Players Corner
26.06.2020
Swiss Pro Series: Kim Métraux wins
At the first tournament of the Pro Series after the lockdown, a lady showed up big: Kim Métraux won the tournament in Neuchâtel on 15 June with a round of 67 (4 under par) ahead of Lionel Weber (68) and Paul Corrado (69). The second tournament in this series will be played, Monday 29 June, at the GC de Lausanne.
Kim Métraux
Swiss Golf Tour Summer 2020: Métraux double victory at the start
One day after her victory in the Pro Series, Kim Métraux followed up on the Swiss Golf Tour Summer 2020 and won the opening tournament of this unique series with 67 shots at the GCC Bonmont. Métraux owed her victory to her score on the back nine; like Kim, her younger sister Morgane and her boyfriend Harry Ellis needed 67 strokes - it was a triple family triumph, so to speak.
On 17 June, Kim Métraux fixed the triple: the left-hander triumphed with a 66 round at GC Domat/Ems. Second place went to Marco Iten (68 strokes), who was fourth at Bonmont; with the better back-nine he kept the upper hand over Mathias Eggenberger and the two amateurs Mauro Gilardi and Loris Schüpbach.
One day later, the third tournament of this tour in the Golfpark Holzhäusern had to be cancelled due to thunderstorms.
The tournament continued on 23 June in Golf Lavaux, where Marco Iten won with a round of 67. Morgane Métraux finished second - but with the worse score on the back nine. Third place was shared by Benjamin Rusch and amateur Ginnie Lee, who both needed 68 strokes.
One day later, the tour made a guest appearance at Golfpark Moossee. There the Englishman Harry Ellis won with a 64-hole round (8 under par). With 66 strokes each, the two amateurs Cédric Gugler and Ronan Kleu shared second place.
The Swiss Golf Tour will continue on 6 July in Ascona.
Golden State Tour: Perry Cohen in the prize money
In the USA, not only the PGA Tour has resumed playing, but also smaller tours have been playing again since mid-June. The Swiss Perry Cohen played twice on the Golden State Tour. On the weekend of 20/21 June, he finished 21st in the Sierra Nevada Open as a T21st and won some prize money. Last week he failed to make the cut at the Reno Open.
Perry Cohen
International Tours (with Swiss participation)
The LPGA Tour is scheduled to resume play at the end of July with a new 3-day tournament. The Drive On Championship is scheduled for 31 July to 2 August at the Inverness Club in Toledo (Ohio). However, the Evian Championship, scheduled for the beginning of August, has been cancelled.
The European Tour and the Challenge Tour will resume the season with two co-sanctioned tournaments. And this time in Austria. A new addition to the calendar is the Austrian Open, which will be played at the Diamond GC in Atzenbrugg (Lower Austria) from 9 to 12 July. From July 15th to 18th, the Euram Bank Open will take place at neighbouring GC Adamstal; the tournament was originally planned as a challenge tour event, but has now been upgraded to a co-sanctioned tournament. In Atzenbrugg and Ramsau, two completely different courses await the professionals; while Atzenbrugg is completely flat and has many water hazards, Adamstal is one of the most attractive alpine golf courses of all.
The senior professionals will not be able to play at all on the European circuit this year. The Staysure Tour completely cancelled the season last week, partly because of the advanced age of the players. The complexity of a tournament series in so many different countries and on so many different continents also contributed to the cancellation. All "categories" of players remain unchanged for 2021.
On the Alps Tour, the tournaments have been postponed or cancelled until mid-August (including the Saint Malo Mixed Open, which was planned jointly with LETAS). From August 13th onwards, there are still eight tournaments on the calendar. The re-start is to take place with the Gösser Open in Maria Lankowitz near Graz.
The Pro Golf Tour will be suspended until the end of July. The Polish Open in Prusice (Poland), which has been postponed to July 29th-31st, is scheduled to start again. Currently, a total of seven pro golf tour events are still planned for this year.
The Corona break is even longer on the Ladies European Tour, where a resumption of play is planned on 13 August with the Ladies Scottish Open. The Evian Championship on the French shore of Lake Geneva has been cancelled.
One week later (after further tournament cancellations in the last weeks) the LET Access Series will continue. There the Tegelberga Open in Sweden is scheduled for August 20.
The Symetra Tour, on the other hand, is scheduled for July 24th - in Battle Creek (Michigan), where the FireKeepers Casino Hotel Championship is on the agenda.
