2022 CPG INTERNATIONAL TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP [ITC]
COSTA NAVARINO, GREECE
22-24 FEBRUARY 2023
The PGA of Italy successfully defended their title at the 2022 CPG International Team Championship leading from start to finish at Costa Navarino in Greece.
PGA Professionals, Michele Reale, Gregory Molteni and Andrea Rota took advantage of very consistent play and strong team bonds across 54-holes at The Dunes Course for a three-over par combined total.
The PGA of Italy Team become the first winners to be presented with Sandy Jones Trophy, newly named in memory of the CPG’s former Chairman and renowned golf leader who passed away in late 2022.
“Winning the first time was special, but this time we also beat some tough competition, and it is an honour to be the first PGA to win the Sandy Jones Trophy,” said Molteni.
“We make a good team as we played together in many courses, so we know each other very well,” added Rota. “We started great the first two rounds considering the wind, and at the end we managed to hold on, so we are very happy.”
“We are proud of ourselves as the course at Costa Navarino was very good and very difficult,” said Reale. ”But I think it is the best place in Europe and we love it.”
Second place fell to the PGA of Germany, and professionals Ann-Kathrin Lindner, Martin Hastie and Ben Parker. Despite a one-under 70 from Parker and a level-par 71 for Hastie, the team were not able to close the gap finishing at nine-over for the week.
Patrick Patzel, Hanspeter Bacher and Florian Kepp from the PGA of Austria were a further three shots behind on 12 over par thanks to under par rounds from Bacher and Kepp.
The International Team Shield, – an event that runs alongside the ITC that is specifically for CPG Member Country PGAs with 100 Members or less – was won by the PGA of Greece team for the third time in four years. The team made up of Costa Navarino locals, Themis Ginis, Konstantinos Kotsovos and Chryssanthos Diakou, finished tie-6th in the overall Championship standings.
“It is great that we have won it three times now,” said Diakou. “I hope we will at one point be able to compete at the top with the other PGAs – we were in third position after two rounds and even though we could have played a bit better today then I do not think we are too far from that.”
For full final scores from the 2022 CPG International Team Championship visit https://cp.golf/2022ITC.
For more information on Aegean Airlines visit aegeanair.com and for more information on Costa Navarino visit costanavarino.com.