England beat Scotland


9.5-5.5 on first day of


Home Internationals


FROM THE ENGLISH GOLF UNION WEBSITE
England took a major step towards regaining the Raymond Trophy by beating world and European champions Scotland 9 1/2 – 5 1/2 on the opening day of the Home Internationals at Hillside, Lancashire today.
Wales pulled off a thrilling win, edging past Ireland 8-7 with the final match on the final green.
It was a delighted but relieved England captain Colin Edwards who said: “What a great victory. I thought we were dead this morning but the lads came back brilliantly because Scotland are a fine side with a lot of great players.”
Having been beaten by the Scots in the European final a few weeks ago at Conwy, England were looking for revenge but after the foursomes the side were level at 2-2 with one match halved.
However, it was a different story in the singles. Tommy Fleetwood, pictured above by Cal Carson Golf Agency, led the way with a stunning 7 and 5 win over Keir McNicoll which seemed to lift the rest of the team.
Matt Haines and Dale Whitnell completed 3 and 2 wins over their Walker Cup team-mates Wallace Booth and Gavin Dear respectively while Sam Hutsby and Chris Paisley both escaped with narrow wins after looking set for defeat.
Hutsby lost the first three holes against Ross Kellett but gradually turned it round to be all-square after 13. He won the 14th and held on to win by one hole win.
Similarly, Paisley also lost the opening three holes against Michael Stewart but got level again on the 16th, won the 17th to go ahead for the first time while a half on the last sealed another one hole success.
With Farren Keenan leading all the way against Paul O’Hara in his first action of the day to win 5 and 4 that saw England home while there were halved matches for Matt Nixon and Jamie Abbott.
The Welsh looked like suffering another defeat when they trailed 2-3 after the morning foursomes and lost the top singles by a wide margin. But they came out fighting in the afternoon to win six of the other nine singles.
Oliver Farr reached the turn all square with Paul Cutler but won four successive holes from the 12th to claim a 4 and 3 success, while Joe Vickery did likewise against Paul O’Kane, his four-in-a-row came from the sixth and saw him 4-up at the turn.
Although Vickery saw his lead cut in half by O’Kane, the Welshman steadied the ship and wins at the 15th and 16th saw him home 4 and 2.
Ireland responded with Alan Dunbar coming from 2-down against Nigel Edwards to win 4 and 3 while Connor Doran got home 3 and 2 over Richard Hooper.
That left the score 6-4 to Ireland and they added a further point when Cian Curley went to the 18th in beating Adam Runcie That left the Irish needing one more win for outright victory but they couldn’t get over the line.
With Rhys Enoch beating Niall Kearney and Rhys Pugh accounting for Simon Ward, both by 2 and 1, and Alistair Jones edging out Dara Lernihan on the 18th green the teams were level at 7-7.
In the final single, James Frazer was generally always ahead against Ireland’s Robert Cannon but the Welshman was only 1-up on the 18th tee. However, Frazer got up-and-down from in front of the green for a half and a narrow win that saw Wales home 8-7.
In tomorrow’s matches, England face Ireland and Scotland play Wales.

SCOTLAND 5 1/2, ENGLAND 9 1/2

FOURSOMES (2 1/2-2 1/2)
Scotland names first
Gavin Dear & Keir McNicoll halved with Matt Haines & Tommy Fleetwood.
Wallace Booth & Michael Stewart bt Sam Hutsby & Chris Paisley 5 and 4.
James White & David Law lost to Dale Whitnell & Luke Goddard 3 and 2.
Ross Kellett & James Byrne bt Jamie Abbott & Stiggy Hodgson 1 hole.
Glenn Campbell & Paul O'Hara lost to James Robinson & Matthew Nixon 2 holes.

SINGLES (3-7)
Wallace Booth lost to Matt Haines 3 and 2.
Gavin Dear lost to Dale Whitnell 3 and 2.
Ross Kellett lost to Sam Hutsby 1 hole.
Michael Stewart lost to Chris Paisley 1 hole.
James Byrne halved with Matthew Nixon.
David Law halved with Jamie Abbott.
Keir McNicoll lost to Tommy Fleetwood 7 and 5.
Steven McEwan bt Luke Goddard 1 hole.
Glenn Campbell bt Stiggy Hodgson 3 and 2.
Paul O'Hara lost to Farren Keenan 5 and 4.

IRELAND 7, WALES 8
FOURSOMES (3-2)
Ireland players first
Paul Culter & Alan Dunbar bt Luke Thomas & Richard Hooper 8 and 7.
Pat Murray & Dara Lernihan bt Oliver Farr & Adam Runcie 5 and 4.
Niall Kearney & Simon Ward bt Rhys Enoch & Alistair Jones 3 and 2.
Kelan McDongah and Cian Curley lost to Nigel Edwards & Rhys Pugh 3 and 2.
Robert Cannon & Connor Doran lost to Joe Vickery & James Frazer 2 holes.

SINGLES (4-6)
Murray bt Thomas 5 and 3.
Cutler lost to Farr 4 and 3.
Kearney lost to Enoch 2 and 1.
Dunbar bt Edwards 4 and 3.
Paul O'Kane lost to Vickery 4 and 2.
Curley bt Runcie 1 hole.
Ward lost to Pugh 2 and 1.
Doran bt Richard Hooper 3 and 2.
Lernihan lost to Jones 1 hole.
Cannon lost to Frazer 1 hole.

***Updates are available on the Home Internationals website, http://www.homeinternationals.org/.