2008 European Amateur Team Championship
# 2008 European Amateur Team Championship

The 2008 European Amateur Team Championship took place 1–5 July at Royal Park Golf & Country Club in Fiano, Italy. It was the 26th men's golf European Amateur Team Championship.

It was the first time the championship was played in consecutive years, since its inauguration in 1959.

## Venue

The club was founded in 1971 by the Agnelli family. Its first course, the Allianz Course, a parkland and forest course, in Fiano, in the Metropolitan City of Turin, about 20 kilometres (12 miles) northwest of Turin, in the region Piedmont, Italy, was designed the same year by Robert Trent Jones Sr.

## Format

Each team consisted of 6 players, playing two rounds of stroke-play over two days, counting the five best scores each day for each team.

The eight best teams formed flight A, in knock-out match-play over the next three days. The teams were seeded based on their positions after the stroke play. The first placed team were drawn to play the quarter-final against the eight placed team, the second against the seventh, the third against the sixth and the fourth against the fifth. Teams were allowed to use six players during the team matches, selecting four of them in the two morning foursome games and five players in to the afternoon single games. Teams knocked out after the quarter-finals played one foursome game and four single games in each of their remaining matches. Games all square at the 18th hole were declared halved, if the team match was already decided.

The eight teams placed 9–16 in the qualification stroke-play formed flight B, to play similar knock-out play, with one foursome game and four single games in each match, to decide their final positions.

The four teams placed 17–20 formed flight C, to play each other in a round-robin system, with one foursome game and four single games in each match, to decide their final positions.

## Teams

20 nation teams contested the event, the same number of teams as at the previous event one year earlier. Poland took part for the first time. Each team consisted of six players.

Players in the leading teams

| Country | Players |
| - | - |
| Austria | Hans Peter Bacher, Tano Kromer, Bernhard Reiter, Florian Sander, Philipp Sharma, Johannes Steiner |
| Denmark | Peter Baunsoe, Morten Ørum Madsen, Kristian Nielsen, Rasmus Hjelm Nielsen, Jacob Roth |
| England | Charlie Ford, Matt Haines, Sam Hutsby, Steve Uzzell, Dale Whitnell, Chris Wood |
| Finland | Janne Kaske, Immu Korvenmaa, Tuomas Pollari, Mikael Salminen, Kalle Samooja, Henri Satama |
| France | David Antoneli, Édouard Dubois, Victor Dubuisson, Benjamin Hebert, Alexandre Kaleka, Jean Wolff |
| Germany | Sean Einhaus, Florian Fritsch, Stephan Gross, Allen John, Maximilian Kieffer, Alexander Knappe |
| Ireland | Jonathan Caldwell, Paul Cutler, Niall Kearney, Shane Lowry, Paul O'Hanlon, Gareth Shaw |
| Italy | Nino Bertasio, Federico Colombo, Matteo Manassero, Andrea Pavan, Cristiano Terragni, Claudio Vigano |
| Netherlands | Tristan Bierenbroodspot, Richard Kind, Reinier Saxton, Tim Sluiter, Jurrian Van Der Vaart, Floris de Vries |
| Norway | Morten Erik Bergan, Knut Børsheim, Tor Erik Knudsen, Espen Kofstad, Markus Leandersson, Joakim Mikkelsen |
| Scotland | Wallace Booth, Gavin Dear, Callum Macaulay, Paul O'Hara, Keir M'Nicoll, Michael Stewart |
| Spain | Jorge Campillo, Moises Cobo, Borja Etchart, Pedro Oriol, Carlos Pigem, Juan Sarasti, |
| Sweden | Jesper Kennegård, Henrik Norlander, Tobias Rosendahl, Fredrik Quicker, Pontus Widegren, Björn Åkesson |
| Wales | Nigel Edwards, Ben Enoch, Rhys Enoch, Craig Evans, Zac Gould, Ben Westgate |

Other participating teams

* Country
* Belgium
* Estonia
* Iceland
* Poland
* Portugal
* Switzerland

## Winners

Five-time-winners team Scotland won the opening 36-hole competition, with a 22-under-par score of 698. Tied five strokes behind were team Sweden and team Germany. Sweden earned 2nd place on the tie breaking better non-counting scores. Host nation Italy, with 15-year-old future European Tour winner Matteo Manassero in the team, finished 5th.

There was no official award for the lowest individual score, but individual leader were Wallace Booth, Scotland, with a 10-under-par score of 134, two strokes ahead of Jorge Campillo, Spain, and Callum Macaulay, Scotland.

Defending champions team Ireland, led by team captain Michael Burns, won the gold medal, earning their sixth title, beating team England in the final 41⁄2–21⁄2. The winning Irish team, combined from the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, included future professional major winner 21-year-old Shane Lowry.

Team Germany, earned the bronze on third place, after beating France 4–3 in the bronze match.

