Golf Week tees-off in Amsterdam today
Holland and France both clearly relish the thought of their first round clash today in the inaugural Ladies Nations Invitational which is being staged in Amsterdam as part of the ING Private Banking Golf Week. Dewi-Claire Schreefel (Ned) is pictured during the draw at The International Golf Club on Wednesday with the French team of Anne Lise Caudal, Gwladys Nocera and Isabelle Boineau. In all, eight countries are striding for the title: Belgium, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Holland, Norway and Scotland. Among the players are past Dutch Ladies Open champions Melissa Reid, Gwladys Nocera, Florentyna Parker, Kylie Walker and last year’s champion Christel Boeljon.
This is how the first day’s play looks on Friday:
Norway v Scotland
England v Germany
Denmark v Belgium
Holland v France
On Friday and Saturday, the cream of the Ladies European Tour will be competing twice each day (foursomes and singles) in a matchplay format against each team in their group. Surprisingly, the matches will be decided over just nine holes and the holes will be made shorter in order to “speed up play and provide more of a spectacle”, according to the organisers. Each match will, however, be played out to the final putt on the last hole. On day one, the first match tees off at 15.00; round two is on Saturday at 11.30; round three at 15.00. The semi-finals and finals take place on Sunday (10.00 and 13.00).
Jazzing-up the game for youngsters
With the number of rounds of golf being played each year in Holland on the decline, the Dutch Golf Federation (NGF) is actively-looking to build on the future of golf in the Netherlands. By jazzing-up the game they hope to arouse more interest from younger generations. Hence, the new Golf Week which begins today includes a series of team matchplay events for professionals with a separate event for amateurs in a bid to create a flavour of the Ryder Cup and see some Solheim Cup sensations rippling through the three-day event.
On paper, England looks very strong boasting Melissa Reid, Hannah Burke and Florentyna Parker. Yet even though Holland is the only team featuring an amateur, 18-year old Roos Haarman, the home crowd could prove an enormous boost to the efforts of Christel Boeljon and Dewi-Claire Schreefel. It will be interesting to see who walks off with the new trophy on Sunday. Indeed, I’m also curious as to how the new trophy looks. In the featured photograph taken during the draw, the Dutch Open Championship trophy is shown. Guess they’re keeping the new one under-wraps until the prizegiving.
Wendy Hoad
PHOTOGRAPHS: (Above) Dewi-Claire Schreefel (left) with the French team. Photo: Tim Buitenhuis. (Below) Dewi-Claire having fun during a special kids press conference at The International in 2015. © Photography by Golfing Inspirations.
For further information, check out: www.inggolfweek.nl.