Sacre bleu! Scots humbled by

French fightback in singles

Top seeds Scotland were humbled by defending champions France, the last of the eight match-play qualifiers, in the quarter-finals of the European men's amateur team golf championship at Royal Park Golf & Country Club, Turin in Italy today.
After their brilliant performance in the 36-hole qualifying test, the Scots looked well on their way to the semi-finals when they led France 2-0 in the morning foursomes.
Calum Macaulay (Tulliallan) and Wallace Booth (Comrie) won a tight tie by two holes over Alex Kaleka and Benjamin Hebert.
And Gavin Dear (Murrayshall) and Paul O'Hara (Colville Park) walloped Jean-Jacques Wolff and Eduardo Dubois 6 and 5.
But the Scots were slaughtered in the singles.
Needing to win only two of the five afternoon ties to qualify for a semi-final meeting with England, they collapsed to an ignominous defeat.
Macaulay was turned over 3 and 2 by Victor Dubuisson in the top singles; Dear lost by 2 holes to Hebert, Keir McNicoll (pictured above by Cal Carson Golf Agency), who has gone badly off form since winning the St Andrews Links Trophy, was trounced 7 and 6 by Dubois, young Michael Stewart lost by one hole to Antoneli and Booth halved with Kaleka.
France, trailing 2-0, took 4 1/2 pt out of a possible five from the singles to scored a famous - for them - victory by 4 1/2-2 1/2.
That means the best Scotland can do is to finish fifth in the championship. The four winners of today's ties continue their title quests tomorrow (Friday) but the Scots fall back to play the rest of the Championship Flight with the rest of the quarter-final losers/
So it's England, winners by 5 1/2-1 1/2 against Italy, who play the Frenchmen.
The other semi-final is between Ireland, conquerors of No 2 seeds Sweden by 5 1/2- 1/2, and Germany who beat Spain 5-2..
Results:
CHAMPIONSHIP FLIGHT
Quarter-finals
SCOTLAND 2 1/2, FRANCE 4 1/2
Foursomes - C Macaulay & W Booth bt A Kaleka & B Hebert 2 holes; G Dear & P O'Hara bt J-J Wolff & E Dubois 6 and 5 (2-0).
Singles - Macaulay lost to V Dubuisson 3 and 2, Dear lost to Hebert 2 holes, McNicoll lost to Dubois 7 and 6, M Stewart lost to D Antoneli 1 hole, Booth halved with Kaleka (1/2-4 1/2).

ENGLAND 5 1/2, ITALY 1 1/2
Foursomes - C Wood & S Hutsby bt F Colombo & N Bertasio 1 hole; C Ford & M Haines bt A Pavan & M Manassero at 21st (2-0).
Singles - S Uzzel bt Bertasio 3 and 2, Wood lost to Manassero 1 hole, Hutsby halved with Colombo, Ford bt Pavan 4 and 3, D Whitnell bt C Terragni 1 hole (3 1/2- 1 1/2).

SPAIN 2, GERMANY 5
Foursomes: J F Sarasti & B Etchart lost to S Gross & S Einhaus 2 and 1; J Campillo & P Oriol lost to A Knappe & M Kieffer 2 and 1 (0-2).
Singles: M Cobo bt A John 7 and 6, Etchart lost to Gross 5 and 3, Campillo bt Knappe 1 hole, Oriol lost to Kieffer 6 and 5, Sarasti lost to Einhaus 5 and 4 (2-3).

IRELAND 5 1/2, SWEDEN 1 1/2
Foursomes - S Lowery & G Shaw bt B Akesson & J Kennegard 4 and 2; J Caldwell & P Cutler bt F Quicker & T Rosendahl 6 and 5 (2-0).
Singles - Shaw bt Kennegard 3 and 2, P O'Hanlon lost to P Widegren 1 hole, Cutler bt H Norlander 2 and 1, Caldwell halved with Rosendahl, Lowry bt Akesson 1 hole (3 1/2-1 1/2).

Flight 2
Netherlands 4, Belgium 1.
Denmark 3, Norway 2.
Austria 3, Wales 2.
Portugal 4, Finland 1.

Flight 3
Switzerland 5, Poland 0.
Iceland 5, Estonia 0.