© Sonia Reyes
In the last 70 years there have been many hopefuls but no men from Luxembourg reached the podium. That changed in the 77th edition of the Luxembourg International Amateur Golf Championship.
A junior player, just 17 years old, Stefan Rojas, brought Luxembourg to the podium earning the much-awaited first place after an intense battle over 54 holes.
The Championship was played at the Kikuoka Golf Course over three days with participants from 9 different countries. The first two days were led by Johan Sepers from the Netherlands, but Rojas never stopped fighting, playing a fantastic round on the back nine (-3) on the last day of the Tournament. He managed to sink the winning putt and get the champion title for Luxembourg with a total score of -4, leaving Sepers in second place with -3. Third place was earned by Florid-Jan Oosterhof from the Netherlands after he completed the best round of Saturday to bring his total score to -2.
On the ladies 65 version of the INTAM, the first place on the podium went to Anne-Sterre Den Dunnen from the Netherlands, with a score of -6, leaving Milla-Marlen Sager from Germany as the runner up with a score of -4. Third place was earned by Camille Banzet from France with an even score to par.
The winner Anne-Serre, who is currently attending the D1 Wake Forest University, knows about victory since her team is this year's NCAA National Champion in the US. Anne- Sterre commented, “I have seen a high level of players in the competition, some of them I’ve seen them in the college circuit in the US, so it was nice to find them here too.” “Luxembourg has beautiful and challenging scenery, very hilly, I was happy to make it through the rounds.”
Mr. Christian Schock, head of the FLG (Luxembourg Golf Federation) presided the prize giving ceremony accompanied by Mr. Patrick Platz, General Manager at Kikuoka. He thanked the players for three days of effort, and also extended a thank you to the team behind the scenes. He pointed out that Luxembourg waited for more than 70 years to bring home the Champion title, and now thanks to Stefan Rojas the trophy is back home.
New Champion Stefan Rojas thanked the FLG for the support young players are getting in Luxembourg and added: "It’s a great honor to be the first Luxembourger winning in 70 years and I feel very proud of being Luxemburgish; I hope the winner title remains in our country among the many young players supported by the FLG."
