The European Ladies’ Team Championship will be contested by 19 teams at Royal County Down this week. Sweden will look for a fourth straight victory in the event, which would be a record for any nation in all 62 years of European Team Championship history.
They look like the team to beat once again, with four of their players (Linn Grant, Maja Stark, Ingrid Lindblad and Beatrice Wallin) currently ranked inside the top-ten of the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking.
The home team is made up of Sara Byrne (Douglas), Beth Coulter (Kirkistown Castle), Aine Donegan (Lahinch), Anna Foster (Elm Park), Lauren Walsh (Castlewarden) and Annabel Wilson (Lurgan).
Speaking about their preparation for the event, Ireland Team Captain Laura Webb said: “I’m very happy with how the team is working out together, we had a couple of really good preparation sessions yesterday, reacquainting ourselves with the course where necessary, everyone is very happy with how they’re playing.”
A couple of team members have named Royal County Down as their favourite golf course, so using that course knowledge will be key this week according to Webb.
“I think the home advantage is definitely something that will benefit us, it’s a long week and you need to be careful that you don’t use all your energy up before you start so we hope that home advantage will benefit us in not having to spend too much time on course.
“They’re a great bunch of girls and they know what they need to do, so from my perspective I’m just making sure they’re as comfortable and happy as they can be. They’re all experiences golfers, and I think everyone will rise to the occasion here and give their very best.”
This year’s event will mark the second time the event has been played on the island of Ireland following at Hermitage Golf Club in 1979, where the home team took home the gold.
Each team is made up of six players. Over Day’s 1 & 2 all players complete two individual stroke play rounds. The team’s five best scores out of six from each day count towards their stroke play qualifying totals. Based on finishing position in the stroke play qualifying, the top eight teams from each championship qualify for the medal-contention Flight A bracket.
The format for the three remaining competition days is match play. Nations go head-to-head, with two foursomes matches in the morning and five singles matches in the afternoon.
To learn more about how Golf Ireland is making the 2021 European Ladies Amateur Team Championship happen, please see detailed information on our COVID contingencies for the event here. We are grateful to the Department of Health, Department of Communities and Sport NI for their input and continued support.
For further information about the European Amateur Team Championships visit the European Golf Association website.
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