The second tournament of the European eTour season will get underway later today, with eight players competing for the $5,000 first prize and a place at the Global Finals in December.
Headlining the field is Jsmithers who, following an impressive victory earlier in the season at the Portugal Masters, remains focused on winning after being beaten in two finals during the 2020 season. The American, real name Joshua Smith, reaffirmed his goals for this season in is his pre-tournament interview.
“This year I only have an expectation to win,” he said. “That is the only thing I am planning. So, I expect to win it all.”
Jsmithers, who boast a 14 win, one draw, seven loss record on the eTour, qualified as the second seed behind one of the greats of the WGT game, Young46 and he is fully aware of his compatriot’s ability to perform under pressure. Young46, real name Jason Young, is one of only three players to secure an eTour tournament victory since its inception in 2020 and starts the tournament as the number one seed.
“I would have to say that I should be the favourite. Coming up from the last tournament I should be. But young46 is there as well,” added Jsmithers.
Jsmithers’ first round opponent is Jalal038. The 31-year-old from Lebanon, real name Jalal Harfoush, is one of three debutants in today’s tournament and despite beating six-time tournament finalist, Shefuf during qualification, Harfoush is playing down his chances.
“For now I'm happy to qualify,” he said. “It was a tough in qualifying. I beat some pretty good guys on the way to this tournament. I beat Shefuf who lost to GolfX3 in the global finals. So, I will do my best to beat Jsmithers.”
Young46 will play LukeD9, who has featured at two previous eTour tournaments and has awin percentage of 44% in tournament play on the eTour. The victor of Young46 and LukeD9’s match up will take on Jsmithers or Jalal038 in the semi-final.
The other side of the bracket features one of the most intriguing matches of the quarter-final round in the match up against two-time eTour finalist Birchi and the man many consider as the greatest WGT player of all time, fmagnets.
Birchi, real name Simon Lanfermann who resides in Germany, has featured at two eTour tournaments but has secured just two match wins. Meanwhile, fmagnets, who resides in Brazil has five eTour tournament appearances, losing in the final on two of those occasions and the semi-final in the other three.
“It is always fun to play against Birchi. Some of the time he can play terrible but then he can have one game where he plays like one of the best in the game. So, he can be very, very good. On paper a good matchup and anything can happen” said fmagnets.
Closing out the quarter final round is relatively unknown affair with two debutants going head-to-head. ECC370, real name is Evan Cook, will play Kelsp, real name Koundinya Panyam. ECC370, who resides in Canada, qualified as the number three seed but has a lot of respect for his opponent.
“Kelsp is a great player. Either one of us can put up a great score. I'm seeded as the favourite, but I think many would say he is the favourite. We are both playing very well at the moment,” said ECC370
Kelsp, who will be competing from his home in India, has a mutual level of respect for his opponent but believes he will come out on top.
“Evan is very skilled,” he said. “He can see things that most people do not see. It is a privilege to be here. I am happy to play against him - but he is very good. I will go for myself as the favourite and I want to win but it won't be easy.”
The live show will be streamed from the European Tour’s YouTube Channel from 4pm BST later today (5pm CET).
