After a defeat in Presidents’ Cup on Wednesday, Team Europe players
stepped it up and came back to the course to play the first round of
European Open with unforeseen determinance. Round 1 saw some phenomenal
play from Denmark’s Karl-Johan Nybo (-11), as well as from Simon Lizotte
(-9), Ville Piippo (-9) and Seppo Paju (-7), who will all be playing in
the top two pools on Round 2 tomorrow.

KJ set the course record at 53. Will we see even better scores on Friday?

America maintained their solid play and good touch on the Nokia course
during the first round, with Paul Ulibarri as the best US player on the
second place at a convincing -10. The rest of the spots in the top two
pools tomorrow will be manned by Nate Doss (-8), David Feldberg (-7), and
Nikko Locastro (-6).

In women’s division, Valarie Jenkins (+6) took the lead with Anne
Matilainen on the second place (+8) and Melody King (+9) on the third.

Check out the final scores after Round 1 at:
http://opendiscgolf.com/en/scoring/open/1

Better weather expected for Friday

During the first round, the weather kept everyone on their toes, and a
thunderstorm halted play for an hour and a half around 1pm. The delay
caused the last pools of the day to finish their rounds as late as 8:30pm,
but at least the last ones got to enjoy the beautiful evening sun that
came out after a day of rain.

The European Open week continues tomorrow Friday with the second round.
Day 2 will show who has what it takes to play consistently on the
challenging European Open course. Some players – among them Nikko Locastro
– will certainly be hungry for even better results, so we are expecting
another great day of disc golf in Nokia. The weather will be clearing up
and there is no rain expexted for Friday.

To commemorate Thursday’s rough weather here’s a couple of snapshots that show the course and it’s surroundings at their worst:

All photos © Jenni Riutta & European Open 2011

Team Europe finalized after SDGO

The last qualifying event for team Europe, Stockholm Open, was held last week at the beautiful Järva Disc Golf Course. Currently on European tour, the U.S. players dominated the competition, but final spots for the Team Europe were settled nevertheless.

Team Europe roster for Presidents Cup 2011 looks like this:

• Markus Kallström (Division: MPO, current rating: 1028, representing country: SWE)
• Karl-Johan Nybo (MPO, 1021, DK)
• Ville Piippo (MPO, 997, FIN)
• Jussi Meresmaa (MPO, 1026, FIN)
• Simon Lizotte (MPO, 1027, GER)
• Camilla Jernberg (FPO, 925, SWE)
• Anne Matilainen* (FPO, 914, FIN)
• Captains Choice: Jesper Lundmark (MPO, 1035, SWE)

*(Anne was qualified to the team since players placed higher in the qualification will not attend the Presidents Cup)

Team Europe captain Hans Tegebäck used his Captains Choice to pick EO2009 winner and currently the highest rated player in Europe, Jesper Lundmark, to the team. Changes in the Team Europe roster are still possible, since Markus Kallström hasn’t yet confirmed whether he will be able to make it to the Presidents Cup. Jussi Meresmaa’s attendance is also yet to be confirmed. In case these two palyers choose to withdraw their spots, Seppo Paju (age 16!) and Teemu Nissinen (age 17!) would make the team. The European Open Blog will keep you updated if these possible changes take effect.

Ulibarri joins the Team USA by Captains Choice!

The European Open blog published last week the roster of the Team USA, which was finalized a week earlier than team Europe in the U.S. National Tour event Beaver State Fling. The last member of the team was announced today, as Captain David Greenwell picked Paul Ulibarri to the team by Captains Choice. Ulibarri is a solid addition to a solid team with a current PDGA rating of 1030 and a great season underway this far.

Here’s what Team USA captain David Greenwell had to say about the Captains Choice:

“My Captains Choice was even harder this year, than last, especially given the fact that the best player of all time has an injury. I have so many good players to choose from, and I like all of them like they are my sons. I do not want my Captains pick to be a popularity contest, and I hope all future Captains will follow the same plan. With that being said, the person that I am going to choose, has played better than anyone not already on the team. His point total is almost twice as much as anyone not on the team already, and his current world ranking is #3.”

So there you have it - the injured player David is referring to is Ken Climo. Certain is that “the Champ” won’t be participating in the Presidents Cup, but it’s yet to be determined whether the 2007 European Open champion will be able to take part in the European Open. We certainly do hope he’ll heel from his injury and that we’ll see him at the European Open.

Quick links:

-> Presidents cup -site

-> Final Qualification Standings

-> Trailer for Presidents Cup 2010

-> The European Open -website

In other news: