News

12/03/2018

Fernando Morgado Trophy - European Team

Joint team captains will be Mark Millar and Manuel Amor

Ireland's Mark Millar and Manuel Amor will be joint captains of the European Team at the Fernando Morgado Trophy match v. South America at Puerto Velero, Chile. Three-time Irish champion Mark Millar won a European Team championship medal with Ireland at Loret Papalus in 2001. He also represented his country in the Catalonia v. Ireland challenge match at Sant Cebria a year later. Irish Matchplay winner in 2000 and 2001, Mark is the reigning Irish Strokeplay champion.  The 2017 Player of the Year in Catalonia, Manuel Amor has won the Catalan Teams Championship with the Badalona team in 2014 and 2015. A member of the Badalona team that won the 2014 Solius Trophy, Amor was second in the EPPA Ranking 2017. Runner-up in the FCPP Doubles Championship in 2017, Manuel Amor helped the Catalonia team to win the 2015 Quadrangular International at Dima.  

See below image for Team Europe Shirt design.

Eamon Gibney, Ireland's 2016 World Cup winning captain in Andorra, has been selected on the European team. Eamon Gibney was Irish Open winner at Glenville in 2014, having been third in the 2013 Catalan Open at Teyco l'Ampolla. He was second in the 2016 British Open at Dagenham and fifth in the 2017 World Strokeplay championship at Imjelt.

Eamon Gibney will link up in Chile with fellow Irishmen Alan Hanlon and Ian Farrelly.

Alan Hanlon, the most successful player (in terms of podium finishes) in FIPPA international open history, played on Ireland's 2005 European Team championship é's winning team at the Overbetuwe course in the Netherlands. He also represented Ireland in the inaugural Willie Parker Challenge Cup matches at the Papendal course near Arnhem in 2006. Hanlon's five international open wins include the 2007 Australian Night championship at Canberra International.

2011 European Strokeplay champion Ian Farrelly is the third most successful player in FIPPA International Open history, having won international opens across Europe and been victorious at the inaugural Australian Open at Canberra in 2007. A very sucessful campaigner on the Irish domestic circuit, Ian Farrelly played on the Ireland team that defeated Holland in the Willie Parker Challenge Cup match at R.G.S.C., Dublin.

Gibney, Hanlon and Farrelly will be part of an increasingly strong European team, which was boosted at the beginning of February when David Solé and Jordi Serra confirmed their participation. A World Cup winner with Catalonia at Teia in 2006, David Solé was also on the Catalan team that finished second in the 2007 European Team Championship at Chia. A member of the Cambrils club, David finished tied second in the 2017 FCPP Player of the Year. Runner-up in the Strokeplay qualifying tournament for the II World Cup, David teamed-up with Daniel Coleman to take fourth place in the 2017 International Pairs event at Lleida. Solé's selection was featured extensively in the Diari de Tarragona newspaper.

Jordi Serra (Tennis Mora) played on the Catalonia team that won the 2014 European Team championship in Andorra. 2014 was also the year that Jordi reached a play-off for the Catalan Open before losing to fellow Catalan Jordi Saborit. A renowned team player, Serra has won Catalan team championships with HCP1 (three times) and with Platja d'Aro. A past winner of the EPPA and FIPPA ranking events within Catalonia, Serra was a member of the first Catalan team to defeat Ireland in international competition (2008).     

Solé and Serra will join fellow Catalans Pilar Montero and Manuel Amor (Badalona) on the European team. The European line-up is completed by another Catalan Josep Cortada. Josep won the 2015 Circuit of Costa Azul competition and XIII Pentagonal Senior at Sant Cebria.

Nine times the Catalan Ladies champion, Pilar has been Catalonia's No. 1 ranked lady on ten occasions. A member of the Catalonia team at the inaugural European Team championship at Chelmsford in 1999, Pilar is a former winner of the Andorra Ladies, Beijing Ladies and Catalan Ladies Opens. Her resumé already includes a victory in Chile - at the 2010 Chile Ladies Open in Colegio di Medico, Santiago. The Vallromanes player and multiple Catalan Ladies Senior champion was the victor at the 2007 World Senior Ladies Open in Portal del Roc. She represented Europe in the 2000, 2003 and 2005 ladies internationals.

Currently Ireland's no. 1 ranked player, John Ross Crangle (Loughlinstown) will represent Europe in Chile. John Ross was runner-up in the 2011 European Strokeplay championship at Imjelt, Norway and third in the 2017 World Strokeplay championshp at the same venue. He also finished third in the 2015 European Strokeplay championship at Orvelte. A second place finisher in the 2011 Catalan Open at Mas Pages, John Ross was also on the podium at Glenville in the 2014 Irish Open (4th). John Ross captained Ireland to the 2012 World Cup and also played in 2016.

The Slovenia Pitch and Putt Association (PPZS) has nominated Jozep Klancnik to represent Slovenia and Europe at the Fernando Morgado Trophy. 

Jozep is the fourth ranked player in Slovenia and finished 12th in the 2017 Slovenia Open in Brdo. He is also President of the PPZS and attended the 2017 EPPA/FIPPA General Assembly, which welcomed Slovenia as a new member of the international Pitch and Putt organisations. Jozep contested the 2017 Catalan Open, which was held at Sant Cebria alongside the EPPA/FIPPA General Assembly.

 

16/03/2018

Fernando Morgado Trophy - Day One

Europe leads 8-4 after Friday play

18/11/2017

Frank Smith RIP

Death of former EPPA and FIPPA President