The Alps Tour heads to Austria for the 31st Gösser Open.
Pre-Tournament Notes
Maria Lankowitz, Graz, Austria
11th– 13th May 2023Alps Tour Media Contact: [email protected]
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Tournament Entries for the 2023 Gösser Open
The Alps Tour heads to Austria for the 31st Gösser Open.
Maria Lankowitz, May 9th 2023- The Alps Tour players head to Austria to compete in the 31st edition of the 2023 Gösser Open. This will be the 4th event of the 2023 season and will be played at Golf Club Erzherzog Johann in Maria Lankowitz from Thursday May 11th until Saturday May 13th.
On May 9th at GC Graz-Andritz St. Gotthard, owned by the Murhof Gruppe, this week’s promoter, the 2023 Austrian International Par 3 Championship will take place. Some of the professionals that will be taking part will then be competing for the Gösser Open title.
On Wednesday May 10th, the traditional Gösser Open shotgun Pro-Am will take place with approximately 32 teams competing.
The Gösser Open, is one of the most important stops of the Tour season and it is the oldest tournament on the Alps Tour schedule. It is also the most traditional professional golf tournament played in Austria.
The event began in 1993 at Steiermärkischer Golf Club Murhof and in 2000 it moved to Erzherzog Johann GC, which became its permanent host course. Just a year later in 2001 when the Alps Tour was founded, the Gösser Open became part of the Alps Tour schedule, and has been a regular event since then.
The Field
All of this season past winners will headline a strong field of 144 players at the 2023 Gösser Open: Jack Floydd, winner of the 2023 Ein Bay Open, Quim Vidal, winner of the 2023 Red Sea Little Venice Open and Kiet Van der Weele, winner of the 2023 Alps de Las Castillas.
In the field this week, all of the players who are currently in the top 10 of the actual Alps Tour Order of Merit will be competing except for number 7, Spain’s Jacobo Pastor. The current top 3 places are held by leader Spain’s Quim Vidal, number 2 Netherland’s and most recent winner Kiet Van der Weele and England’s Jack Floydd who rounds out the top 3 spots.
The current defending champion of the Gösser Open, which also celebrated the 30th edition is Austria’s own Markus Brierwith a score of 17 under-par. He is a current Legends Tour player with multiple wins on both the Challenge Tour as well as the DP World Tour. He captured the Gösser Open title three times in his career: 1994, 1995 and 2022.
Brier will be in the field this week alongside fellow Legends Tour players Swiss André Bossert and England’s David Shacklady.
The Gösser Open title was captured by notable players over the years that include England’s Matt Wallace in 2016. Inevitably a number of Austrian players have triumphed over the years some of which multiple times: Lukas Nemecs, Gordon Manson and most recently Markus Brier.
One of the most recent past champions, Austria’s Timon Baltl who won in 2019 will be competing for the title this week alongside other past champions like: Austria’s Martin Wiegele, France’s Thomas Elissalde and Austria’s Jurgen Maurer. Baltl was able to earn his Challenge Tour card in 2020 thanks to the results he achieved in 2019 on the Alps Tour.
This week, there will be 144 players competing from 17 different nationalities for the title. The players will be playing for a prize fund of €40,000 and 45,000 points. The winner of the 31st edition of the Gösser Open, will earn €5,800 and 6,525 Order of Merit points.
The format of the tournament is a 54 holes stroke play, where a cut will be made after 36 holes. The top 40 players and ties will compete during the final round on May 13th 2023.
To view the most up-to-date entry list, click here.
The Course
Golf Club Erzherzog Johann in Maria Lankowitz is a 5967 meters par 72 course. It was designed by architect DI Herwig Zisser and inaugurated in 1992. The course is located about 40km from the city of Graz on the edge of a natural reserve in the Western Styria area. It was built as part of a revitalization project due to the fact that the area underneath the golf course was previously a coal mine.
Golf Club Erzherzog Johann in Maria Lankowitz has some picturesque views including rolling hills, lakes, and forests which appease the eye. Nonetheless, the course creates numerous challenges for the players that require accuracy and precision due to the layout of the golf course.
The current tournament course record is held by Lukas Lipold in his 2nd round of the 2022 Gösser Open, Thomas Feyrsinger in his 2nd round of the 2005 Gösser Open and Claude Grenier in his 1st round of the 2011 Gösser Open, all with a score of 63.
Tournament Promoter
The 4th event of the 2023 season, is promoted by Murhof Gruppe. The sponsors and partners of Murhof Gruppe are Gösser Beer, Region Graz, Lipizzaner Heimat- Steiermark, Austrian Golf Federation, the city of Maria Lankowitz Wallfahrtsort Freizeitparadies and Steiermärkische Sparkasse. Their media partners are: Gepa Pictures, Antenne Steiermark andKleine Zeitung.
The Murhof Gruppe owns various golf courses throughout Austria including this week’s venue.
Follow along on www.alpstourgolf.com or the official “Alps Tour Golf” app to keep up on all the latest news (available on App Store for iOS devices and Play Store for Android).
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