professionals competing for equal prize money in both a Men’s and Women’s Team match play Championship, as well as an 18-hole foursomes stroke play Mixed Team Championship.

Players will represent their countries with 16 teams of two players competing in the Men’s and Women’s Team events, before combining to form teams of four (two men and two women) in the Mixed Team Championship.

Qualification for the Championships has been via the European Golf Team Championships Points Tables for men and women, which are based on men’s Official World Golf Ranking Points and women’s Rolex Ranking Points earned from tournaments finishing between Monday 10^th July 2017 and Monday 9^th July 2018 with a maximum of three teams representing any one nation in each event.

The full team lists for the Men’s and Women’s Team Championships are:

Confirmed team lists and pairing for the Mixed Team Championships are (NB – additional teams may be added):

The European Golf Team Championships will form part of the Glasgow 2018 European Championships. To be staged every four years, the European Championships will combine the existing European Championships of Athletics, Aquatics, Cycling, Gymnastics, Rowing and Triathlon. The first edition is being held in 2018 in a unique sporting partnership between Host Cities Glasgow and Berlin.

The European Golf Team Championships is the only new event being staged as part of Glasgow 2018 and will take place at the famous Jack Nicklaus-designed Gleneagles PGA Centenary Course – the same venue that hosted Europe’s memorable victory over the USA in The 2014 Ryder Cup and will also host The 2019 Solheim Cup in September next year.

Tickets are now on sale for the European Golf Team Championships with adult prices from £10 for practice days and £15 on competition days. Children under the age of 16 are admitted free when accompanied by an adult.

The Championships will be broadcast across the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the umbrella body for European free-to-air channels, with a potential audience of 1.03 billion. In the UK the Championships will be broadcast on the BBC, meaning it will be the only domestic live golf event shown on UK terrestrial television.

As part of the inaugural European Championships in 2018 around 3,000 athletes will visit Scotland for six events (Aquatics, Cycling, Golf, Gymnastics, Rowing and Triathlon) while a further 1,500 athletes will compete in Berlin as part of the European Athletics Championships.

FORMAT:
The tournament is a match play team event with each team comprised of two players.

The 16 teams will be seeded and split into 4 groups as follows based on the aggregate EGTC points total of the 2 team members.

Group Stages

Match Play: – Each team will play the other three teams in their group with each contest consisting of a four-ball match.

Points will be awarded for each team match as follows:

• Win – 2 points
• Halved match – 1 point
• Loss – zero points

(Note: Should a player from any one team be unable to participate in any group stage match for any reason or retire during a group stage match Rule 30-3(a) applies).

After the completion of all three group stage matches, the team with the highest number of points in each group will proceed to the Semi-Finals.

If, after all the matches have been played, two or more teams are tied on points, the following criteria will be used to determine the finishing order within the group:

1. Where two teams are tied within a group (in any position within the group) then their specific match result will be used to determine which team is placed higher in the group.
2. If two or more teams are still tied for first place within the group then those teams will compete in a four-ball “hole-by-hole” play-off.

iii.            NB. The play-off criteria is only used to determine the first place within the group.  Therefore once this position is resolved there is no requirement to use a play-off (or to continue a play-off) to determine 2^nd, 3^rd or 4^th positions within a group, i.e. The scores in the play-off for those players finishing below 1^st place will be disregarded and then the specific match results will be used to determine the remaining positions in the group for those tied teams. If any matches between such tied teams were halved, then those teams will share the prize money for the respective tied positions in the group.

Knockout Stages:

The Semi-finals, Final and 3^rd place (Bronze medal) play-off will be played in foursomes match play over 18 holes. In the event that any match is all square after 18 holes a hole-by-hole play-off will take place in order to determine the winner of the match.

PRIZE MONEY (Euro):

Per Team                                          Per Player

1st €200,000 & Gold                           €100,000

2nd €100,000 & Silver                        €50,000

3rd €60,000 & Bronze                         €30,000

4th €30,000                                                 €15,000

2nd in Group €15,000                        €7,500

3rd in Group €8,500                           €4,250

4th in Group €4,000                           €2,000

2018 European Golf Mixed Team Championships

Date: Saturday 11th August 2018
Field:  16 teams (maximum) of 4 players

Commitment:  An entry into the European Golf Team Championships commits each player to participation in the Mixed Team Championships.

ELIGIBILITY:
Only those players participating in the European Golf Team Championship will be eligible to play, (as per the above criteria).

NOTE:

• The number of teams from any one nation will be defined by the number of teams (both male and female) that are eligible and entered into the European Golf Team Championships. The first team of 4 for each nation will comprise the leading 2 ranked male professionals and the leading two ranked female professionals from the respective EGTC points tables.
• Where a nation has two or more eligible and entered male and female teams, the second team of 4 will comprise the next 2 highest ranked male professionals and the next two highest ranked female professionals from the respective EGCT points table. This pairing process will be repeated for any further eligible and entered male and female teams from that nation.

FORMAT:

1. a) The format is 18 holes mixed foursome stroke play with each team being made up of two mixed foursome pairings. Within each team of 4, the highest ranked male professional (in the EGTC Points table) will always be paired with the lower ranked female professional (in the EGTC Points table) and vice versa.
2. b) Teams will be drawn according to their combined EGTC points total with the highest ranked teams teeing off last.
3. c) Separate teeing grounds will be used for male professionals and female professionals.
4. d) The combined gross 18-hole scores of the two pairings in each team makes up that team’s score.
5. e) Ties for medal positions (and prizemoney) will be broken by a “hole-by-hole” mixed foursomes play-off. Each tied team will be represented in the play-off by the pairing from that team with the lower score in the mixed competition.  If both pairings from the tied team had the same score then the team members/respective nation’s captain shall decide who shall represent them in the play-off.

PRIZE MONEY (Euro):

Per Team                                Per Player

1st €30,000 & Gold                   €7,500

2nd €20,000 & Silver                 €5,000

3rd €14,000 & Bronze               €3,500

4th €10,000                             €2,500

5th €6,400                               €1,600

6th €4,800                               €1,200

7th €3,600                               €900

8th €2,600                               €650

9th €1,600                               €400

10th – last place €1,000 (per team)    €250

To receive prize money, each team must complete 18 holes.