Tournament track record

The EURAM Bank Open 2019 are history, with the presentation of the winner’s check in the amount of € 29,600 to the 24-year-old Scots Calum Hill, the largest domestic golf tournament in Austria with a total donation of € 185,000 went from Wednesday to Sunday the GC Adamstal facility in Ramsau, Lower Austria. The most important partners of the tournament, which is part of the European Challenge Tour, were the namesake EURAM Bank, the Austrian Golf Association, the Sportland Niederösterreich and Interwetten.
A total of 153 professionals and three amateurs from 31 nations started at the start of the tournament, with 69 players making the cut.
In the fight for overall victory, there was a bitter fight between the Scotsman Calum Hill on the final day, who had led under par after 14 on day 3 and was attacked for a long time by the Englishman Matt Ford, one stroke behind. The Scotsman kept his nerve on the final lap with four birdies and fixed his second Challenge Tour success with 18 under par. The Englishman fell back to fourth place due to two bogeys at the end of the round. Scotsman Ewen Ferguson and Portuguese Jose-Filipe Lima finished second, four strokes behind.
Accordingly, winner Calum Hill was happy about his second Challenge Tour victory after the Irish Open last year:
“Of course, if you win, you’re always happy. I particularly liked it here and had fun starting as the overall leader in the last day. Of course, I was particularly motivated because my entire family, including my father, often cheered me on very loudly as a caddy. The conditions here were first class, I can only congratulate the organizer.”
The real sensation was provided by 38-year-old Frenchman Julian Quesne. The two-time European Tour and Challenge winner managed to set an absolutely new place record in the Adamstal with 61 strokes. He only played nine birdies and needed 27 putts to set this probably unique record. The Frenchman finished 19th in the final ranking.
There are a total of 11 local representatives, including three amateurs, who started in the Adamstal. With Sebastian Wittmann and Felix Schulz as pros, as well as Lukas Lipold and Niklas Regner as amateurs, four of them did the cut.

The best domestic representative was the 25-year-old Salzburg amateur player Lukas Lipold, who performed particularly well at the beginning of the tournament.

“I got off to a good start on the final day, then I had two mistakes on holes 16 and 17 that really got me out of the concept. I could only finish with par and overall rank 56. For me, the Adamstal was still a positive experience. I took the opportunity to chat and share experiences with some players who are otherwise on the European Tour. This is already in view of my possible move to the professional camp.”

Second best Austrian was 27-year-old local hero Sebastian Wittmann, who today played three over par and finished with + 2 in 61st place in the overall ranking:
“Today I played the first 11 holes very well up to the greens, only then it didn’t work out with putting. Nevertheless, the EURAM Bank Open was a success for me, I was able to do the cut for the first time in a Challenger tournament. Now it’s off to St. Pölten for the Pro Tour and then to Finland.”
For the only 19-year-old Styrian amateur player Niklas Regner, the first three days in the Adamstal were perfectly acceptable, unfortunately it didn’t go as planned on the final day, so the Styrian had to sum up par and place 65 with five:
“Unfortunately I totally messed up the first nine holes today with three bogeys and two double bogeys. An Eagle on Hole 13 couldn’t help me anymore. So I have to be more careful with my balance sheet, the most positive thing was that I achieved the cut and that I was able to gain a lot of experience thanks to the strong international team of the tournament.”
The fourth Austrian in the cut was the 25 year old Styrian Felix Schulz. He did not play a bad round with five birdies, a triple and a double bogey on the final day, but due to his unsatisfactory results he was only 69th in the days before with a score of +12.
The EURAM Bank Open will also take place next year
Tournament Director Federico Paez Weinbaum from Spain was also satisfied with the course of the EURAM Bank Open:
“We had a perfect tournament that went off without any major problems. The weather also played along accordingly. As far as the space is concerned, I have to express great praise to the organizer. The best conditions have been created for the Challenge Tour to appear. I’ve never seen a place like this. When you are there, you feel very closely connected to nature, which is a unique experience. It is a very spectacular course that cannot be seen anywhere else on the Challenge Tour.”
The President of the Adamstal Golf Club, Franz Wittmann, also had a very positive record:
“As in the previous year, it was a perfect tournament, even if the preparation cost a lot of substance. However, I am very satisfied with the very positive feedback from everyone involved. I would like to thank all of our partners and sponsors, but especially our members, without whose volunteer work such a tournament would not be possible. We are already very busy preparing for the tournament in 2020, where we will also celebrate the 25th anniversary of the GC Adamstal.”
The opinion of the main sponsor and namesake of the tournament was particularly important. EURAM Bank CEO Manfred Huber on the tournament:
“This year the tournament was a step higher for me than last time. This is due to the increasing quality of the players and the perfect space conditions. The weather also played along and adapted to the good athletic performance. It was a great tournament for me, so we will be a partner of the GC Adamstal again next year.”