## Results

Qualification round

| Place | Country | Score | To par |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Scotland | 349-349=698 | −22 |
| T2 | Sweden * | 349-354=703 | −17 |
| T2 | Germany | 351-352=703 | −17 |
| 4 | England | 358-347=705 | −15 |
| 5 | Italy | 353-355=708 | −12 |
| 6 | Spain | 352-357=709 | −11 |
| 7 | Ireland | 353-366=719 | −1 |
| 8 | France | 349-373=722 | +2 |
| T9 | Netherlands * | 358-367=725 | +5 |
| T9 | Finland | 357-368=725 | +5 |
| 11 | Wales | 357-369=726 | +6 |
| 12 | Norway | 364-366=730 | +10 |
| 13 | Denmark | 363-369=732 | +12 |
| 14 | Austria | 368-371=739 | +19 |
| T15 | Portugal * | 373-373=746 | +26 |
| T15 | Belgium | 373-373=746 | +26 |
| 17 | Switzerland | 375-374=749 | +29 |
| 18 | Iceland | 387-370=757 | +37 |
| 19 | Estonia | 410-408=818 | +98 |
| 20 | Poland | 404-418=822 | +102 |
| Place | Player | Country | Score | To par |
| 1 | Wallace Booth | Scotland | 69-65=134 | −10 |
| T2 | Jorge Campillo | Spain | 68-67=135 | −9 |
| T2 | Callum Macaulay | Scotland | 65-70=135 | −9 |
| T4 | Tobias Rosendal | Sweden | 68-69=137 | −7 |
| T4 | Chris Wood | England | 72-65=137 | −7 |
| T6 | Espen Kofstad | Norway | 69-69=138 | −6 |
| T6 | Alexander Knappe | Germany | 67-71=138 | −6 |
| T6 | Gareth Shaw | Ireland | 68-70=138 | −6 |
| T6 | Floris de Vries | Netherlands | 64-74=138 | −6 |
| T10 | Borja Etchart | Spain | 68-71=139 | −5 |
| T10 | Sam Hutsby | England | 70-69=139 | −5 |
| T10 | Henrik Norlander | Sweden | 70-69=139 | −5 |
| T10 | Andrea Pavan | Italy | 68-71=139 | −5 |

Flight A

| Quarter finals | Quarter finals | Semi finals | Semi finals | Final | Final |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Ireland | 5.5 | | |
| Sweden | 1.5 | | |
| Sweden | 1.5 | Ireland | 5 |
| | | Germany | 2 |
| Germany | 5 | Germany | 2 |
| Spain | 2 | | | | |
| Spain | 2 | | | Ireland | 4.5 |
| | | | | England | 2.5 |
| England | 5.5 | | | England | 2.5 |
| Italy | 1.5 | | | | |
| Italy | 1.5 | England | 5 | | |
| | | France | 2 | Bronze match | Bronze match |
| France | 4.5 | France | 2 | Bronze match | Bronze match |
| Scotland | 2.5 | | | | |
| Scotland | 2.5 | | | Germany | 4 |
| | | | | France | 3 |
| Elimination matches | Elimination matches | Match for 5th place | Match for 5th place |
| Spain | 3 |
| Sweden | 2 | | |
| Sweden | 2 | Scotland | 3 |
| | | Spain | 2 |
| Scotland | 3.5 | Spain | 2 |
| Italy | 1.5 | | |
| Italy | 1.5 | Match for 7th place | Match for 7th place |
| | | Sweden | 3 |
| | | Italy | 2 |
| Ireland | England |
| 4.5 | 2.5 |
| G. Shaw / S. Lowry | C. Wood / S. Hutsby 1 hole |
| P. Cutler / J. Caldwell 3 & 1 | S. Uzzell / D. Whitnell |
| Gareth Shaw 2 & 1 | Charlie Ford |
| Paul Cutler 1 hole | Chris Wood |
| Niall Kearney 3 & 2 | Matt Haines |
| Jonathan Caldwell AS * | Sam Hutsby AS * |
| Shane Lowry | Dale Whitnell 5 & 3 |

Flight B

Bracket

| Round 1 | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 2 | Match for 9th place | Match for 9th place |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Netherlands | 4 | | |
| Belgium | 1 | | |
| Belgium | 1 | Netherlands | 3 |
| | | Denmark | 2 |
| Norway | 3 | Denmark | 2 |
| Denmark | 2 | | | | |
| Denmark | 2 | | | Netherlands | 3 |
| | | | | Austria | 2 |
| Austria | 3 | | | Austria | 2 |
| Wales | 2 | | | | |
| Wales | 2 | Austria | 3 | | |
| | | Portugal | 2 | Match for 11th place | Match for 11th place |
| Portugal | 4 | Portugal | 2 | Match for 11th place | Match for 11th place |
| Finland | 1 | | | | |
| Finland | 1 | | | Denmark | 4 |
| | | | | Portugal | 1 |
| Elimination matches | Elimination matches | Match for 13th place | Match for 13th place |
| Belgium | 5 |
| Norway | 0 | | |
| Norway | 0 | Norway | 3.5 |
| | | Wales | 1.5 |
| Wales | 3 | Wales | 1.5 |
| Finland | 2 | | |
| Finland | 2 | Match for 15th place | Match for 15th place |
| | | Belgium | 3 |
| | | Finland | 2 |

Flight C

| Switzerland | Poland |
| - | - |
| 5 | 0 |
| Iceland | Estonia |
| 5 | 0 |
| Switzerland | Estonia |
| 4 | 1 |
| Iceland | Poland |
| 5 | 0 |
| Iceland | Switzerland |
| 3 | 2 |
| Poland | Estonia |
| 3 | 2 |

Final standings

| Place | Country |
| - | - |
| | Ireland |
| | England |
| | Germany |
| 4 | France |
| 5 | Scotland |
| 6 | Spain |
| 7 | Sweden |
| 8 | Italy |
| 9 | Netherlands |
| 10 | Austria |
| 11 | Denmark |
| 12 | Portugal |
| 13 | Norway |
| 14 | Wales |
| 15 | Belgium |
| 16 | Finland |
| 17 | Iceland |
| 18 | Switzerland |
| 19 | Poland |
| 20 | Estonia |

Sources:

