Team East Asia wins the 23rd MercedesTrophy World Final 2012 in Stuttgart

The 23rd MercedesTrophy World Final in Stuttgart ended with the awards ceremony in the Mercedes-Benz Museum. The MercedesTrophy is a special global premium tournament series for amateurs, which this year again broke the record set last
year for the number of participants: over 65,000 players from more than 60 countries took part in the 2012 MercedesTrophy.

Some 33 teams from around the world, each with three players, travelled to the 'birthplace of the automobile' over the period September13-18, 2012 to decide this year's top national team and best individual player. This year's winner of the Nations Cup is the team from East Asia, with a points total of 195. In second place was the team from the United Kingdom with 193 points, followed by the team from the Netherlands with 191 points. The Team Spirit Award, the winner of which is selected by the participants themselves, was presented by brand ambassador Franz Beckenbauer to the team from South Africa.

In the individual scoring, the following players won the MercedesTrophy World Final: with 63 points, Guy Sawyer from Canada achieved the best overall score. On 72 points, Jose Ressurreicao from Portugal posted the best result in Class A. In Class B, Hak Hyun Jung from Korea with 75 points, and Wouder de Ruiter from the Netherlands took the honours in Class C with a points total of 73.

"For us, the MercedesTrophy is an essential component of our international golf involvement. We invite customers and friends of the brand to our home city of Stuttgart and provide them with an experience that is both exclusive and out of the ordinary," said Luder Fromm, head of Global Marketing Communication Mercedes-Benz Cars. "On behalf of Mercedes-Benz, I would like to congratulate this year's winners on their outstanding performance, and express my thanks to all the participants for taking part."

As well as the sports activities, the MercedesTrophy finalists had an opportunity to experience the Mercedes-Benz brand at close quarters. The programme included a visit to the Mercedes-Benz Museum, a guided tour of the Mercedes-Benz plant in Sindelfingen and Mercedes-AMG test drives with current models, including the SLS AMG, the ML 63 AMG and the SL 63 AMG. The awards ceremony also featured the presentation of the concept style coupé, the design study of the CLA, whose market launch is scheduled for next year.

German Laureus Ambassador Axel Schulz took on all challengers in the special competition 'Nearest to the Pin', at which donations were collected for the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation. As one of the founding members, Mercedes-Benz is particularly involved in supporting this foundation. For example, in addition to what is collected at the MercedesTrophy World Final, all of the donations made during the MercedesTrophy qualification tournaments that were staged around the world will also go to the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation.

In the competition, 'Drive to The Major', which was played on the first day of the tournament, participants had the chance to win a trip to 'The Open Championship 2013' and a slot in the qualification tournament for the 'Monday After Event'. As the official automotive partner of the world's oldest golf tournament, Mercedes-Benz offers participants the chance to tee off on the historic links course. Their opponent in the 'Straightest Drive' competition was none other than the most successful German golfer of all time and Mercedes-Benz brand ambassador, Bernhard Langer.

Posted in: Franz Beckenbauer,Golf,Guy Sawyer,Hak Hyun Jung,International,Jose Ressurreicao,Luder Fromm,Mercedes-Benz,Mercedes-Benz Museum,MercedesTrophy,Out of Wheels,Stuttgart,Team East Asia,Wouder de Ruiter