EGA introduces European Ladies’ Team Shield Championship
Lausanne, March 2016: The European Golf Association (EGA) introduces a ladies’ equivalent after the success of last year’s inaugural European Men’s Team Shield Championship held at Pravets Golf Resort, Bulgaria. The European Team Shield Championship was launched by the EGA in 2015 in order to further national team development in countries not often able to send teams to elite golf events. Twelve four-player teams from Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Malta, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Ukraine played in the event, which followed-on from the former Balkan Challenge Trophy.
Richard Heath, EGA General Secretary, says: “The championship is open to countries who, this year, have not fielded teams in the EGA’s other European Team Championships. The event’s main aim is to encourage the participating nations to develop their elite golf programmes and national team infrastructure so that there are greater playing opportunities open to their players in the future and to inspire golf development from the grass-roots level onwards. The event has received tremendous support from The R&A and has provided an excellent showcase for the smaller golfing nations. We look forward to welcoming the women’s teams to their own edition.”
The Ladies’ Team Shield is the latest addition to the series of 21 European title championships and international matches run by the EGA.
The new ladies’ event will be played in conjunction with the men’s event at Pannonia Golf & Country Club in Hungary from 27th to 30th July, 2016. In order to accommodate the additional event, the tournament will be extended by one additional day of match play. The ladies’ and men’s event format will be the same: teams of four players will compete in one round of stroke play followed by three rounds of match play.
Already last year, the EGA, PGAs of Europe and The R&A joined forces to support participating nations in developing golf in their countries. Working in partnership with The R&A, as part of their ‘Working for Golf’ programme, a team of four top professionals from the PGAs of Europe shadowed and mentored team coaches and delivered coaching sessions to competitors offering various areas of guidance to the players and instructors alike. The R&A provided two highly-experienced referees who delivered a rules clinic for players and officials. The EGA looks forward to continue the successful collaboration at this year’s event.