Press Information

Report on the Harder German Junior Masters 2009

The seventh ‘Harder German Junior Masters’, as the second tournament of the new ‘World Junior Golf Series’, took place on the grounds of the Golf Club Heddesheim from the 5th to 7th of August.

Compared to last year’s top-class tournament the standard this year was raised even higher:
107 participants from 18 nations participated, among them the national teams from England, Finland, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, South-Africa, Thailand, Hungary and the USA. Altogether 54 participants started with a handicap of 0 or better. The cut for the Girls Juniors was minus 1.8, and participation for the boys was only possible from 1.1 onwards. Brittany Altomare from the USA was leading the girls’ list of participants with a handicap of plus 3.0. While Lucas Bjerregaard from Denmark was on top of the Boys Juniors with a handicap of plus 3.5.

The winner is Maximilian Rottluff from the Golf Club Hubbelrath. The first two days he played rather inconspiciously but then on the last day, when he was actually six strokes behind Yannik Paul from the Golf Club Mannheim-Viernheim, who up until this point was leading, he put up a tremendous fight and after a round of 66 and one stroke ahead with 209 strokes, he finally clinched the victory and the traditional ‘Green Jacket’ for the winner. The Dane Lucas Bjerregaard (210) came in second. On the last green he narrowly missed a birdie and thus the play-off for the winner. Haraldur Franklin from Iceland (211), who won the Icelandic Junior Masters this year came in third.

The winner Maximilian Rottluff was in the Club-house one and a half hours before the last flight came in and had already changed clothes when he heard the news of his victory. ‘This unexpected victory is fantastic. I would have been happy with a place amongst the top ten. Though I must admit that I was well aware of my good game. ‘

Suspense was also the order of the day for the Ladies Juniors. Britanny Altomare from the USA, member of the Junior Ryder-Cup Team 2006, was in the lead before the last round with 143 strokes, followed by Karolin Lampert from the Golf Club St. Leon-Rot (144) and Anna-Lena Krämer from GC Hagshof (146). In an exciting match the US American kept her nerves and won on the last green, two strokes ahead of Anna-Lena Krämer (217) and Karolin Lampert (also 217). So an overjoyed Brittanny Altomare was the winner of the ‘Green Jacket’:
‘I was very happy with my consistent game on a very demanding course. This was my last Junior Tournament. From now on I would like to try my luck as a pro.’

On all three tournament days the large crowd of spectators was presented with fascinating, top-class golf. Tournament Director Dr. Joachim Rosswag was very pleased: ‘Never before have we had a field of players with such a close prolific performance. This was especially obvious on the last day, which was incredibly exciting. We are also very pleased that Yannik Rosenberg from our own Club made 10th place. Once again we are extremely happy with this tournament and are already looking forward to the 8th Harder German Junior Masters next year.