First day of Niitvälja Karikas by Danske Bank was full of wind and birdies

11. Aug 2018

XXVI Niitvälja Karikas by Danske Bank an open day weather was similar to that of the birthplace of golf. The sun, the rain and the strong wind shifted, making it very difficult to achieve very good results. Despite this, the Nordic teams showed a very good game level and exciting rebellion. The first eight players shared 31 birdies.

Henri Satama, a Finn taking part first time in Niitvälja Karikas made the best results of foreign PROs, -3 (69 beats). In addition to him, PAR was played below by Jouni Simanainen with a score of -1 (71 beats) and  last year’s winner PRO Peter Gustafsson (72 beats) was in the PAR course. Both Estonian PROs, Sander Ajazdar and Mark Suursalu, do not stay far ahead of the first player, dividing by 5-6-th place on the score +2 over the track PAR (74 beats).

Mark Suursalu summarized the first match day: “Although today was not the best start, I feel like I’m in the race. It was also part of today’s weather, a pretty hard wind influenced the rhythm and a few mistakes punished me. However, I find that minus results are completely playable tomorrow. “

Amateurs front line is formed by the ambassadors of Finland, Estonia and Sweden. The best result of the day was achieved by the Finn Ilari Saul with the result -2 (70 beats). Dominic Jones from Finland, who has participated before in Niitvälja Karikas and has always played a very good game, scored -1 (71 beats) with his Estonian teammates Carl Enn Hellati and Kevin Christopher Jegers in the second place. Jegers was pleased with his game: “Today went well, as the results showed, the ball flew exactly where I was aiming. The first four tracks, which are usually hardest for me in the field, were very good (3 birdies) and it gave me a good feeling. ” 5-6^th place is hold by Jari Isometsä’s son Eetu Isometsä from Finland and Gustav Sjöberg from Sweden with a score +1 (73 beats).

In the women’s count, the best score of the day was +2 over the path of PAR (74 beats), the multiple Niitvälja Karikas winner and Niitvälja Golf´s club member Annika Meos. 2 and 4 strikes stayed behind, a strong Latvian pair Marija Luize Jucmane (74 beats) and Anna Estere Marksa (76 beats).

The leaders of recent years in the Estonian Seniors’ Competition Enn Pääro and Raivo Velsberg with a score of +5 over the PAR (77 beats) share the first place in the men´s category . Women’s Senior leaders are Niitvälja Golf players Karin Game and Anne Petter with a score of 93 beats.

Competitions continue on Saturday with Round 2, and after the second round of the overall score, 3/5 players from all classes can play in the final match – CUT.

Niitvälja Karikas by Danske Bank is hold from Friday to Sunday (6.-8.July 2018) and is the oldest golf competition in the Baltics. This year, 158 competitors from eight countries are taking part. The main sponsor of the competition, Danske Bank, has issued a prize pool of € 10,000, with 19 professional golfers, among them Estonian best marks, Mark Suursalu and Sander Aadassar. There are 41 golfers participating abroad.