The 1st tournaments in the 2 Icelandic Junior Series presented by Arion bank – May 19th and 20th 2012

There are two main Junior Series in Iceland and both of them are sponsored by Arion bank and all 6 tournaments of the Series are organized by the Icelandic Golf  Association. The Junior Series comprise of 6 tournaments 2 of them being the Icelandic Junior Championship in Stroke Play the other the Icelandic Junior Championship in Match Play.

The teenagers are devided into groups according to gender and age. There are 3 age groups 14 yr old and younger; 15-16 yr. old and 17-18 yr old, both for  boys and girls.  There are two Junior Series, the main Junior Series sponsored by Arion bank and the Challenge Tour (Icelandic: Áskorendamótaröðin), a series for kids that have a higher handicap then the ones on the main Junior Series or want to garner some experience before playing on the main series, due to age or other reasons.

The kids on the Challenge Tour only play a round of 18 holes, whereas the kids on the main Junior Series sponsored by Arion bank play 36 holes i.e. 18 holes over a stretch of two days.

The first tournament in the Challenge Tour this year was held May 19th at the Nes Golf Club by Reykjavík, which has a rather flat and pleasant 9 hole golfcourse.  The course is well known in Iceland for its rich birdlife. There were 107 participants and the weather was really delightful and the kids enjoyed themselves, which is so important at that stage in their developement and career.

To make a long story short the winners of the first Challenge Tour tournament were:

Elísabet Ágústsdóttir, GKG (girls 14 yrs and younger)

Kristófer Karl Karlsson, GKJ (boys 14 yrs and younger)

Alexandra Eir Grétarsdóttir , GOS(girls 15-16 yrs old)

Einar Snær Jökulsson, GR  (boys 15-16 yrs old)

No participants were in the agegroup 17-18 yr old girls.

Jökull Schiöth, GKG (boys 17-18 yrs old).

Henning Darri Þórðarson, GK. Photo: Golf 1

The first round of the 1st tournament of the Junior Series sponsored by Arion bank was held that same day (May 19th 2012) at Garðavöllur, i.e. the Garden golfcourse at Golf Club Leynir in Akranes and the 2nd the following day, May 20th.  As usual some new talents emerged this year: Eva Karen Björnsdóttir, GR and Henning Darri Þórðarson, GK.  The Garden course in Akranes is a beautiful, rather flat 18 hole par-72 golfcourse.  Among some of its most memorable holes is the par-3 3rd hole (named Skrúður or Beauty in Icelandic). The participants in this 1st tournament of the Junior Series sponsored by Arion bank were 140 and the winners were:

Eva Karen Björnsdóttir, GR (girls 14 yrs and younger)

Henning Darri Þórðarson, GK (boys 14 yrs and younger)

Gunnhildur Kristjánsdóttir, GKG (girls 15-16 yrs old)

Gísli Sveinbergsson, GK (boys 15-16 yrs old)

Guðrún Brá Björgvinsdóttir, GK (girls 17-18 yrs old)

Bjarki Pétursson, GB (boys 17-18 yrs old).

Guðrún Brá Björgvinsdóttir, GK, had the best score, an accumulated score of 140 strokes (74 66) and she had the best round of her career a 6 under par, round of 66!!! Henning Darri Þórðarson, who competed in the youngest age group  of 14 yr. and younger boys had the 2nd lowest accumulated score of 142 (72 70), which is excellent and included a round of 2 under par!