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MALTA RETAINS BRONZE AT THE ETSC 2017

07/08/2017

TEAM MALTA composed of Nicholas Beck, Andy Borg, Ruud Critien, JJ Micallef Verelst managed to defend and retain the bronze position in the third edition of the ETSC organised by the European Golf Association and hosted by the Bulgarian Golf Federation at the Pravets Golf Club between the 2nd and 6th August 2017.

The Pravets’ course is a relatively young parkland course and is situated around 45 minutes’ drive from Sofia airport. The par 72 course was designed by Peter Harradine and measures 6470 metres from the blue championship tees. Despite the small presence of fully grown trees, the course offered a great test of golf due to its contoured rough; strategically placed bunkers and fast speed of the greens. Although the course touches a beautiful lake, natural water hazards do not really come into play except on the first; the eleventh; the fifteenth and the par 3 eighth which has an island green. The longest hole on the course is the par 5 sixteenth at 576 metres and the shortest is the par 3 third at 123 metres. At 370 metres longer than the front nine, the back nine holes are considered more difficult also because of the way that they need to be managed. Temperatures running in the middle 30’s under scorching sun with hardly any wind added to the difficulty of the tournament throughout the whole week.

The format of the championship was a stroke play qualifier on the first day; followed by three match play knockout rounds. In the match play rounds the teams were required to play two singles and one foursomes match with the condition that play continues until the knockout winner is determined. Two wins out of three identified the team that would proceed to the next round and the eventual winner and final placing of the teams. All the championship was played off scratch.

Twelve other countries fielded a men’s team for this third edition of the ETSC. These were Armenia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Macedonia, Turkey and Ukraine.

In the stroke play qualifier only four players out of fifty-two managed to play to par or better... two from Turkey and two from Lithuania. These players together with their other colleagues eventually featured through to the final day. Our own Nicholas teed off Malta’s experience at 7:40 and returned a +9 eventually placing him right in the middle of the stroke play leader board. His colleagues came in an hour interval behind each other. First Ruud with a +4 (tied 14th overall), then JJ with a +3 (tied 10th) and Andy with a +1 (tied 5th) for a team aggregate of +8 placing Malta third overall behind Turkey with a -1 and Lithuania with a +1.

The other countries making it to the match play rounds were Croatia, Greece, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Liechtenstein and of course Turkey and Lithuania. Malta’s third place meant that they had to play Bulgaria (the host team) in the quarter finals of the match play knockout. Without much deliberating, it was decided for Nick and Ruud to be the foursomes pair, followed by JJ and Andy in the singles matches.

Nick and Ruud bonded really well as a foursomes pair and were already shaking hands with their Bulgarian opponents on the 12th green for a 7&6 win. Andy secured Malta’s place in the semi-final with a 4&3 win soon after. The match was closed with a 220-yard rescue wood that hit the green and stopped a couple of yards from the hole. This allowed JJ (then on the 16th fairway and all square) to offer a half for the match which his opponent duly accepted.

As Turkey won against Liechtenstein; Greece won over Croatia and Lithuania over Cyprus the semi-finals drew Turkey vs Greeece and Lithuania vs Malta. Exactly as last year our players found extreme tough players in their semi-finals with Team Lithuania actually becoming the eventual winners of the tournament.

Our foursomes pairing as well as order of play was retained from the previous day. The foursomes pair prevailed with a 5&4 win but our singles players struggled to find their best form. Andy was 4 down after 9 holes and shook hands on the 13th for a 6&5 loss. JJ was only 1 down after 9 holes but then proceeded to lose the 11th and then the 12th to an eagle. The 3-down deficit remained for another two holes. Then JJ won the 14th to bring it 2-down with three to go and won the 15th to bring it 1-down with two to go. First to tee off on the 17th, JJ’s adrenaline must have been flowing as his 7-iron tee shot overshot the green to land in an unplayable lie in a hazard behind the green.

Naturally, our players left the course disappointed with the result – again a case of so near and yet so far – and wary that their defence of the bronze medal was now being questioned especially from their opponents the next day. Indeed, as Turkey won over Greece to secure a place in the finals, our boys’ opponents for third place were the Greek boys – the winners of the ETSC two years ago.

For this final round, Malta decided to retain the foursomes pair but to take out Andy ahead of JJ in the singles. Nick and Ruud started well and were never down in their match. Their golf continued to complement each other perfectly. In Ruud’s long game and precision approach shots Nick found a safe pair of hands and their confidence grew throughout the round. Ruud birdied the 9th for the pair to go 2 up which lead was preserved until the 15th. The match was concluded in style when Nick eagled the par five 16th playing a 160 yards blind shot with a 6 iron into the wind from the 11th fairway – his second eagle of the tournament.

Andy’s confidence continued to waver in the early part of the last round and was already 2 down after 3 holes to a super player who until that time had only hit 3 bogeys for the entire tournament. On the tenth tee Andy was 3 down but his determination to stop the bleeding was evident in his eyes. By the 13th, Andy levelled the match and two holes later he had turned it round completely to be 1 up with 3 holes to go.

Bringing up the rear, JJ start was a see-saw which started to increase towards his favour in slow progression. His swing started to work as he wanted it and he was never down throughout the match. Indeed, he was 1 up after three, 2 up after nine and 4 up after thirteen. He lost the 13th hole but then made a massive putt for a birdie to his opponent’s par on the 15th to close the match 4&3.

The roving referee quickly relayed the result which had secured Malta’s bronze and this soon reached Andy one hole ahead who in a gesture of powerful good will extended a gesture to half the match to his opponent despite being 1 up for the match and in a good position on the fairway.

Our four players were great ambassadors for Maltese golf. They carried their country’s flag with honour and they did themselves, the Royal Malta Golf Club, their fellow club members and their country proud.

I do not have better words to conclude than those that I already used last year and i.e. when all the bunkers had all been raked, when all the ripples in the hazards had settled, when all the flags had been put back in their respective holes, when all the cards had been submitted… throughout the tournament one thing prevailed above everything else… the respect, the courtesy and the friendship among the countries and among all the players. This was yet again so wonderful to experience and so great to be part of.

For all of this, we are thankful for the EGA and the Bulgarian Golf Federation for organising and hosting this event, for the funding received from the R&A and Sport Malta to enable us to participate, for the PGA’s of Europe to provide, through Martin Westphal, the professional coaching during the tournament. Our gratitude is also extended in no lesser terms to Nike Golf and Bortex Fine Tailoring who provided the playing kit and official uniforms respectively making our team feel good and look smart throughout the week.

William Beck
7th August 2017