© Sonia Reyes-Frausto
The National Interclub Championship took place over two days in the Grand Duchy on 7 and 8 August.
The top players from Luxembourg came in teams from the four local clubs Clervaux, Grand Ducal, Golf de Luxembourg and Kikuoka to play for the trophy and title as the best Club in the country at the pristine course Bellenhaff in Junglinster.
The first day set the tone in an individual stroke play competition. Teams of 6 women and 8 men per club chased the qualification to be able to play for first and third place next day.
After 18 holes, the results for ladies came down to The Grand Ducal with a combined score of 331 strokes with the best one coming from Nina Olga Wojtczak at 76. Kikuoka had a combined score of 343 strokes, with the best one from Marie Benninger at 80 strokes. Golf de Luxembourg noted a combined score of 344 with the best one from Charlotte Lahaije Hultman at 83 strokes and Clervaux 411 strokes with the best score from Bernadette Dubois at 94.
In the men's rounds, the best six scores were counted and combined. Kikuoka came first place with 474 strokes and the best score from Cedric Bourdy at 75. Golf de Luxembourg at 490 combined strokes with the best score from Stefan Rojas at 79. The Grand Ducal were at 521 strokes with Henri Karas at the top with 81 and Clervaux with 566 strokes with the best score from Cyril Wealer at 85.
The decision was made for the next day: On the women's side, the Grand Ducal and Kikuoka would play for first place, while Golf de Luxembourg, with the narrowest of margins of one stroke from Kikuoka, would go against Clervaux for third. In the men's category, Kikuoka would go against Golf the Luxembourg for first place and Clervaux and Grand Ducal would play for third place.
On Sunday, on the ladies side, there were 6 players per club at the course facing a different format, match play with one foursome and four singles, while for the gentlemen there were 9 players on the course per team battling on a match play format on two foursomes and 5 singles.
This second day was full of suspense as he results were coming in and so did the thunder and lighting that interrupted the game for about 30 minutes. Some teams finished their matches just after twelve holes while others went for a sudden death after 18 holes played.
At the end, on the ladies side Kikuoka managed to stay on track for the first place with three points while Grand Ducal finished second with two. Golf de Luxembourg placed third with five points and Clervaux ended up in fourth. For the gentlemen, the fans kept holding their nerves as a playoff was needed to decide the new champions. The Golf de Luxembourg managed to come first, with 4 points, after Mathieu Bruneton sank a four meter putt from the fringe on the 1st playoff hole. Kikuoka settled for the second place with three points, Grand Ducal third with five and Clervaux last with 2. What a day!
The winning teams got a trophy delivered in a nice ceremony by Annick Weidert and Marc Schmit (team captain) both from the club at Junglinster. Certainly they got also the pride and honor of being the number one national team for 2021. In the words of one the participants, Marie Baertz from the Grand Ducal, what matters most was that "all the clubs from Luxembourg were coming together, we could see each other again, and it's always nice to play here in Luxembourg".
