Surrey ace Kris Kim led the way as England topped stroke play qualifying in the European Boys Team Championshp at Geneva today.
FORMAT: 36-hole team qualifier (5 out of the best 6 scores count on each day) / 3-round knock-out
The Walton Heath junior was in sparkling form, posting a course-record 65 (-7) as England won the qualifier by nine shots in Switzerland.
Across Europe it proved to be a good day all-round for the English teams. With the men’s, ladies, boys and girls European team championships all running concurrently, most of the continent’s elite amateurs were in action.
And all four England teams qualified for tomorrow’s knockout stages – the top eight take their place in Flight A – with the men’s team jumping up to third, the women claiming fourth and the girls just making it in in seventh.
There were no dangers for the boys with Kim’s putter working so well. The Fairhaven Trophy champion birdied his opening two holes as he stormed to the turn in 30 and then added further birdies on 13 and 17 to ensure he topped the individual standings. Yesterday the 15-year-old managed a 70 despite a double on the last while Sussex Harry Malin (69), Worcestershire’s Hugh Adams (68) and Suffolk’s Tyler Weaver (68) also rose to the occasion to put England on top.
Kim said: “I’m really happy with round and it was important today that we had a game plan to get on with. I feel like I played similar to yesterday, ball-striking wise, but so many more putts dropped today and luck was on my side.
“I’m excited for the game against Switzerland tomorrow, especially with the home crowd, so it would be nice to beat them with everyone watching. I think we can go all the way this year. Obviously tomorrow is a very different day so it is important that everyone resets and make sure we go all in for the match play stages.”
Tomorrow England Boys tackle Switzerland with Kim and Weaver leading off in the foursomes before Malin and Adams follow on ten minutes later.
England women are bidding to win their third successive European title but must get past Ireland in tomorrow’s quarter-final as the draw threw up a mouthwatering showdown.
Farnham’s Lottie Woad was once again the main player for the champions, posting a 67 today to back up her 68 from the previous day.
On a day of low scoring – stroke play leader Meja Ortengren (Sweden) opened with six straight birdies – Woad maintained her fine form, picking up her first bogey of the event at the 12th but by then she was eight under for the tournament. Further birdies on 17 and 18 left her nine under and in fifth place in the individual standings.
Debutant Patience Rhodes (Burnham & Berrow) also had a good day. She had just one bogey on her way to an impressive 69 and was three under overall, a score also recorded by 2022 Amateur champion Jess Baker (Gosforth Park Ladies).
In the men’s event in Belgium, England made up considerable ground today, finishing on -27 to place third and book a last-eight meeting with The Dutch.
Yorkshire’s Barclay Brown again posted impressive numbers and his rounds of 66 and 68 left him second in the individual standings. Recent European Amateur champion Jose Luis Ballester Barrio finished top.
His fellow Tyke Dylan Shaw-Radford backed him up brilliantly, compiling a pair of 69s while John Gough was back to something near his best today (68).
England Girls struggled in France but squeezed into the knockout stages and and face a daunting match tomorrow against Sweden, for whom Nora Sunberg led the individual standings on six under.