Girrbach with two European Cuts
29.05.2019

At the end of April, Joel Girrbach managed to enter the field of the European tour event "Trophee Hassan II", which was played at the Royal Golf Dar Es Salaam in Rabat (Morocco). The Swiss PGA Playing Pro took his chance at the top European level and scored with rounds of 74 and 75 strokes and qualified for the weekend. In two final rounds Girrbach played 76 and 77 strokes and dropped to 67th place. Two weeks later the 25-year-old teed up once more on the European Tour level, but missed the cut at the British Masters in Southport (England) by four strokes. Last week in Himmerland things went better: Girrbach made the cut for "Made in Denmark", but dropped back to 55th place due to a disappointing third round.

At the Challenge de España in early May in Urturi, two Swiss qualified for the final rounds, Benjamin Rusch and Raphael de Sousa. With a total score of 285 strokes (3 under par), the two finished at the end of the tied 27th rank. Joel Girrbach, Luca Galliano and Marco Iten missed the cut. A week later, none of the three runners Swiss (De Sousa, Iten, Galliano) classified in the Prague Challenge in the prize money. Also last week at the Czech Challenge in Brno, all Swiss PGA professionals did not succeed; neither Marco Iten nor Raphael De Sousa or Benjamin Rusch could catch up enough in the second round to qualify for the weekend. No Swiss in the final rounds as well at the Turkish Airlines Challenge in Atakum on the Black Sea: All four Swiss PGA members - Raphael De Sousa (in one fell swoop), Perry Cohen, Mathias Eggenberger and Marco Iten - failed to make the cut.

The European tour of the over-50 professionals paused in May. The program featured "only" the Senior PGA Championship organized by the US PGA Tour Champions in New York. André Bossert was not directly qualified for this senior major due to his recent Order of Merit classification on the Staysure Tour, but decided to play a qualifying tournament on Monday before the Senior PGA Championship. «The conditions were really tough and I had to fight incredibly. In the end, I was one over par - a shot too much for a place in the field of this senior majors, explains «Bossy» a little disappointed. As a "second reserve" he did not make it as expected in the tournament.

At the end of April, the Pro Golf Tour stopped at the Haugschlag NÖ Open in the golf resort of Haugschlag. The trip to the Czech border was worthwhile for the Swiss PGA Pros: Benjamin Rusch had led the tournament after two laps together with ultimate winner Jan Cafourek; a 70-lap (2 under par) threw Rusch back to third place. Rusch missed the play-off for the tournament victory by one stroke. Jeremy Freiburghaus (8th place) and Yann Pfeifer (10th place) contributed to the good team result of the Swiss. In the EXTEC Trophy a week later in the Czech Republic, Rusch was classified as the best Swiss in 9th place; Davide Albertini was 20th, Jeremy Freiburghaus 28.

At the Alps Tour tournament in the Golf Valdeluz (Spain) in the first half of May the scores were spectacularly deep. The cut after two laps was 10 under par - only Mathias Eggenberger made it to the final round. With a total score of 19 under par (after three rounds), the Swiss ranked 19th. The tournament was won by Frenchman Frederic Lacroix - with 28 under par! A week later, all participating Swiss failed the cut at the Gösser Open in the Styrian Maria Lankowitz. Last week at the Memorial Giorgio Bordoni at the GC La Pinetina near Como, two Swiss made it into the prize money with Arthur Ameil-Planchin and Mathias Eggenberger. While Ameil-Planchin ranked 25th with balanced rounds of 70, 68 and 71 strokes, Eggenberger fell back to 51th after a good opening round of 66 strokes on the following days with 75 and 72 strokes.

The Ladies European Tour (LET) and the LET Access Series (LETAS) jointly conducted the Jabra Ladies Open in Evian. Out of the five Swiss players, only the amateur Elena Moosmann made it into the final round. The central Swiss amateur finished in the end with 223 strokes (+10) on the 40th rank. Swiss PGA member Clara Pietri failed with +8 after two rounds by one shot on the cut; Caroline Rominger (+11), Rachel Rossel (+12) and Melanie Mätzler (+17) missed the final qualification.

At the sixth edition of the VP Bank Ladies Open at the GC Gams-Werdenberg, there was the first time a home victory to cheer: The 17-year-old amateur Elena Moosmann had led the field after the two strokeplay rounds and in the 9-hole matchplay on Sunday she secured her first tournament victory at professional level. In the final duel for the title, she won against the English Proette Hayley Davis "1 up". Three of the seven Swiss-PGA Pros who made it into the top 48 matchplay rounds and thus into the prize money - Anaïs Maggetti finished in 14th, Caroline Rominger in 33rd place and tournament ambassador Melanie Mätzler in 36th place. Ten days later at the first ever Neuchâtel Ladies' Championship, Moosmann and Rominger were ranked as the best in Switzerland. Eight other Swiss women and Swiss PGA pros Clara Pietri (35), Anaïs Maggetti (41), Rachel Rossel (55) and Eva-Maria Moehwald ( 59th place) also qualified for the final round.

At the Swiss PGA Tour event on the Links Course of the GC Leuk in the Valais, Jean-Yan Dusson (Men) with rounds of 68 and 72 strokes and Franco Li Puma (Seniors) with rounds of 70 and 75 strokes won the respective categories.

At the Championnat de Suisse Romande in the GCC Wallenried Neo-Professional Jeremy Freiburghaus won his first professional victory. The took the win one shot ahead of the best amateur Mike Saxer. Nice detail on the side: eleven years ago Freiburghaus had last played on the course in Wallenried - and then won the final of the U12 and U14 championship.