The Icelandic Championship in Stroke Play starts tomorrow

The Icelandic Championship in Stroke Play takes place July 26th-29th and this is the 70th time the Championship  is being held.  The Icelandic Golf Association celebrates its 70th anniversary aswell this year. The Championship is the highlight of each summer of the Eimskip tournament series, since what the competition is all about are the most prestigious and venerable titles in Icelandic golf.

This year the Icelandic Championship in Stroke Play is being held on Strandarvöllur and is being managed by Hella Golf Club. Hella Golf Club was founded June 22nd 1952 and hence celebrates its 60th anniversary this year. The founders of the Club were Ásgeir Ólafsson and Helmut Stolzenwald in Hella and the latter´s son Rúdolf Stolzenwald was the Club´s first president.

The Icelandic Championship in Stroke Play has in recent years taken a special place among golfers, since emphazise is to create the most brilliant circumstance surrounding the tournament, which has motivated golfers to participate. This year most of Icelands best golfers take part in the tournament and going by the score in the Club Championships, golfers will come well prepared.  The 2011 Icelandic Champions in Stroke Play, Axel Bóasson, Keilir Golf Club and Ólafía Þórunn Kristinsdóttir, Golf Club of Reykjavík, are among contestants aswell as four times Icelandic Champion in Stroke Play, Birgir Leifur Hafþórsson, GKG (1996, 2003, 2004, 2010).

In fact all Icelandic golfer have a right to compete in the Championship, but in reality only the ones with the lowest handicap participate. This year 123 men and 27 women have signed up for the Icelandic Championship in Stroke Play.

This is a 4 day, 72 holes tournament and a cut after 36 holes.  Among the male golfers only the 72 with the lowest score get to play on the weekend. If two competitiors have an equal score and are in place 72 both shall be able to continue playing on the weekend. Player have always the right to compete if they are 10 strokes or less behind the golfer who sits in 1. place.  Among the female golfers there is a cut down to 18 with the lowest score after 36 holes.

Tee times are from 7:30 – 15:30 on Thursday and Friday and from 7:30 – 13:30 on Saturday and Sunday.  All golfers start from the 1st tee in an interval of 10 minutes. On the 1st and 2nd day of the Championship the competitors are grouped by happenstance and after the cut it goes by the score of the competitior, the ones with the highest score beginning and ending with the ones with the lowest score.

The Prize money for 1st place is 80.000 Icelandic kronas; 40.000 Icelandic kronas for 2nd place; 20.000 Icelandic kronas for 3rd place and 10.000 Icelandic kronas for 4th-5th place, both among male and female competitors in the Icelandic Championship of Stroke Play or Íslandsmótið í höggleik as we say in Icelandic 🙂