Scots' solid start as Ireland set

pace in PGAs of Europe

international team event

Scotland, spearheaded by Robert Arnott, pictured right by Cal Carson Golf Agency, with a two-under-par round of 70, made a solid start to the four-day PGAs of Europe international team golf championship at Roda Golf Club, Murcia in south-east Spain today.
Team-mates Sam Cairns and Gordon Law scored 74 and 75 respectively on a bright, sunny day but with a strong wind blowing across the course.
With the best two scores from three to count daily, Scotland totalled 144, the same as England who share second place, four shots behind Ireland for whom Eamon Brady returned a 69, the best score of the day, John Kelly a 71 and Robert Giles a 72.
Wales rounded off a good opening day for the home countries by filling fourth place on 145 with a 72 by Richard Dinsdale, a 73 by Andrew Barnett and a 74 by Matthew Griffiths.

There was a fourth Scot in action, Stephen Hubner from Glasgow, playing for United Arab Emirates. Stephen had a 75 and UAR totalled 150.
FIRST ROUND TOTALS
Par 144 (2 x 72). Best two from three scores to count daily.
140 Ireland (Eamon Brady 69, John Kelly 71, Robert Giles 72).
144 England (Paul Simpson 70, Paul Wesselingh 74, Will Barnes 83); Scotland (Robert Arnott 70, Sam Cairns 74, Gordon Law 75)
145 Wales (Richard Dinsdale 72, Andrew Barnett 73, Matthew Griffiths 74).
146 Holland (Eric Kruijning 81, Ben Hollier 73, Joost Steenkaner 73)
148 Bulgaria (David Eddiford 74, Neil Turley 74, Nikolay Staniev 84), South Africa (Johan Van Vuuren 74, Michael Michell 74, Paul McErlean 80)
149 Switzerland (Jean-Jan Dusson 74, Chris Aegerter 76, James Johnson 75), Italy (Mauro Bianco 72, Giorgio Grillo 77, Allessandro Napoleoni 78)
150 Czech Republic (Petr Strougal 76, Jiri Janda 74, Jiri Nemecek 81), Germany (Jason Evans 76, Denis Prossel 79, Lee Spencer 74), United Arab Emirates (Nick Oakley 75, Stephen Hubner 75, Luke Cantello 84)
151 Slovenia (Janez Grilc 76, Damjan Murgelj 80, Daniel Kraljic 75), Belgium (Arnaud Beaupain 77, Gilles Monville 80, Francois Nicolas 74)
152 Spain (Sebastian Miguel 77, Luis Navarro 75), Austria (Steve Waltman 83, Douglas Nicol 76, Justin Brink 76)
153 Sweden (Johan Klubb 79, Mikael Berglund 77, Fredrik Ericsson 76), Finland (Jyry Peltomaki 78, Sakari Aho 78, Harri Murtonen 75)
154 Denmark (Stephen Smith (80), Christian Roar (77), Michael Kaae Brund 77)
155 Slovakia (Michal Orabec 92, Peter Spacek 80, M Sopko 75), Norway (Niklas Diethelm 77, Johan Elgborn 78, Thomas Oderud 79)
156 Poland (Mike O’Brien 75, Martyn Proctor 83, David Ekberg 81)
160 Luxembourg (Leon Marks 79, John Pickford 81, Julien Pailler 82)
165 Croatia (Neno Smoljenovic 81, Darko Ljubanovic 86, Miro Raic 84)