Players Corner - July 2020
27.07.2020

European Tour/Challenge Tour: Girrbach and De Sousa in the prize money

European Tour and Challenge Tour have resumed the season with two co-sanctioned tournaments in Lower Austria. The re-start was at the Austrian Open, which was played at the Diamond GC in Atzenbrugg. With Raphaël de Sousa in 62nd place (291 strokes - 73/69/73/76) and Joel Girrbach in 67th place (293 strokes - 70/72/76/75), two Swiss players took prize money. Benjamin Rusch missed the cut by one stroke. One week later, the Euram Bank Open, which had been upgraded to a co-sanctioned event, was played in the neighbouring GC Adamstal. Of the four Swiss players, only Joel Girrbach made it into the prize money. One day before his 27th birthday, the Thurgau native finished the tournament in 50th place; he needed 281 strokes (1 over par) for the four rounds on the hilly course. De Sousa (67/73) and Rusch (78/68) missed the cut by two strokes, Mathias Eggenberger (68/72) by three.

Mémorial Olivier Barras: Round of 59 by Harry Ellis

Even without Omega European Masters, world-class golf was shown in Crans-sur-Sierre in 2020. At the 56th Mémorial Olivier Barras in early July, Englishman Harry Ellis improved Baldovino Dassu's 49-year-old course record by one stroke to 59 (12 under par) in round 2! He thus laid the foundation stone for the tournament victory: With 194 strokes (19 under par) for three rounds, the Englishman won clearly ahead of Mathias Eggenberger, who needed 203 strokes and remained below the course standard in all three rounds, as did third-placed Joel Girrbach (a total of 204 strokes). Ellis' girlfriend Morgane Métraux won the women's competition with a score of 206 strokes.

Swiss Pro Series: Rodolphe de Heer wins in Lausanne

The second tournament of this year's Pro Series was played at the GC de Lausanne at the end of June. Rodolphe de Heer took the win with a 69 card, with Welsh player Jonathan Voyle and French European Tour player Raphael Jacquelin (winner of the Mémorial Olivier Barras 1997) sharing second place with 70 strokes each. The best lady was Morgane Métraux, who also stayed under par with 71 strokes and finished 4th.

Morgane Métraux was then the outstanding winner of the third seasonal tournament in this series. On July 20, the Romande played a 66 round at GC Interlaken-Unterseen and distanced the competition by two or more shots. In second place followed the Austrian LET-proette Christine Wolf with 68 shots, and third place was secured by the Frenchman Lionel Weber with 69 shots.

Swiss PGA Tour: Philippe Weppernig wins in Kandern

The first event of the Swiss PGA Tour 2020 could be played on July 13th and 14th at the GC Markgräflerland in Kandern. 38 professionals were at the start and showed golfing at a high level in two categories (men/women and seniors). Philippe Weppernig and James Johnson fought an exciting battle for victory in the men's singles; Johnson was in the lead after day 1 with 66 strokes, followed by Weppernig and Corsin Caviezel, who both needed 69 strokes. In round 2, the tide turned and Johnson hit a birdie on 18 to 69; Weppernig had 66 shots, Caviezel 68 and finished third. In the playoff for the win, Weppernig kept the upper hand. The only lady in the field, Clara Pietri, finished 17th with rounds of 72 and 79 strokes, while Harald Rohrbach won the seniors' ranking with two rounds of 70 (a total of 4 under par). Vivian John Ross followed in second place with 142 strokes, Tony Price and Lloyd Freeman shared third place with 144 strokes each.

Swiss Golf Summer Tour: Three tournaments, three winners

At the seventh tournament in this national tournament series on July 7 in Golf Sempachersee, amateurs showed their best. Elena Moosmann from Central Switzerland crowned herself tournament winner with 66 strokes (6 under par). Second place went to Selim Hediger with 68 shots, followed by Marco Iten (69 shots), the best-ranked Swiss PGA Professional, who finished third.

Two days later tournament number 8 was on the agenda in Lausanne. With 67 shots (5 under par), the local Morgan Métraux took her first victory on this tour. Second place went to Graubünden professional Jeremy Freiburghaus, who, like third-placed amateur Elena Moosmann and Proette Rachel Rossel, needed 69 shots.

The last tournament in this series was finally played on July 15th in Bad Ragaz (instead of July 6th in Ascona). In Eastern Switzerland, the Métraux sisters once again showed their best performance. Morgane Métraux won with an impressive 62 strokes (8 under par) in inclement weather, while Kim Métraux, as runner-up, needed one stroke more. Third place was shared by Rachel Rossel and Luca Galliano, who both needed 65 strokes.

Swiss Golf: Pros dominate Championnat de Suisse Orientale

A strong field of professionals and amateurs played last week in Lipperswil for the Eastern Swiss Championship (Championnat de Suisse Orientale). Luca Galliano played on Saturday morning in round 1 with 61 strokes (12 under par) new course record. On Saturday afternoon he needed 14 strokes - two more than in the morning round - and had to give up the lead to Mathias Eggenberger. In the final, local Benjamin Rusch took the lead with the second 65 round of this weekend. With an impressive 22 under par after three rounds, Rusch won the "home game" two shots ahead of Galliano. Eggenberger had to settle for third place after Sunday's unfortunate backnine. In the women's tournament, four players were at the top of the leaderboard shortly before the end at 9 under par; Proette Kim Métraux and amateur Yael Berger were able to maintain this result and had to go into the play-off, where Métraux grabbed the title with a birdie on the first extra hole (the relatively short course 17).

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).

The seniors professionals are not going anywhere on the European circuit this year. The Staysure Tour has completely cancelled the season. All "categories" of the players remain unchanged for 2021.

On the Alps Tour, the season will start again on August 13th with the Gösser Open in Maria Lankowitz near Graz (Austria). Currently there are still eight tournaments on the calendar this year.

On the Pro Golf Tour, the Polish Open, which will be played at the Gradi Golf Club from 29 to 31 July, will be the re-start. A total of seven Pro Golf Tour events are still planned this year.

The Ladies European Tour will resume play on 13 August with the Ladies Scottish Open. The players of the LET Access Series will have to wait even longer; the tournaments planned for the end of August in Sweden have been cancelled. The start of the season is planned with the Flumserberg Ladies Open (3-5 September) at the GC Gams-Werdenberg.

The Symetra Tour returned to play on 24 July in Battle Creek (Michigan), but without Swiss participation for the time being.