1961 European Ladies' Team Championship
# 1961 European Ladies' Team Championship

The 1961 European Ladies' Team Championship took place 22–27 September on the Circolo Golf Villa D'Este outside Como, Italy. It was the second ladies' amateur golf European Ladies' Team Championship.

## Venue

The course, situated 4 kilometres south-east of Como, Lombardy region, the seventh oldest golf course in Italy, was designed by Peter Gannon and opened in 1926.

The championship course was set up with par 69.

## Format

All participating teams played two qualification rounds of stroke play, counting the three best scores out of up to four players for each team. The four best teams formed flight A. The next four teams formed flight B.

The winner in each flight was determined by a round-robin system. All teams in the flight met each other and the team with most points for team matches in flight A won the tournament, using the scale, win=2 points, halved=1 point, lose=0 points. In each match between two nation teams, two foursome games and four single games were played.

## Teams

Eight nation teams contested the event. Each team consisted of a minimum of four players. Spain and Portugal took part for the first time.

Players in some of the teams

| Country | Players |
| - | - |
| France | Claudine Cros, Martine Gajan-Giraud, M. Mahé, Lally de Saint-Sauveur (playing captain), Brigitte Varangot |
| Netherlands | L. de Boer, M. Henderson, Annie van Lanslot, Anneke van Riemsdijk |
| Portugal | Barbara de Brito e Cunha, Cardie, Cordier, Vera Costa Lennox, Salette de Sousa e Melo |
| Sweden | Gertrud Ahlberg, Ann-Marie Brynolf (playing captain), Birgit Forsman, Britt Matsson, Ann-Katrin Svensson |
| West Germany | Marietta Gütermann, Vera Möller, Monika Möller, Monika Steegman, Liselotte Strenger |

Other participating teams

* Country
* Belgium
* Italy
* Spain

## Winners

Defending champions team France won the championship, earning 6 points in flight A. Host nation Italy earned second place, just as they did at the previous championship two years earlier.

Individual winner in the opening 36-hole stroke play qualifying competition was Mercedes Etchart de Ártiach, Spain, with a score of 4-over-par 142.

## Results

Qualification rounds

| Place | Country | Score | To par |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | France | 226-215=441 | +27 |
| 2 | Italy | 229-226=455 | +41 |
| T3 | Spain* | 229-233=462 | +48 |
| T3 | Belgium | 235-227=462 | +48 |
| 5 | West Germany | 233-236=469 | +55 |
| 6 | Netherlands | 237-238=475 | +61 |
| 7 | Sweden | 242-260=502 | +88 |
| 8 | Portugal | 256-256=509 | +95 |
| Place | Player | Country | Score | To par |
| 1 | Mercedes Etchart de Ártiach | Spain | 71-71=142 | +4 |

Flight A

Team matches

| 2 | France | Belgium | 0 |
| - | - | - | - |
| 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| 2 | Italy | Spain | 0 |
| 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| 2 | France | Spain | 0 |
| 5 | 5 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | Italy | Belgium | 0 |
| 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| 2 | France | Italy | 0 |
| 5 | 5 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | Spain | Belgium | 0 |
| 4.5 | 4.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 |

Team standings

| Country | Place | W | T | L | Game points | Points |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| France | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 14–4 | 6 |
| Italy | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 9–9 | 4 |
| Spain | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7.5–10.5 | 2 |
| Belgium | 4 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5.5–12.5 | 0 |

Flight B

Team matches

| 2 | West Germany | Portugal | 0 |
| - | - | - | - |
| 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | Netherlands | Sweden * | 0 |
| 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| 2 | West Germany | Sweden * | 0 |
| 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| 2 | Netherlands | Portugal | 0 |
| 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| 2 | West Germany | Netherlands | 0 |
| 4.5 | 4.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 |
| 2 | Sweden | Portugal | 0 |
| 3.5 | 3.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 |

* Note: Sweden was given walkover in three games against the Netherlands and in two games against then West Germany, due to food poisoning.

Team standings

| Country | Place | W | T | L | Game points | Points |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| West Germany | 5 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 14.5–3.5 | 6 |
| Netherlands | 6 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 9.5–8.5 | 4 |
| Sweden | 7 | 1 | | 1 | 7.5–10.5 | 2 |
| Portugal | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.5–13.5 | 0 |

Final standings

| Place | Country |
| - | - |
| | France |
| | Italy |
| | Spain |
| 4 | Belgium |
| 5 | West Germany |
| 6 | Netherlands |
| 7 | Sweden |
| 8 | Portugal |

Sources:

