ENGLISH GOLF UNION PRESS RELEASE

ENGLISH PLAYERS WIN THREE CONTINENTAL
TITLES IN FINLAND, CZECH REP & GERMANY

Hard on the heels of England’s fine victory in the Boys' Home Internationals in Wales, Luke Collins, Neil Chaudhuri and Ben Parker rounded off a triumphant week for English amateur golf by winning the Finnish, Czech and German Amateur Championships respectively.
Collins, 22, from Somerset, won the Finnish title in Helsinki, carding a closing round of 69 for seven-under-par 206 and a three-shot winning margin from Mikael Salminen from Finland.
Collins, a member of the England A squad and winner of the Berkshire Trophy this summer, had the lowest returns for each of the three rounds.
Ben Evans from Sussex finished fifth on 213 and Gary Wolstenholme, a former winner of the event, was 11th a shot further back.
Mark Thistleton was 44th after missing the halfway cut.
England also won the Nations Cup by six shots.
Leading final scores:
Finnish Open Amateur Championship
206 L Collins (Eng) 70 67 69.
209 M Salminen (Fin) 71 68 70.
212 M Christensen (Swe) 71 71 70.
212 J Haglund (Swe) 70 71 71.
Other English scores:
213 B Evans 70 71 72.
214 G Wolstenholme 71 71 72.
MISSED CUT
151 M Thistleton 80 71.

In the Czech Amateur at the Astoria Golf Resort, Chaudhuri was locked in a battle with Italy’s Nino Bertasio for the title. Chaudhuri went into the final round with a four-stroke lead but the Italian cut that to two on the front nine only for Chaudhuri to reply with some excellent shots. The key to his victory came on the 16th when he holed an eagle putt which was to prove decisive. Chaudhuri carded a closing 66 for 265, 15 under par, while Bertasio was on 12 under. Having been the joint winner of the Peruvian Open in 2005, this was Chaudhuri’s second victory of the season following his triumph in the Duncan Putter.
He said: “It is a very special moment for me. It is my first time in the Czech Republic and I am very glad that I was victorious. Nino gave me good run but I think I responded to that well. That is why I am very proud of this," said 22 year old from Leicestershire.
Andrew Sullivan finished equal 11th on 280 while Gregg Blainey shot 286 for joint 29th place. Leading final scores:
Czech Amateur Championship
265 N Chaudhuri (Eng) 67 65 67 66.
268 N Bertasio (It) 68 67 68 65 273 P Strýèek (Cze) 70 67 68 68 274 J Korda (Cze) 68 72 67 67 Other English scores:
280 A Sullivan 69 72 67 72.
286 G Blainey 71 71 72 72.
Parker, the England international, was a clear winner of the German Amateur at Seddiner See near Berlin, completing a five-stroke victory over the field.
The Hamburg-based 20 year old finished on six-under-par 282 after a closing round of 71. He won by five shots from Germany’s Alexander Knappe, who climbed the leader board with a final round of 68, and Hinrich Arkenau with 70.
Hugues Joannes from Belgium, runner-up in last year’s Carris Trophy at Sherwood Forest, carded a closing 73 to drop back into a share of fourth place with another German, Maximilian Kieffer.
Leading final scores:
German Amateur Championship
282 B Parker (Eng) 71 66 74 71.
287 A Knappe (Ger) 75 72 72 68.
287 H Arkenau (Ger) 73 73 71 70.
288 H Joannes (Bel) 72 70 73 73.
288 M Kieffer (Ger) 75 68 76 69.