2024 – Portugese Par-Tee
By Jonny Bramley
The sun shone, the courses were spectacular and although the hospitality didn’t quite match the high standard set in Italy last year the PGS team thoroughly enjoyed their recent trip to Portugal.
The European Press Championships (or EMGJ as it’s officially called – European Masters for Golf playing Journalists) were last week held over 2 courses an hour north of Lisbon: Praia D’el Rey and Royal Óbidos.
This is allegedly the ‘serious’ counterpart to last year’s Nations Cup and with only 75% handicap allowance the scoring was understandably low. We enjoyed practice rounds in warm sunny weather over both courses before getting down to business.
Twelve teams from across Europe were competing: UK, Germany, Denmark, Austria, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Czech Republic and a strong French team stacked with Wryter Cup regulars.
On day 1 at Praia d’El Rey players were randomly grouped together with other nations – it was the luck of the draw whether you had a friendly Austrian woman who sprayed schnapps into your mouth every time someone made a birdie, or a dour German who didn’t speak all round unless someone went close to treading on his line.
Only one of our team – Christian Fraser – got to 30 points but with the ability to discard our worst 2 scores we were in a respectable 7th place after Day 1.
We were all teamed up with mid-table rivals Netherlands, Austria and The Czech Republic on Day 2 and with the wind getting up, Royal Óbidos with its expanse of water became an even tougher challenge. Overtaking the Dutch was within our grasp but we were also looking over our shoulders at the Austrians and Czechs behind.
Despite a below-par performance from Captain Bubbles, Keith Malone’s 28 and consistent scoring from Christian again, Nev Appleton & Sheena Quinn meant that although we were unable to overhaul the Netherlands we at least maintained 7th.
Very impressive though was France’s Guillaume Michel whose 35 pts (2 over gross) helped the APG to a dominant overall victory.
Once again the PGS led the way in the bar, consistently the last ones standing and while the food and ‘entertainment’ were less than impressive we made the most of it and had a lot of fun over the week.
Looking ahead to the Nations Cup next year, it’s being played in the Netherlands on a traditional links course on the island of Texel, a couple of hours drive from Amsterdam. Unfortunately it clashes with the Wryter Cup which will make it harder to put out a team.
The great news though is that Nick Buckley has offered to Captain the side, and will be very keen to find willing team members.
I guarantee that anyone who makes the journey will have a fantastic time courtesy of the Dutch hosts.
2023 – 8 Gentlemen (& 2 Women) of Verona
By Jonny Bramley
The event might have been running for 30 years but the Great British press had somehow eluded an invitation to the European Nations Cup for golfing journalists. That all changed this year when Jonny ‘Bubbles’ Bramley led the first PGS team to compete in the Cup at Chervò Golf San Vigilio near Verona – alongside those from Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark and the Czech Republic.
It’s quite a considerable undertaking to host eleven teams of 10 players, with partners and additional golfers playing alongside in a ‘Friends’ tournament but the resort, situated close to Lake Garda, was more than up to the task. As you would expect in Italy the food and hospitality were superb and there was a seemingly endless supply of the excellent local wine.
With only 8 PGS members (Neale Adams, Nev Appleton, Cornelius Bohane, Nick Buckley, Colin Hancock, Keith Malone, Neil White and Jonny) signed up to play we were delighted to be joined by Jane Malone and Andi White to make up a full team. Also a pleasure to have Colin and Jonny’s partners Lisa and Suzi along for the trip too.
And it was Andi who made a big impact on the first practice round with her first ever hole in one. Fortunately local tradition dictated that Andi received a bottle of Prosecco rather than having to buy an extremely large round of drinks!
The 2nd practice round was a bit of a washout but did allow some of the team to visit the beautiful local town of Sirmione on the shores of Lake Garda – or just enjoy the hotel’s extensive leisure facilities and spa.
So to the competition itself, which was one round of a 2-ball ‘Louisana’ Scramble followed by a better-ball format. After a 2-hour delay for fog play finally started in warm autumn sunshine. The PGS performed well on Day 1, ending it in 5th place and ahead of our old adversaries the APG of France. Nev and Jonny, hot off victories at the Wryter Cup and the Berkshire continued their fine form with a 63 to finish in 2nd place out of 55 pairs.
Standard evening fare consisted of a 4 course meal with Prosecco, red and white wine plus some fine local grappa, and the entertainment stepped up a notch after the first round with a local singer belting out Italian Europop alongside standard favourites. It became clear that he was working his way through the Nationalities to perform a well-known song from their country. We all had a go at guessing ‘our’ song but no-one managed to come up with ‘Yellow Submarine’. And certainly no-one could have predicted some of the dance moves that ended up accompanying it…
Day 2 of competition saw the PGS festooned in Irish green to the delight of Cornelius. Maybe it was the collective hangovers, but the luck wasn’t quite with us and we were overtaken by our playing partners the Danes.
But nevertheless a very respectable mid-table placing in our first foray into Europe.
The winners Germany were a long way in front – perhaps explained by rumours they have 200 players competing for 10 places. And this is supposed to be the ‘friendlier’ tournament!
It was universally agreed though that it had been a magnificent event and the mix of male and female golfers created a wonderfully convivial atmosphere.
Next year we have the more competitive European Team Championships for golfing journalists at Royal Obidos in Portugal from 11-15 November. It would be great to see more PGS support and perhaps challenge those podium places!