Augusta rip-off for Masters accommodation

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Somethings just have to be said, as long as they are true.
Here's a telling commentary on the city of Augusta, Georgia from CBS Sports.com chief writer Steve Elling in his column on Golfweek.com:

Cry me a river It's not just gouging, but institutionalized gouging.
Every year, thousands trek to the Masters in Augusta, one of the worst hotel cities in America for a city that stands as the second-largest in Georgia.
Every year, visitors during Masters week get reamed by hotels and owners of private homes, who are permitted by city rule to raise rates through the roof.
A motel that wouldn't command $50 per night during 51 other weeks of the year gets $300 a night during the Masters.
Well, because of the economy and fall-off in demand, it seems that Augusta private homes that usually rent for $9,000 for the week, tax-free, are only commanding $7,000. Gee, I'm all broken up about it, aren't you?

PS from Colin Farquharson. Mind you, doesn't the same apply to any Open championship venue in this country? People in glass houses ....

Burntisland locals dominate Midland Alliance

By LEE SUTHERLAND
This week's Midland Golfers Alliance competition was the Eddie Sherry pro-am at Burntisland Golf House Club in Fife.
Locals dominated the prizelist with Paul Wytrazek showing his fellow pros the way with a fine two-under-par 68 and Burntisland assistant Eric Walker and his team of Joe Scally, George Muir and Harry Haldane winning the team event by three strokes with a total of 125.
Leading scores:
SCRATCH
68 P Wytrazek (Burntisland) p.
69 S Rettie (Stirling Golf Studio) p.
70 T McLevy (Blairgowrie), P Brookes (Pitreavie) p, A J Webster (Edzell) p.
71 R Stewart (Tulliallan), C Matheson (Falkirk Tryst) ap.
72 E Walker (Burntisland) ap, P Kinsley (St Andrews), K Hutton (Downfield) p, B Smith (Downfield) ap, D McKay (Wellsgreen) p.
LEADING TEAM TOTALS
125 E Walker (Burntisland) ap, J Scally (Burntisland) (5), G Muir (Burntisland) (8), H Haldane (Burntisland) (8).
128 (better inward half) A J Webster (Edzell) p, K Bryce (Edzell) (3), A Smith (Edzell) (7), I Milne (Edzell) (4).
128 (better last six) P Wytrazek (Burntisland) p, D Anderson (Blairgowrie) (6), G Mitchell (Blairgowrie) (5), T Watson (Blairgowrie) (9).
Next week's meeting
Thursday, March 15 - Crieff Golf Club.
Tee reserved from 8.30 to 12.30

Hi5 Pro Tour in Spain

Lloyd Saltman shows his class but


Zack goes out despite five birdies

Lloyd Saltman put together one of the best rounds since he turned pro to return a second-round, four-under-par 68 in the Hi5 Pro Tour's Villaitana Open at Benidorm, Spain today.
Saltman had five birdies, four of them in the last eight holes, as he improved by eight shots on his dismal first-day effort of 76. He beat the cut with ease in joint 14th place on level par 144.
Older brother Elliot also made it, with a shot to spare, with rounds of 78 and 72 for 150. He had four birdies as he qualified in joint 37th place.
Zack, the youngest of the three Saltman siblings and the rookie pro, was eliminated on 156 with rounds of 81 and 75. In his first round, Zack, pictured by Cal Carson Golf Agency, had a triple bogey and three double bogeys. In his second round he had the same number of birdies as Lloyd and more than Elliot but failed to beat the cut because he had three double bogeys.
Other Scots who survived were the Doherty brothers - Paul with a 72 for joint-fourth 142 and Jack with a 72 for 146
Spaniard Carlos Garcia leads the field by six shots after a brilliant second-round of 63, nine under par, for a 13-under tally of 131.

Leading second-round totals
Par 144 (2 x 72)
131 Carlos Garcia (Spa) 68 63.
137 Tuomas Tuovinen (Fin) 67 70.
140 Klas Hallgren (Swe) 71 69.
142 David Horsey (Eng) 71 71, Paul O'Hanlon (Ire) 71 71, Paul Doherty (Sco) 70 72, Gonzalo Vincente Elena (Spain) 65 77.
Selected scores:
144 Lloyd Saltman (Sco) 76 68 (jt 14th).
146 Jack Doherty (Sco) 74 72, Peter Finch (Eng) 72 74, Harry Proos (Eng) 75 71 (jt 22nd).
150 Elliot Saltman (Sco) 78 72.
MISSED THE CUT (151 or better)
156 Zack Saltman (Sco) 81 75.

