The 1997 European Ladies' Team Championship took place 9–13 July at Nordcenter Golf & Country Club in Åminnefors,

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. It was the 20th women's golf amateur

European Ladies' Team Championship The European Ladies' Team Championship is a European amateur team golf championship for women organised by the European Golf Association. The inaugural event was held in 1959. It was played in odd-numbered years from 1959 to 2007 and has been pl ...

Venue

The hosting club was founded in 1988. Its first course, the Fream course, situated in Åminnefors, close to

Pohja Pohja (; ()) is a former municipality of Finland. It was consolidated with Ekenäs and Karis to form the new town of Raseborg in 2009. It is located in the province of Southern Finland and is part of the Uusimaa region. The municipality had a ...

in the

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Southern Finland Southern Finland (, ) was a province of Finland from 1997 to 2009. It bordered the provinces of Western Finland and Eastern Finland. It also bordered the Gulf of Finland and Russia. History On September 1, 1997 the Uusimaa Province, the Ky ...

and part of the

Uusimaa Uusimaa (; , ; both lit. 'new land') is a region of Finland. It borders the regions of Southwest Finland, Tavastia Proper (Kanta-Häme), Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme), and Kymenlaakso. Finland's capital and largest city, Helsinki, alo ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

, 70 kilometres west of

Helsinki, Finland Helsinki () is the capital and most populous city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipality, with million in the capital region and ...

, was designed by architect Ronald Fream. The course meanders across a varied landscape from a lush seashore towards a forest plateau full of steep elevation changes and the old park area of a manor house. A second 18-hole-course, the Benz course, located on a forest plateau, was designed by Bradford Benz and inaugurated in 1993. The championship course was set up with par 72.

Format

All participating teams played two qualification rounds of

stroke-play Stroke play is a scoring system in the sport of golf. In the regular form of stroke play, also known as medal play, the total number of strokes is counted over one or more rounds of 18 holes. In a regular stroke play competition, the winner is the ...

with six players, counted the five best scores for each team. The eight best teams formed flight A, in knock-out match-play over the next three days. The teams were seeded based on their positions after the stroke-play. The first placed team was drawn to play the quarter-final against the eight placed team, the second against the seventh, the third against the sixth and the fourth against the fifth. In each match between two nation teams, two 18-hole foursome games and five 18-hole single games were played. Teams were allowed to switch players during the team matches, selecting other players in to the afternoon single games after the morning foursome games. Games all square after 18 holes were declared halved, if the team match was already decided. The eight teams placed 9–16 in the qualification stroke-play formed flight B , to play similar knock-out match-play, with one foursome game and four single games, to decide their final positions.

Teams

16 nation teams contested the event. Each team consisted of six players. Players in the leading teams Other participating teams

Winners

Team

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

and team

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

tied the lead in the opening 36-hole qualifying competition, each with a score of 7 over par 727, three strokes ahead of team England. Italy earned first place on the tie breaking better total non-counting scores. Individual leader in the 36-hole stroke-play competition was

Karine Icher Karine Icher (born 26 January 1979) is a French professional golfer who formerly played on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour and the Ladies European Tour. Early years Icher was born in Châteauroux, Indre. She started playing golf at the age of 10. She r ...

, France, with a score of 7 under par 137, two strokes ahead of

Janice Moodie Janice C. Moodie (born 31 May 1973) is a Scottish professional golfer who plays mainly on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour but is also a member of the Ladies European Tour. Amateur career Moodie was born in Glasgow. At age 11, she was taught to play ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. Team

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

won the championship, beating Scotland 4–3 in the final and earned their third title. Team France earned third place, beating

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

5–2 in the bronze match.

Results

Qualification round ''Team standings'' *'' Note: In the event of a tie the order was determined by the better total non-counting scores.'' ''Individual leaders'' '' Note: There was no official award for the lowest individual score.'' Flight A ''Bracket'' ''Final games'' Flight B ''Bracket'' Final standings Sources:

References

External links

European Golf Association: Results
{{European Ladies' Team Championship European Ladies' Team Championship Golf tournaments in Finland