Making history: Georgian national golf team competing in first European championship

For the first time in the history of European golf, Georgia is joining national teams from across the continent to compete for honours, with four members of the country’s team in Lithuania for the European Men’s Team Shield Championship.

Sandro Ilashvili, Zaur Gabaidze, Kartlos Diasamidze and Vakho Khakhviashvili arrived in Vilnius for Wednesday’s opener, after they were selected to represent the country in its first outing at the Europe-wide competition.

Captained by Andro Shilakadze, the four members of the national team were picked for the honour of flying the flag in May, based on results of Georgia’s national golf championship.

The competition in Vilnius involves 13 teams in two flights. Photo: European Golf Federation.

They are now among players featuring 13 European teams at the V Golf Club Vilnius — promoted as “one of the finest Championship Golf courses in the Baltic States”.

Held under the aegis of the European Golf Association, the Championship tracks both individual and team performances by participants in the Flight B section.

The fifth edition of the tournament involved individual fixtures of 18 holes on the opening day, with the best three scores from each team qualifying for their respective teams’ total scores.

The best eight teams will then qualify for a bracket where they will compete for Flight A, while the bottom three teams will spend the last three days in a “round-robin” format, facing each other.

The Georgian delegation in Vilnius is headed by Misha Dzadzamia, Vice-President of the Georgian Golf Federation. The tournament will close on Saturday.