EGA Confirms Teams for Al Hamra Showdown – APGC

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EGA Confirms Teams for Al Hamra Showdown

Nov 30 2024
Updated November 30, 2024

Epalinges, Switzerland: The European Golf Association’s (EGA) Bonallack and Patsy Hankins Trophy teams have been finalised ahead of the upcoming matches with the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation.

The two 12-player teams will represent Europe at Al Hamra Golf Club in the United Arab Emirates for the three-day Ryder Cup and Solheim Cup-style matches from January 8-10, 2025.

Six new selections have been confirmed for the European men’s team – Spaniards Jose Luis Ballester and Pablo Ereño Perez, England’s Dominic Clemons, Czech Republic’s Filip Jakubčík, Swede Algot Kleen and Germany’s Tim Wiedemeyer.

They join the previously announced Charlie Forster of England, Ukraine’s Lev Grinberg, Benjamin Reuter of the Netherlands, Iceland’s Gunnlaugur Árni Sveinsson, Estonian Richard Teder and Peer Wernicke of Germany.

Two of the eight previously announced selections, Germany’s Tiger Christensen and Ireland’s Max Kennedy, performed well at the DP World Tour Q-school and will turn professional ahead of the Bonallack Trophy.

All six newly announced players will be making their Bonallack Trophy debuts, although three have formerly represented the Continent of Europe. Grinberg, Teder and Wernicke have all competed in either the St Andrews or Jacques Léglise Trophy matches (against GB&I) in the last two years and will take another step up to represent the entire continent in January.

They join an already strong line-up for a team tasked with snapping a two-match Asia-Pacific winning streak which includes reigning US Amateur champion Ballester and four more players in the top-10 of the European Men’s Amateur Ranking.

Five of the selected players are currently within the top-50 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), including Kleen, 2024 European Amateur Team Championship winner with Sweden. A further three players are inside the WAGR top-100.

The 12 players will follow in the footsteps of some of the biggest names in golf including Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Shane Lowry, Francesco Molinari and Justin Rose, who all formerly represented the European side in the match.

The squad will be led by non-playing captain Joachim Fourquet. The former French international recently led the Continent of Europe Jacques Léglise Trophy team to a record four consecutive victories in the junior match with Great Britain & Ireland, and will lead the European men’s team for the first time in January.

Meanwhile, Ireland’s Aine Donegan, Denmark’s Marie Eline Madsen and Spaniard Carolina Lopez-Chacarra are the final three selections for the EGA’s Patsy Hankins Trophy team.

Adela Cernousek of France, part of the original squad, recently earned an LPGA Tour card and will start pursuing her professional career ahead of the match.

All three new selections will make their first appearance in the Patsy Hankins Trophy. Lopez-Chacarra is the only one to formerly play under a European flag, the in-form Spaniard helping the Continent of Europe to victory in the 2019 Junior Vagliano Trophy match.

Madsen is also strongly in form, coming off the back of 10 consecutive top-10 finishes, including at the Women’s Amateur and European Ladies’ Amateur Championships this summer.

Donegan was famously in the mix after the opening rounds of the 2023 US Women’s Open at Pebble Beach and also has strong results this year. The Irish player helped the GB&I Curtis Cup team to victory and finished in the top-five at the NCAA Division 1 Individual.

The three players join an already strong team which features the number one ranked women’s amateur player in the world, Lottie Woad of England, and reigning European Ladies’ Amateur champion, Louise Rydqvist of Sweden.

Eight of the 12 players are currently ranked inside the WAGR top-50, with three more inside the top-100.

The EGA team will be captained by Myrte Eikenaar of the Netherlands, who led the side to its first victory in the last edition of the match in Spain in 2023. A two-time European Mid-Amateur Ladies’ champion, Eikenaar has also captained the Continent of Europe Junior Vagliano Trophy team for the last five years.