GB&I boys step up a gear to win

Jacques Leglise Trophy 14.5-9.5

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE R&A
Great Britain and Ireland have won the 2009 Jacques Leglise Trophy Match at Ganton Golf Club, Yorkshire after defeating the Continent of Europe by 14 ½ points to 9 ½.
Having finished day one only one point ahead of the European team, GB&I found another gear today, winning the morning foursomes by 2 ½ to 1 ½ before dominating the afternoon singles 5 ½ to 2 ½.
For GB&I captain, Paul Dunne, the victory represented an important ambition achieved. A measure of importance that these young players place on the match, Dunne had turned down a place in the Irish men’s team, who played in the Home Internationals at Hillside earlier this week, to compete in the Jacques Leglise.
“It feels great, the boys just played so well. They just took one shot at a time and they kept the ball in play,” explained Dunne.
“I was offered a spot in the (Ireland) men’s team this year but I decided that this was more important to me as I’ve never played for GB&I before. I won’t get any other chances to play this whereas, hopefully, I can play in the full Irish side for many years to come.”
“I was thrilled when I heard that Paul was playing, it was a wonderful gesture,” added GB&I boys' chairman of selectors, Peter McEvoy. “There’s something about Paul Dunne.”
The honour of holing the winning putt went to Max Smith of England, who completed a 4&3 victory over Finland’s Toni Hakula to seal the result.
“It’s brilliant,” said Smith. “It’s been a great event which I’ve enjoyed so much. And it’s fantastic to be a part of the team that’s won.”
“We play a lot of golf on this sort of course so maybe a little bit of experience helped us in being able to keep the ball low and really control our shots. So in that way we might have had a bit of an edge over the Europeans.”
Andreas Pallauf, the Continent of Europe’s non-playing captain, concurred, but felt there was a little but more to it: “I do think they are a bit more used to these conditions,” he said, “but our players maybe didn’t play up to the standard they know they can achieve. They had the potential to win but GB&I were always there. They played beautifully; the short-game especially was where there was a difference.
“On the day, they were better on and around the green than we were.”
But, without exception, all of the 18 boys competing this week exhibited a level of golf in, at times, dreadful conditions that would have not been out of place at a major championship.
“People think you’re exaggerating when you say that their ball striking is comparable to the top professional game,” explained McEvoy, himself a two-time Amateur champion and five-time GB&I Walker Cup competitor. “But it really is. If you stuck any of these lads in the practice ground at a European Tour event, you wouldn’t be able to pick them out.”
Next year’s Jacques Leglise Trophy Match will be held in Italy.
Full match results from both days of the 2009 Jacques Leglise Trophy Match are available on www.randa.org.
Scottishgolfview Editor's note: Paul Shields (Kirkhill), Scotland's only representative in the match, lost his opening-day foursome in partnership with Paul Dunne but won his singles by 4 and 3 against Robin King.
Today, Shields did not play in the foursomes but won his singles tie even more easily, beating Max Rohrig 5 and 4.