1997 European Amateur Team Championship
The 1997 European Amateur Team Championship took place 25–29 June at Portmarnock Golf Club in Portmarnock, County Dublin, 10 kilometres north-east of the city center of Dublin, Ireland. It was the 20th men's golf European Amateur Team Championship. Venue. There were strong winds on the links course during the tournament. Format. Each team consisted of six players, playing two rounds of an opening stroke-play qualifying competition over two days, counting the five best scores each day for each team. The eight best teams formed flight A, in knock-out match-play over  the next three days. The teams were seeded based on their positions after the stroke play. The first placed team were drawn to play the quarter final against the eight placed team, the second against the seventh, the third against the sixth and the fourth against the fifth. Teams were allowed to use six players during the team matches, selecting four of them in the two morning foursome games and five players in to the afternoon single games. Games all square at the 18th hole were declared halved, if the team match was already decided. The eight teams placed 9–16  in the qualification stroke-play formed flight B and the six teams placed 17–22 formed flight C, to play similar knock-out play, with one foursome game and four single games in each match, to decide their final positions. Teams. A record number of 22 nation teams contested the event. Teams representing Croatia and Slovakia both took part in the championship for the first time. Each team consisted of six players. Players in the leading teams Other participating teams Winners. The host nation Ireland won the opening 36-hole competition, with a 39-over-par score of 759, 24 strokes  ahead of defending champions Scotland on 2nd place, while the difference between the 2nd and 8th placed teams were 17 strokes. Four of the Irish players finished within the top nine individually. For the first time since 1975, eight-time-winners England, with future professional major-winner Justin Rose in the team, did not make it to the quarter finals, finishing ninth. There was no official award for the lowest individual score, but individual leader was Keith Nolan, Ireland, with a 7-over-par score of 149, one stroke ahead of fellow country man Noel Fox. In the windy conditions  on the second day of the stroke-play competition, 109 players in the 132-man-field failed to broke 80, including future European Tour winners Henrik Stenson, Søren Hansen, Sergio Garcia, Maarten Lafeber, Peter Hanson, Grégory Havret, Jamie Donaldson and Martin Wiegele. Team Spain won the gold medal, earning their first title, beating defending champions team Scotland in the final 4.5–2.5. Host nation Ireland earned the bronze on third place, after beating Sweden 5.5–1.5 in the bronze match. Results. Qualification round Team standings Individual leaders Flight A Bracket Final games Flight B First round elimination matches Second round elimination matches  Match for 15th place Match for 13th place Match for 11th place Match for 9th place Flight C First round elimination matches Second round elimination matches Match for 21st place Match for 19th place Match for 17th place Final standings Sources: See also