England shine in the Oxfordshire sun

England had to battle hard before they earned a 14-10 victory over France in the biennial contest at sun-bathed Frilford Heath in Oxfordshire. Going into the second and final day one point ahead, they doubled that in the morning foursomes which left them needing three wins and a half from the eight singles.
But it was no easy task as the French put up stout resistance. However, Danny Willett, Chris Wood and Gary Wolstenholme put them on the brink and it was left to Neil Chaudhuri to seal the winning point for the England team (pictured - photo courtesy of Tom Ward).Willett led from the front in his match with Johann Lopez Lazaro. There was little to choose between them for 11 holes mainly through the Frenchman’s superb short game. But Willett then reeled off five successive birdies to close out the contest 3 and 2, being six under par at the end. There was no holding Wood who completed his fourth victory by 2 and 1 over Alex Kaleka.
The only time the Gloucestershire man was behind was when Kaleka birdied the second hole but Wood responded with a birdie-two at the fourth and was two up at the turn which he reached in 33 strokes. Kaleka closed the gap on the tenth but Wood never let his opponent back on terms and a French bogey at the 15th sealed his fate. At no stage could France be written off especially when Mathieu Bey handed new cap Matt Haines his first defeat by 5 and 3. Bey was in top form, starting with three successive winning birdies and was still three up when he reached the turn in 32.
No matter what he tried, Haines couldn’t dent Bey’s defence and the Frenchman added further birdies at the 13th and 15th to complete a fine afternoon’s work. Sam Hutsby also boasted a perfect record going into his match with Benjamin Hebert and looked like extending that when he stood on the ninth tee two up.
But he lost the short tenth with a bogey then a mistake on the 16th saw him fire into the gorse and take a penalty. That left the contest all square playing the 18th which didn’t prove lucky again for the English as Hebert took two from off the green for birdie after Hutsby had chipped and two-putted for bogey and a one hole defeat.
That left the contest 11-9 and Wolstenholme put England within sight of the finishing line with a 2 and 1 win over Edouard Dubois. Wolstenholme, winless to this point, opened with two winning birdies but Dubois got back on terms with two of his own at the fifth and sixth. There was nothing to separate them until the 11th where Dubois dropped a shot to slip back again. A further birdie at 12 restored Wolstenholme’s two hole lead and after he slipped again at the 15th, the England veteran secured the vital birdie at 17 to seal victory.
Chaudhuri, drafted in as a replacement for the injured Steve Uzzell, made sure he didn’t finish with a blank return by coming from two down to beat Rudy Thuillier on the final green.
After losing the first hole to a par, Chaudhuri was always playing catch-up, especially when he fell two down on the seventh. But a run of five successive birdies from the tenth saw the Leicestershire man romp to two up only to lose that advantage through 16. However, he won the 17th with a par and secured the 18th when Thuillier conceded after driving into an unplayable lie and taking a penalty before firing his third over the green with Chaudhuri safely on the putting surface in one. Dale Whitnell, in the final match was always ahead against Jean-Jacques Wolff, also winning on the final green, while Matt Cryer battled back from four down to also take his contest with Victor Dubuisson to the 18th only to lose by two holes. It was England’s second successive win in the event following their victory in Bordeaux two years ago.