Honours even after the first day of the St Andrews Trophy
Gary Hurley
Greystones' Paul Dunne and West Waterford's Gary Hurley made a crucial contributions as honours ended even after the first day of the 2014 St Andrews Trophy at Barseback in Sweden, writes the R and A.
The Great Britain and Ireland team turned around deficits in several matches against their Continent of Europe opponents to finish tied at 6-6 going into tomorrow’s final day.
GB&I Captain Nigel Edwards said, “We had our backs against the wall all day really in the foursomes and singles. Coming down the closing holes the lads played well. To get to 4-4 out of the afternoon’s singles was a bonus just as it was to get to 2-2 out of the foursomes. We need to up the ante tomorrow and push on. Perhaps we need to be a little more focused on the front nine and come out of the blocks quicker.”
All of the singles matches went to at least the 17th hole and the biggest winning margin was Hurley’s 3&1 win over Finland’s Albert Eckhardt.
After Ashley Chesters led the GB&I team out with a one hole victory over Spain’s Mario Galiano, the Continent of Europe took charge with wins for Portugal’s Joao Carlota, Spain’s Daniel Berna and Dutchman Darius van Driel.
Dunne followed Hurley’s example with a 2&1 win over Slovenia’s Tim Gornik. While the matches between England’s Nick Marsh and Frenchman Leonard Bem and Scotland’s Graeme Robertson and Emilio Cuartero from Spain were halved.
It was all square after the morning foursomes. After a promising start in all four matches, the Continent of Europe had to be content with one win, two halved matches and a defeat.
After trailing in the early stages, the English pairing of Ashley Chesters and Ryan Evans won the 12th, 14th and 15th holes to turn around the match against Carlota and Mathias Eggenberger, from Switzerland, and seal a 3&2 win for GB&I.
Scots Grant Forrest and Bradley Neil came back from two holes down and birdied the 18th to win the hole and halve the match with Spain’s Mario Galiano and Cuartero. Hurley and Dunne were three down after the 12th hole but fought back bravely, winning the next three holes, to claim a point against van Driel and Eckhardt.
Bem and Gornik were comfortable 5&4 winners over Graeme Robertson and Jamie Savage.
For full scoring from the St Andrews Trophy matches and Saturday's tee times please click here.
Continent of Europe take the lead after first day of the Jacques Leglise Trophy
The Continent of Europe will take a 7-5 lead into Saturday’s final day of the Jacques Leglise Trophy.
Home favourites Oskar Bergqvist and Adam Blomme led the way in the afternoon singles with the former securing an impressive 5&4 win over England’s Bradley Moore. His compatriot won by two holes against Scotland’s George Burns.
Norway’s Kristoffer Reitan won the first hole with a bogey five and never looked back as he clinched a 4&3 win over Englishman Jamie Dick. Italy’s Stefano Mazzoli edged a close match by one hole to secure a valuable point against England’s Haydn McCullen.
GB&I playing Captain Ewen Ferguson led from the front defeating Vitek Novak from the Czech Republic by 5&4. England’s Marco Penge enjoyed a 3&2 win over Sweden’s Marcus Kinhult and Welshman Tim Harry carded four birdies as he won out by 4&3 against Vince van Veen.
In the morning foursomes, Ferguson and Moore went ahead for the first time in their match against Bergqvist and Reitan at the 17th and notched up a one hole victory. Five birdies in six holes from the ninth hole helped Ashton Turner and Penge win their match against Italian due Mazzoli and Federico Zuckermann by 4&3.
The Continent of Europe team fought back with convincing wins in the other two matches through Klaus Ganter and van Even over Haydn McCullen and Jamie Dick, and Blomme and Kinhult over Ireland's Rowan Lester and Welshman Tim Harry.
For full scoring from the Jacques Léglise Trophy matches and Saturday’s tee times please click here.
