THE R&A JUNIOR OPEN 2018

23/07/2018

LAURENS SCHULZE DOERING WINS THE SOUTHERN EUROPEAN TROPHY
PLACES OVERALL 42ND

This biennial event managed to attract a total of 145 emerging boy and girl golfers, all under sixteen years of age, from 78 different countries. Malta’s representative was Laurens who is a member at the Royal Malta Golf Club and plays off a handicap of 3.0. Thirty players started the tournament with a handicap of scratch or better. Whilst another seventy-two players had a handicap not exceeding 5.

The first two days of the tournament were played in warm weather with relatively hardly any wind allowing some good overall scoring. Laurens ended his first day with a credible five over par and then followed it with a level par score for the course on the second day to place him 17th after two days of competition. At this point, the cut for the third day was established and the regional trophies were awarded. With a net score of one under par Laurens was declared winner of the Southern European Trophy – having registered one shot better than Belgium’s James Skeet.

Only 80 players proceeded to the third and final day of the competition which was led by Martin Vorster from South Africa with a gross score of nine under par. As the winds picked up, scoring was affected, and Martin returned a four over par which was just sufficient for him to retain the lead by one shot over Japan’s girl golfer Tsubasa Kajitani and be declared the winner of the Tournament.

Laurens struggled from the start of his final round and was already five over par after four holes of play. He managed to settle down in the back nine but his final round score of ten over par pushed him down the overall leader board to place him in 42nd position – still a very credible position for this fourteen-year old.

The Championship was played on the Eden Course – one of the seven courses that forms St Andrews Links in Scotland.