Third trophy for German Max Schmitt
Castanea Resort Championship 2017
The amateur Max Schmitt has won the Pro Golf Tour 2017 final with his third tournament victory this year and qualified directly for the European Challenge Tour. The Golf Team Germany player dominated in Adendorf at the Castanea Resort Championship 2017 with 15 under par ahead of Max Kramer from Frankfurt and Stanislav Matus from the Czech Republic, who shared 2nd place with 11 under par.
Adendorf – Just like Nicolai von Dellingshausen from Düsseldorf before him, Max Schmitt therefore also has the right to tee off on the European Challenge Tour. Besides the two three-times winners, who also rank in 1st and 2nd place in this year’s Pro Golf Tour 2017 Order of Merit, the Englishman Ben Parker, Pedro Figueiredo from Portugal, the Swissman Marco Iten and Stanislav Matus are also teeing off on the Challenge Tour in the 2018 season; they have all equally qualified for the next stage of tournament golf in Europe with the final rankings 3 to 6 in the Pro Golf Tour Order of Merit 2017. As Nicolai von Dellingshausen improved his category on the Challenge Tour significantly over the last few weeks, six players in total are being promoted from the Pro Golf Tour to the next league this year.
“I am really grateful to have been allowed to play the Pro Golf Tour as an amateur this year,” said Max Schmitt at the award ceremony. He had teed off at ten tournaments, left the course as the winner for the third time at the Castanea Golf Resort and also accepted his ticket to the European Challenge Tour along with the winner’s cup. The 19-year-old had the excellently prepared par 72 course and his opponents under control over the whole three days and revealed a top performance on the Castanea Golf Resort’s championship course, which impressed players and guests in all respects and will definitely remain the home to the Pro Golf Tour season final until 2020. With rounds of 64, 68 and 69 strokes he celebrated a comfortable victory from start to finish and controlled the field at all times.
400 pictures from the finale in Adendorf
“I am happy with my game, even if the putts didn’t drop today,” he analysed after the final round, which he completed in the company of his coach, national trainer Ullrich Eckhardt. “The course was perfect for my game, the greens were really superb, with an ideal pace and very consistent.”
Hats off to the amateur
The professionals took their hats off to the tournament winner by applauding him, emphasising what his trainer also says: “Max is ready to turn professional, he can do everything, his game doesn’t really have any major weaknesses. His actions are executed with superb quality and he hits lots of good shots.” However, he is not quite sure where he wants to show off his skills next season yet: according to Schmitt, the decision to switch to a career as a tour player is not final. “It is highly likely that I will turn professional soon but I will give this step some thought in peace over the next four weeks.” He has certainly proved several times that he can hold his own among the professionals.
The Pro Golf Tour 2017 season has therefore come to an end, the final chord is the Qualifying School for the 2018 season, which is being held from 10 to 13 October at the Paderborner Land GC.