THE DUKE OF YORK YOUNG CHAMPIONS' TROPHY AT BALGOWNIE

ICELANDER GISLI WINS FOG 

SHORTENED TOURNAMENT 

NEWS RELEASE

There was no voting but eventually there was a result as Gisli Sveinbergsson became the third Icelander to be crowned Duke of York Young Champions Trophy winner in a weather-interrupted tournament at Royal Aberdeen Golf Club today.

The scheduled 54-hole stroke-play event for under-18 boys and girls’ national champions was reduced to 36 holes because a stubborn fog off the North Sea meant play was suspended due to poor visibility for a third and final time. 

Organisers and R and A officials simply ran out of time and had no option but to reduce the tournament for the first time in its 14-year history.

Sveinbergsson was the model of consistency despite the testing conditions and his rounds of 69, 68 for a five-under-par 137 aggregate over the famous Balgownie links was good enough to win by four strokes from Japan’s Ren Okazaki, who closed with a level par 71. Mexico’s Eduardo Carrete (71) and Italy’s Carlotta Ricolfi (72) shared third on level par 142. 

“I’m very tired but am absolutely delighted to have won,” enthused Sveinbergsson immediately after the claxon sounded to end play for a final time. “This is definitely my best achievement so far.”

“The last two Icelandic winners of this prestigious tournament showed us the way (Gudmundur Kristjansson in 2010 and Ragnar Gardasson in 2012). They showed me that it was possible and I came into this tournament believing I could win,” said the winner just as his mum was calling him on the mobile - presumably to congratulate her son.

For the 2014 champion it’s back to more “mundane” matters such as catching up on schoolwork next week and in autumn 2015 he starts a scholarship with Kent State University in Ohio.

Sveinbergsson made a fast start to his final round with four birdies on the front nine to reach the turn in four-under 32. Despite bogeys at 12, 15 and 17, he bookended the back nine with birdies at 10 and 18 to run out the clear winner.

Ewen Ferguson, playing alongside Sveinbergsson and Ricolfi in the final group, finished as the leading Scot.

Despite a final round 75 he still tied eighth on three-over 145, while Ricolfi finished as the top girl player.

“It’s been a long week,” said Ferguson, this year’s Scottish Boys Match-play and Stroke-play champion. “I think it was a case of whoever grinded it out the best wins and Gilsi was a deserved winner. I played with him yesterday and today and he was very impressive. He handled the conditions well and scrambled the best.

“It just didn’t happen for me. It’s fine margins, some weeks work better than others,” added the Bearsden player, who will travel to the States and Dubai for a month each then South Africa for six weeks to work on his game – presumably without fog interruptions.

Murray Naysmith was next of the Scottish trio after a 73 left the plus two golfer tied 11th on five-over. Calum Fyfe dropped back with a closing 78 to finish 30th on 154.

The conclusion of Fyfe’s round illustrated the difficulty of conditions when he ran up a quadruple bogey 8 at the 18th.

“I hit two tee shots and simply couldn’t see where they went,” said Fyfe after the second suspension of play.

 “I lost two balls off the tee and ended up taking eight. The most challenging thing was trying to judge the distances and no visibility at the end.”

Belgium’s Emma Kaper shot the low round of the week with a magical second round 67 (on Wednesday) that included a hole-in-one at the par-three eighth where her eight-iron found the bottom of the cup.

Next year’s tournament returns to England and will be played at Prince’s Golf Club, Kent from September 9-1

THE DUKE OF YORK YOUNG CHAMPIONS' TROPHY TOURNAMENT
Royal Aberdeen Golf Club.
FINAL TOTALS 

Par 142 (2x71). Scheduled 54-hole tournament reduced to two rounds because of fog over two days. 

137 Gisli Sveinbergsson (Ice) 69, 68

141 Ren Okazaki (Jpn) 70, 71

142 Eduardo Carrete (Mex) 71, 71, Carlotta Ricolfi (Ita) 70, 72

143 Viktor Hovland (Nor) 72, 71, Marco Penge (Eng) 72, 71, Paul Boshoff (Rsa) 71, 72

145 Tristen Strydom (Rsa) 70, 75, Ewen Ferguson (Sco) 70, 75

146 Jillian Hollis (USA) 73, 73

147 Jack Davidson (Wal) 76, 71, Murray Naysmith (Sco) 74, 73

148 Renate Grimstad (Nor) 75, 73, Jesper Svensson (Swe) 74, 74

149 Oskar Bergqvist (Swe) 78, 71, Edoardo Lipparelli (Ita) 73, 76, Roos Haarman (Ned) 71, 78

150 Dominic Jones (Fin) 79, 71, Jack Singh Brar (Eng) 75, 75, Kono Matsumoto (Aus) 75, 75

151 Cooper Dossey (USA) 75, 76, Oliver Jespersen (Den) 72, 79

152 Minami Hiruta (Jpn) 77, 75, Leonie Bettel (Aus) 71, 81

153 Emma Kaper (Bel) 86, 67, Marek Siakala (Cze) 81, 72, Kamilla Bang (Den) 79, 74, Elizabeth Prior (Eng) 78, 75, Evelyn Arguelles (Mex) 76, 77

154 Calum Fyfe (Sco) 76, 78

155 Azelia Meichtry (Swi) 80, 75, Julie McCarthy (Ire) 79, 76, Stefano Mazzoli (Ita) 79, 76, Wanjoo Lee (Tri) 79, 76

156 Elin Esborn (Swe) 81, 75, Cara Gorlei (Rsa) 81, 75, Ragnhildur Kristendottir (Ice) 81, 75, Tony Gil (Can) 79, 77, Daniel Grumberg (Lux) 79, 77

157 Anna Svanka (Lat) 84, 73, Ben Chamberlain (Eng) 78, 79, Yudika Rodriguez (Pur) 75, 82

158 Grace St. Germain (Can) 81, 77, Federico Zuckermann (Ita) 78, 80, Csilla Rózsa (Hun) 77, 81

159 Ana Belac (Slo) 85, 74

161 Lucas Becht (Bel) 84, 77, Luka Naglic (Slo) 81, 80

162 Davis Lamb (USA) 82, 80, Samarth Kumar (Ned) 82, 80, Sandra Salonen (Fin) 82,80, Alexander Ferlin (Aus) 78, 84

163 Hana Ryskova (Cze) 80, 83

171 Dominika Gradecka (Pol) 84, 87