BYRNE AND STEWART STEADY THE SHIP
AS SCOTLAND BOYS MAKE TOP EIGHT
James Byrne and Michael Stewart's greater experience of pressure situations held Scotland together as their team effort was weakening slightly and pulled the Scots through in seventh place to the championship match-play flight of the European boys' team championship at Rold Skov Golf Club, Denmark today.
Twelve months ago, a very strong Scotland team reached the final before losing to Norway. It is no disrespect to the 2007 line-up to say that it isn't quite of the calibre of last year, so full marks to them for clearing the first major hurdle, which was to be one of the leading eight teams at the end of the 36 holes of stroke-play.
Sam McLaren, the hero of the first day with a 68, sagged to a 79 today but James Byrne stepped into the inspirational breach with a 69, closely followed by Michael Stewart with a 70.
In the end, the Scots' second-round total of 366 was actually one stroke better than their Tuesday team score.
What pushed the Scots down near the danger zone was that some of the leading teams moved up a gear.
Defending champions Norway improved from 364 to 353 to head the eight qualifiers. Sweden shaved off four shots for 359 and third place behind No 2 Italy. England improved by two shots to qualify in fourth place, France were 13 shots better and Denmark had an improvement of 10.
Even No 8 qualifiers Netherlands managed to save seven shots compared with the first round.
Now Scotland play No 2 seeds Italy - a tough one but not an impossible task.
TOP-FLIGHT MATCH-PLAY QUALIFIERS
717 NORWAY 364 353
719 ITALY 357 362.
722 SWEDEN 363 359.
726 ENGLAND 364 362 (A Johnston 679, J Hiluta 71, M Haines 72, O Sharpe 73, E Pepperell 77. NC: T Fleetwood 79).
731 FRANCE 372 359.
732 DENMARK 371 361.
733 SCOTLAND 367 366 (J Byrne 69, M Stewart 70, P Shields 75, A Campbell 75, N Henderson 77. Non-counter: S McLaren 79).
735 NETHERLANDS 374 361.
Draw:
Italy v Scotland.
Denmark v Sweden.
England v France.
Netherlands v Norway.
SECOND FLIGHT QUALIFIERS
743 GERMANY 381 362.
743 IRELAND 373 370 (P Cutler 71, C Drumm 72, S Healy 785, R McNamara 75, L Lennox 77. NC: J Patterson 79).
747 WALES 384 363 (B Enoch 70, J Howie 71, J Vickery 73, J Green 74, R Pugh 75. NC: C Nugent 81).
748 AUSTRIA 379 369.
750 SPAIN 376 374.
750 FINLAND 376 374.
751 PORTUGAL 385 366.
759 SWITZERLAND 388 371
Draw:
Ireland v Portugal.
Finland v Wales.
Austria v Spain.
Switzerland v Germany.
THIRD FLIGHT QUALIFIERS
765 CZECH REPUBLIC 385 380
766 SLOVENIA 390 376.
774 BELGIUM 398 376.
802 HUNGARY 407 392.
Draw:
Hungary v Czech Republic.
Slovenia v Belgium.
AS SCOTLAND BOYS MAKE TOP EIGHT
James Byrne and Michael Stewart's greater experience of pressure situations held Scotland together as their team effort was weakening slightly and pulled the Scots through in seventh place to the championship match-play flight of the European boys' team championship at Rold Skov Golf Club, Denmark today.
Twelve months ago, a very strong Scotland team reached the final before losing to Norway. It is no disrespect to the 2007 line-up to say that it isn't quite of the calibre of last year, so full marks to them for clearing the first major hurdle, which was to be one of the leading eight teams at the end of the 36 holes of stroke-play.
Sam McLaren, the hero of the first day with a 68, sagged to a 79 today but James Byrne stepped into the inspirational breach with a 69, closely followed by Michael Stewart with a 70.
In the end, the Scots' second-round total of 366 was actually one stroke better than their Tuesday team score.
What pushed the Scots down near the danger zone was that some of the leading teams moved up a gear.
Defending champions Norway improved from 364 to 353 to head the eight qualifiers. Sweden shaved off four shots for 359 and third place behind No 2 Italy. England improved by two shots to qualify in fourth place, France were 13 shots better and Denmark had an improvement of 10.
Even No 8 qualifiers Netherlands managed to save seven shots compared with the first round.
Now Scotland play No 2 seeds Italy - a tough one but not an impossible task.
TOP-FLIGHT MATCH-PLAY QUALIFIERS
717 NORWAY 364 353
719 ITALY 357 362.
722 SWEDEN 363 359.
726 ENGLAND 364 362 (A Johnston 679, J Hiluta 71, M Haines 72, O Sharpe 73, E Pepperell 77. NC: T Fleetwood 79).
731 FRANCE 372 359.
732 DENMARK 371 361.
733 SCOTLAND 367 366 (J Byrne 69, M Stewart 70, P Shields 75, A Campbell 75, N Henderson 77. Non-counter: S McLaren 79).
735 NETHERLANDS 374 361.
Draw:
Italy v Scotland.
Denmark v Sweden.
England v France.
Netherlands v Norway.
SECOND FLIGHT QUALIFIERS
743 GERMANY 381 362.
743 IRELAND 373 370 (P Cutler 71, C Drumm 72, S Healy 785, R McNamara 75, L Lennox 77. NC: J Patterson 79).
747 WALES 384 363 (B Enoch 70, J Howie 71, J Vickery 73, J Green 74, R Pugh 75. NC: C Nugent 81).
748 AUSTRIA 379 369.
750 SPAIN 376 374.
750 FINLAND 376 374.
751 PORTUGAL 385 366.
759 SWITZERLAND 388 371
Draw:
Ireland v Portugal.
Finland v Wales.
Austria v Spain.
Switzerland v Germany.
THIRD FLIGHT QUALIFIERS
765 CZECH REPUBLIC 385 380
766 SLOVENIA 390 376.
774 BELGIUM 398 376.
802 HUNGARY 407 392.
Draw:
Hungary v Czech Republic.
Slovenia v Belgium.
posted by Colin |
See story on its own page | Wednesday, July 11, 2007
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