EUROPEAN TEAM FOR JUNIOR RYDER CUP NAMED
BRONTE LAW ... only GB and I girl in Europe line-up
Image by Cal Carson Golf Agency
NEWS RELEASE
The European team for the 2012 Junior Ryder Cup, which takes place at Olympia Fields Country Club in Illinois, USA from September 24 – 25, has been finalised.
The team, comprising two under-16 boys,
two under-16 girls, four under-18 boys and four under-18 girls, will
attempt to regain the trophy from the USA after a 13½ - 10½ defeat at
The Gleneagles Hotel in 2010.
The Junior Ryder Cup was formally
introduced in 1997, following an exhibition match between teams of boys
and girls from Europe and the United States in 1995. It traditionally
takes place just before The Ryder Cup.
Spaniard Covadonga Sanjuan earned
automatic selection for the 2012 European team after her victory in the
European Young Masters at Royal Balaton Golf and Yacht Club in Hungary
last month, as did Italy’s Renato Paratore, who won the boys’
competition.
Emily Pedersen of Denmark and Germany’s
Dominic Foos, both under-16s, were also chosen by a selection committee
comprising European Captain Stuart Wilson, Assistant Captain Kristin
Gunhildrud and representatives from the European Golf Association
and The European Tour.
The committee was present at a number
of key junior events, including the European Boys’ and Girls’ Team
Championships, and also took into account performances in national
championships plus standings in national and European Amateur Golf
Rankings.
Austrian Matthias Schwab, who played on
The European Tour as a 15 year old in the 2010 Austrian Golf Open, was
selected, and is joined in the boys’ under-18 category by England’s Toby
Tree, Ireland’s Gavin Moynihan, who was the youngest
player ever to win the Irish Amateur Championship this year, and
Sweden’s Victor Tarnstrom.
The girls are represented by Linnea
Strom of Sweden, who has dominated junior golf in her country, Quirine
Eijkenboom of Germany, Harang Lee from Spain and England’s Curtis Cup player Bronte Law.
The Junior Ryder Cup celebrates the
progress and hard work taking place at the grass roots level of golf,
which helps talented young players develop into national team amateurs
and some even to The Ryder Cup itself. The collaboration between
PGA professionals and junior organisers at club level and PGAs and
governing bodies at a national level help these youngsters develop into
Junior Ryder Cup players. The Junior Ryder Cup promotes friendship and
good sportsmanship between the best junior golfers
from the US and Europe.
It has been the platform from which
successful professional careers have been launched for numerous players.
Spaniard Sergio Garcia played in the 1995 exhibition match and four
years later was part of the full European Team at The Country
Club in Brookline, while Suzann Pettersen played in the Junior Ryder
Cup in 1997 and 1999 before becoming Norway’s top female golfer and
taking part in six Solheim Cups.
Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy was in
the victorious 2004 team, since when he has won two Major Championships
and will represent Europe for a second time in The 2012 Ryder Cup. For
the Americans, Hunter Mahan, having been in the 1999 junior
team, has progressed to become a US PGA Tour winner and was part of the
2008 and 2010 US Ryder Cup teams.
Other notable past Junior Ryder Cup
players are Matteo Manassero, who played in 2008 and has since become
one of golf’s hottest properties, and Carly Booth, who also played in
2008 and has won twice on the Ladies European Tour this season.
European team:
Quirine Eijkenboom (GER)
Dominic Foos (GER)
Bronte Law (ENG)
Harang Lee (ESP)
Gavin Moynihan (IRL)
Renato Paradore (ITA)
Emily Pedersen (DEN)
Covadonga Sanjuan (ESP)
Matthias Schwab (AUT)
Linnea Strom (SWE)
Victor Tarnstrom (SWE)
Toby Tree (ENG)
Labels: BOYS AND GIRLS
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