CLANDEBOYE Golf Club star Jessica Ross is in action on the continent this week as she represents Ireland at the European Ladies’ Team Championship.
Ross – who came into the event in scintillating form – carded a bogey-free round of 69 on the opening day of the Championship, being played at the Tawast Golf & Country Club near Hämeenlinna in Finland, to help fire the Irish cohort into fourth position with a team score of four under-par after day one.
“It’s great to play in an all-Ireland team,” she said ahead of the event. “It’s just nice having the other girls there to support you and you want to play well for them as well.”
Joining Ross in the six-strong Irish Ladies panel are Kirkistown Castle’s Beth Coulter, Sara Byrne, who defeated Coulter in a dramatic finale to the recent Irish Women’s Amateur Close Championship, Anna Foster, Kate Lanigan and recent call-up Mairead Martin.
And Ross isn’t alone in putting her club on the map in Europe, with another of Clandeboye’s young lady members, Delfin Filiz, involved as part of the Turkish team at the event. Filiz and her compatriots had a much tougher time of things on day one, with a team score of 24 over-par, but those watching on back in north Down will doubtless be proud of both for flying the flag for Clandeboye.
At the time of going to press, both players had already completed their second rounds for their respective nations as Ross and her teammates looked to increase the heat on their counterparts from Spain, Germany and Sweden at the top of the pile, while Filiz and co would have been set on climbing up the leaderboard.
Also taking place this week is the European Amateur Team Championship in Belgium, featuring Malone man and 2022 US Mid-Amateur champion Matt McClean on the Irish Men’s team.
You can follow the fortunes of both Ross and Filiz at the European Ladies’ Team Championship via ega-golf.ch/livescoring.
