Team Championship Roda Golf, Spanien

Dato: 12. november 2009

Roda Golf & Beach Resort, Spain, tuesday 10th - Friday 13th November 2009

Red Dragons roar to victory at Roda

Wales exorcised the disappointment of being beaten in a play-off by Austria two years ago by winning the PGAs of Europe International Team Championship at Roda today.

And they did so in style, putting three strokes between themselves and their closest pursuer in the 24-strong field after beginning the fourth and final round sharing pole position with England.

England had led the Glenmuir and Calidona-sponsored tournament at the PGA-branded academy and course in Murcia, Spain, from day one but faltered in the final round.

Their team of Paul Simpson, Jason Robinson and Paul Wesselingh posted two-under-par and had to settle for joint-second place with Switzerland.

The challenge of France, Switzerland, and Italy, who overnight were third, fourth and fifth respectively, also failed to materialise.

Not so the Welsh trio, who with the best two scores counting, carded five-under-par to finish the tournament on 15-under.

Jason Powell, as he had in the second and third rounds, led the way with a three-under-par 69 and Andrew Barnett weighed in two-under. Barnett’s round included an eagle at the par five tenth as a result of him holing out from a greenside bunker.

“That got me going,” said Barnett, who was two-over at the turn. “I made two birdies immediately after that.”

The third member of the trio, captain James Lee, was indebted to his team-mates after carding a two-over par 74.

“They helped me out big time today,” he said. “And although I’m a little disappointed with the way I played, I’m delighted with the win. It makes up for losing in a play-off to Austria two years ago. Andy and I were both in that team and it was bitterly disappointing.

Captaining Wales to victory was a perfect finale to a memorable season for Lee who won the Glenmuir PGA Professional Championship at Dundonald Links in the summer and represented Great Britain and Ireland in the PGA Cup.

“It had been a great year already and this really tops it off,” he added. “It’s great for Wales and a vote of thanks to our sponsors, Asbri Golf, a Welsh company who supplied us with accessories, and Ryder Cup Wales, who have doen a huge amount for golf in the country.”

Meanwhile, defending champions Ireland were left to rue what might have been after finally getting their game together in the final round.

The Irish, who turned the tournament into a procession last year, languished on four-under, 11 strokes off the pace overnight.

But a round of eight-under, courtesy of all three members – David Ryan, Peter Martin and John Kelly – carding rounds of 68, saw them finish joint-fourth with France on 12-under.

FINAL RESULTS

Pos To Par Country Rnd 1 Rnd 2 Rnd 3 Rnd 4 Total

1st -16 Wales -1 -6 -4 -5 -16

2nd -13 Switzerland +6 -8 -7 -4 -13

2nd -13 England -7 -2 -2 -2 -13

4th -12 Ireland -1 0 -3 -8 -12

4th -12 France +2 -5 -7 -2 -12

6th -10 Italy +3 0 -11 -2 -10

7th -4 Finland 0 -2 -2 0 -4

7th -4 Holland +1 -4 -1 0 -4

9th -3 Scotland +3 -3 -1 -2 -3

10th -1 Sweden +4 -1 -2 -2 -1

10th -1 Belgium -1 +1 0 -1 -1

12th 0 Austria +3 -4 0 +1 0

13th 1 UAE -1 +2 0 0 1

14th 3 Spain +6 -2 0 -1 3

15th 7 Denmark +5 +2 +3 -3 7

16th 11 Slovenia +8 +2 0 +1 11

17th 18 Czech Republic +9 +1 +3 +5 18

18th 20 Poland +9 +6 +6 -1 20

18th 20 Norway +11 +6 -1 +4 20

18th 20 Germany +9 +3 +4 +4 20

21st 23 South Africa +8 +3 +7 +5 23

22nd 33 Craotia +4 +8 +6 +15 33

23rd 39 Luxembourg +11 +14 +3 +11 39

24th 58 Slovakia +14 +13 +16 +15 58

PGAs OF EUROPE INTERNATIONAL TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS 2009

Den 12.11.2009

Dagbog fra de 3 spillere, Rune Olsen, Christian R. Melbye og Ronni Christensen, som alle deltager ved PGA of Europes Team Championchip de næste dage. Der spilles på Roda Golf.

I søndags spillede Christian Roar ProAm med tre spanier. Spillerne var ikke var særlig opdateret i det engelske sprog. Men trods sprogproblemer var runden sjov og trods alt indeholdte den en del gode slag. Rune og Ronni brugte dagen med besøg på en af nabo banerne for at få trænet lidt.

I lørdags var der træningsrunde på programmet, og vi var virkelig i godt humør, lige indtil vi kl. 08.30 kom over i klubhuset. Banen var nemlig lukket pga. den voldsomme vindstyrke. Det var så slemt, at palmerne nogle steder var væltet ind på banen. Først kl. 14.00 lykkedes det os at komme ud på banen, stadig med vindforhold, som nok havde gjort alle områdets windsurfere lykkelige. Vinden holdte os ikke tilbage for spilles, det skulle der. Vi kom rundt og var ganske positive over banen og spillet. Hvis der er nogle som vil arrangere golfrejser for klubmedlemmer, kan vi varmt anbefale Roda.

I går kom vi så i gang med turneringen. Jeg var første dansker på banen og selv om jeg slog mange gode slag var jeg i dag ikke lige den skarpeste Pedro i Spanien. Ronni startede ud med at være 3 under par på for-ni. Rune var efter de første ni huller lige par. Da vi rundede scoretavlen på 9. hul var Danmark på en andenplads i minus 3. Jubiiii. Men efter de sidste 9 huller, som grundet vinden og hullernes længde spilles meget svære, så scores ud som følger. Christian 80, Ronni 76 og Rune 73. Samlet holdscore på +5, som giver en 14. plads. Dog er der kun 5 slag op til en femte plads. England har allerede skabt sig en solid føring på 6 slag med en holdscore på -7.

I dag var vejret helt i top, omkring de 22 grader og meget lidt vind. Der var således lagt op til god golf. Men vi formåede ikke helt at udnytte chancen for at score lavt. Rune var igen rundt i den bedste score i en absolut godkendt 71 (-1), Ronni var i 77 og jeg kom rundt i 75. Så dagens holdscore blev to over par. Desværre valgte mange af vores konkurrenter at udnytte de gode forhold til at spille runder i par eller under. Derfor blev det ikke til en bedre placering men i stedet faldt vi en tilbage til en 15. plads.

Vi glæder os allerede til at skulle ud igen i morgen og forhåbentlig kan vi få de lidt løse slag væk og spille bedre som gerne skulle resulterer i et avancement på nogle pladser. Vi er blevet enige om at Ronni og jeg har fået carte blance til at angribe for at se om den ene ikke kan få en lav runde i hus også regner vi med at Rune kan bibeholde det stabile spil og komme undt omkring par.

Hvis I vil følge med kan I gå ind på PGA  of Europe´s hjemmeside, www.pgae.com, livescoring.

C. Roar over and out.

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