TEAMS UNVEILED FOR HISTORIC EUROPEAN GOLF TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS

Players from 15 countries will compete for medals on behalf of their nations in the inaugural European Golf Team Championships at Gleneagles after the teams for the historic event were unveiled today.

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, fresh off her weekend victory in the US Senior Women’s Open, 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, home favourite Richie Ramsay will be looking for his first win on home turf playing with Englishman Ryan Evans, while 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.

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.

Davies, the UK’s most successful female golfer amassing 86 professional victories worldwide, said: “I’m really looking forward to representing GBR in the upcoming championships it’s always fun to do that. Georgia will be a great team mate. She has been playing some great golf over the last 18 months. I’ve never played an event where there are medals on offer to the winners, so it would be great to get on the podium for the first time.”

Matthew, who won the Women’s British Open in 2009 and represented Team GB in the 2016 Rio Olympics, added: “It’s always exciting to represent your country. I loved the Olympics, and this is another chance to represent Great Britain on the international stage, this time being a team format. It would be great to win a medal and hopefully have the national anthem playing, an opportunity that doesn’t come around often for golfers.

“Obviously, it will be interesting to play the course under competitive conditions. I know we have had a lot of dry weather recently, but the Centenary course has a great irrigation system, so it is still pretty green and from what I hear the greens are relatively receptive. It will be interesting to see what playing order / holes favour different types of strategy, as we are playing both fourball and foursome formats. Obviously I will be keeping an eye on results and both teams and individuals that play well.”

England’s Lee Slattery, who will play in the Great Britain 1 team with Callum Shinkwin, said: “It’s always an honour to represent Great Britain, so I am looking forward to teeing it up with Callum at Gleneagles. I’ve always enjoyed playing in Scotland, the atmosphere created by the fans here always makes it special for us, and with the team element added to this event, it is definitely going to be a lot of fun for everyone involved.”

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

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.