10 Aug 2014 at 09:03 | Published by: mindthegap | Views: 20209 | News search

Matchplay finals at Seniors European Championship in Murnau  (Photo by MGC Murnau)

Matchplay is different.

This simple saying came true again at the Seniors European Championship in Murnau.

The winning trio of the men's category was out after the 2nd round. Roman Kobisch lost against his German team mate Michael Neuland from Dormagen Brechten in the 2nd round. Herbert Bäk lost against Paul Vögeli from Switzerland in the 1st round as well as Robert Kullick lost against last years strokeplay champion Stefan Viberg from Sweden in a sudden death play-off.

Stefan Viberg encountered the Worlds number one Markus Janßen in the next round and won, again in a sudden death play-off. After beating Switzerlands Jörg Wiedemeier Stefan reached the semi final against Michel Kopf, also from Switzerland. Michael Neuland encountered old Austrian star Karl Lakos and could beat him in the quarter final. So the other semi final was Michael Neuland versus Switzerlands Roger Anderegg. Michel Kopf won 5 - 3 against Stefan Viberg, so a Swiss players was in the final. But the other Swiss semi finalist Roger Anderegg lost 1 - 3 against Michael Neuland.

Michael Neuland was on the 16th place in strokeplay and scratched but narrowly missed the final cut for strokeplay, and then he was in the matchplay final. Michel Kopf, the other finalist, was on the 26th place in strokeplay. As mentioned at the beginning: Matchplay is different.

Michael Neuland could win the final in a convincing manner with 6 - 2 and is the new European Matchplay Champion. He is one of the old stars in Germany, used to play for the Bundesliga team of Dormagen-Brechten (former club Dortmund-Brechten) for many years, used to be a steady part of the men's national team. Is this the start of a new career in the seniors national team?

The match for the 3rd place between Roger Anderegg and Stefan Viberg was won by the Swiss player with 4 - 2. So there were two Swiss players among the matchplay medalists - a great success for the Swiss team.

In the ladies category the favourites didn't "die" so early. Only Alice Kobisch were thrown out quite early. She could win the first round against Heidi Stricker from Switzerland, but in the next round she encountered strokeplay bronze medalist Dagmar Hirschmannova. This time Dagmar was better and won with 6 - 4. After beating Austrias Claudia Schuster Dagmar reached the final.

Strokeplay silver medalist Andrea Reinicke could beat Austrias Elisabeth Kammerer and Swedens Annelie Lundell in the first two rounds and reached the semi final against Austrias Johanna Knotzer. Andrea won in a sudden death play-off and reached the final.

The ladies final was a tough match for a long time with a late decision. At the end Dagmar Hirschmannova from the Czech Republc won with 5 - 2 and is the new ladies matchplay champion. Andrea adds another silver medal to her collection of silver medals at international competitions.

The match for the 3rd place was won by Claudia Schuster against Johanna Knotzer with 7 - 5.

A great European Championship reached its end. Everyone was quite happy that the weather conditions were quite good most of the time. Only during the matchplay finals there was a longer interrupt of 2 hours due to rain.

Links to results, reports and photos, most in German language:

»Results matchplay
»Official website of SEC 2014
»Online reporting and photos on DMV facebook website
»Photos by MGC Murnau
»Report by MGC Mainz
»TV broadcast by Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) Abendschau "Aus Murnau"
»TV broadcast by Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) Abendschau "Ballgefühl"

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