History made: the Jegers win the Copa Sotogrande. Estonia’s team third
From today, the long-standing Copa Sotogrande – European Nations Cup tournament has added Estonian golfer Kevin Christopher Jegers to its list of winners. Already the leader from the opening day at the Real Club de Golf Sotogrande, the Estonian golfer showed a steady run on all four days to win by -14 (69, 68, 70, 67). Englishman Harley Smith came second on the back of a good final day, but lost to the Estonian by eight strokes.
Team-wise, there was no match for England. Estonia, who had been leading after the opening day, dropped to third place after the second day, when the surprise leader was Finland. On the third day, however, Team England had a wonderful day and the success they had achieved was not surrendered on the final day. Second place went to Spain, who fought a tough battle with us on the last day, and a particularly unsuccessful third day left us third overall, which is still clearly the best place in history for the Estonian team. The previous best, 15th place, was in 2019. The team consisted of Carl Hellat, Kevin Christopher Jegers, Ralf Johan Kivi and Richard Teder. The team is coached by David Da Silva.
Winner’s comment: ‘I don’t know where to start. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to do a tournament where everything works. Usually it’s the putting that gets me down, but this time the putting was the best part of my game. Throughout the tournament I avoided big mistakes, played smart and didn’t get pushed on the fairways where I didn’t need to. I was able to get enough of a break in the first half on the last day to take the second half a little easier, which definitely helped as my whole body was tired by then and it was hard to concentrate. Of course, all the supporters who came to the course to cheer me on helped a lot, I would never have guessed that so many Estonians gathered (estimated around 30 – ed). In the middle of the round the adrenaline started to play a role and you had to take into account that the ball might fly a bit further on every shot. Coming into the tournament, I knew I was capable of competing with the best, but I hadn’t expected a result quite like this, especially given my scores in previous years in this tournament. Now, back to Estonia to keep practicing and play even better next time.”
Head coach David Da Silva, who has coached Jegers for 10 years, commented on his charges’ game: ‘It was one of those weeks where the player’s ball kicking technique is very good and the ball flies and spins exactly where he wants it to – great control. In addition, you need a winner’s mindset, disciplined decision making such as when to play firm, when to attack and so on, and finally great putting on those extremely tricky and fast greens. His results in the last five competitions: -6; -5; -12; -5 and -14. That’s world class. He’s in very good form at the moment and the aim is to keep it up through the summer season.”
In the women’s singles, Denmark’s Benedicte Brent-Buchholz took the individual victory with +2 (69, 69, 77, 75). The Spanish women’s team took the team title.
The tournament has been held since 1970. Since 1998, the Cup of Nations dimension has been added to the tournament, with team events. Past winners of the tournament include the following golfing legends: Rory Mcllroy, Sergio García, Padraig Harrington, Francesco Molinari, Shane Lowry. Jon Rahm and Tommy Fleetwood have had to settle for second place. As a team, England have the most wins (13). Spain have been best on four occasions.
The women’s tournament has been held since 2008, but there are some notable winners among them. Celine Boutier won in 2012, Nanna Koerstz Madsen in 2014 and Carlota Ciganda in the first year.