McLean, Stephen and Robb

(all 69) tie for Buckpool win

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Amateurs continue to dominate the North-east Alliance golf circuit with Scottish schoolboys champion Chris Robb (Inchmarlo), youth cap Philip McLean (Peterhead) and Craig Stephen (Meldrum House) sharing the top spot on one-under-par 69 at Buckpool Golf Club, Buckie today.
McLean could have been on his own at the head of a field of 95 but he bogeyed the 18th after getting an eagle 2 at the 12th and birdies at the 16th and 17th.
Robb also birdied the 16th and 17th but parred the last for 33 home.
A double bogey 5 at the short 13th left Stephen, pictured by Cal Carson Golf Agency, needing to get at least two birdies over the last five holes to match the clubhouse target, which he did at the 15th and 16.
The leading professional was Ian Bratton (Newburgh) in joint fourth place with Brian Ritchie (Inverallochy) on 70. Next Wednesday's competition is at Newburgh - a chance for Ian Bratton, over his home course, to put the amateurs in their place.
Leading Buckpool scores (par 70)
SCRATCH
69 P McLean (Peterhead), C Stephen (Meldrum House), C Robb (Inchmarlo).
70 I Bratton (Newburgh), B Ritchie (Inverallochy).
71 R Fitzpatrick (Inchmarlo), R Stewart (Cruden Bay), J Mooney (unatt), D Law (Hazlehead), S Finnie (Caledonian).
72 A K Pirie (Hazlehead).
73 B Sutherland (Duff House Royal), G Paterson (Northern), B Nicolson (Auchmill).
74 M Jenkins (Duff House Royal), F Bisset (Banchory), C Nelson (Mackenzie Club), R Hyland (Craibstone).
75 B Main (Murcar Links), C Dempster (Inchmarlo), J Nicolson (Auchmill), D Corkey (Murcar Links), S Pert (Huntly), A Bews (Murcar Links).
76 B Brooks (Meldrum House), D Clark (Duff House Royal), C Duffus (Kemnay), S Chalmers (Banchory).
HANDICAP
Class 1 - B Sutherland (Duff House Royal) (8) 65; B Ritchie (Inverallochy) (2) 68; C Buchanan (Hazlehead) (8) 69; C Stephen (Meldrum House) (+1), A K Pirie (Hazlehead) (2), C Duffus (Kemnay) (6) 70.
Class 2 - B Lumsden (Northern) (14) 68; S Kennedy (Craibstone) (12) 70; N Parker (Murcar Links) (9), S Higgins (Royal Aberdeen) (10), M Brown (Craibstone) (16) 71; M Booth (Kemnay) (12), P Simpson (Aboyne) (13) 72.

BUCKPOOL SCORECARD. Par 70

OUT: 4-4-5-4-4-3-4-3-4--35. IN: 4-4-4-3-4-3-5-4-4--35

PHILIP McLEAN 69

OUT: 5-3-4-4-5-2-5-3-3--34. IN: 4-4-2-4-5-4-4-3-5--35.

CRAIG STEPHEN 69

OUT: 4-4-5-3-4-3-4-3-4--34. IN: 4-4-4-5-4-2-4-4-4--35.

CHRIS ROBB 69

OUT: 5-4-5-4-4-3--4-3-4--36. IN: 5-4-3-3-3-4-4-3-4--33.

England name four for European

Nations Cup at Sotogrande

PRESS RELEASE ISSUED BY ENGLISH GOLF UNION
England’s 2008 Eisenhower Cup team has been included in a four-man squad to contest the annual European Nations Championship at Sotogrande Golf Club, Spain from March 25 to 28.
Luke Goddard (Hendon, Middlesex), Sam Hutsby (Liphook, Hampshire) and Dale Whitnell (Five Lakes, Essex) comprised the Eisenhower Cup team and will be joined in Spain by Charlie Ford (Kirby Muxloe, Leicestershire).
All have enjoyed success on the international scene over the past three months, two having achieved national titles. Ford, 23, was in good form during a trip to Australia, losing a play-off for the Avondale Medal, finishing tied third in the Lake Macquarie International, and reaching the quarter-finals of the New South Wales Amateur Championship.
Goddard, 20, won the Argentine Amateur in Buenos Aires, a victory that topped off a successful 2008 for the Middlesex man which included victories in the South of England Stroke Play and the Portugal Nations Cup. He was also runner-up to Whitnell in the Lagonda Trophy.
Hutsby, 20, recently lost in the final of the Spanish Amateur, having won the title in 2006. Last year, he won the Bernard Darwin Salver and was also a member of the winning Portugal Nations Cup team while also finishing runner-up in the Welsh Open Stroke Play.
Whitnell, 20, was also successful in 2008, winning the Lagonda and Tillman Trophies as well as successfully defending the North of England Youths Championship. The Essex man also reached the semi-finals of the Australian Amateur and has made a successful start to this season by winning the Portuguese Amateur.
The European Nations Championship, formerly known as the Sherry Cup, the Grey Goose Cup, and the Sotogrande Cup, is competed for over 72 holes with the best three cards each day counting towards the team event.
An individual competition runs simultaneously with the Nations Championship, the champion collecting a trophy and the Amateur Masters Jacket. If the Championship ends in a tie, the teams involved will nominate one player to compete in a sudden death play-off.
England last won the Championship in 2004 and since then they have finished third twice and equal second in 2007. The individual title has been won by Gary Wolstenholme on four occasions, in 2000-01-03-05.

Home Suite Home Golf in Old Course Hotel

package costs £1,770 per person

PRESS RELEASE
The Old Course Hotel, Golf Resort & Spa has launched a “Suite Golf” package that offers guaranteed tee times on St Andrews’ Old Course, recognized worldwide as the Home of Golf.
Whilst indulging their passion for golf, visitors can enjoy life in a luxury suite at the five-star Old Course Hotel, which enjoys a unique location overlooking the 17th Road Hole of the Old Course and St Andrews Bay, made famous by the iconic film Chariots of Fire.
In addition to a round over the Old Course, the three-night package includes a tee time at The Duke’s Course, the Peter Thomson-designed heathland course that offers majestic views over the historic town of St Andrews, and a round over either the New or Jubilee Course.
Off the course, the Suite Golf package also comprises dinner on two nights in the Road Hole Fine Dining, the hotel’s award-winning restaurant that boasts three AA rosettes, and a 50-minute luxury spa treatment in the hotel’s Kohler Waters Spa.
“St Andrews is a world-renowned golfing mecca and the best place from which to enjoy it is the luxurious Old Course Hotel, Golf Resort & Spa, which borders the 17th fairway of the Old Course making the experience all the more memorable,” says Debbie Taylor, Managing Director, Old Course Hotel, Golf Resort & Spa.
“Due to overwhelming demand, the St Andrews Links Trust traditionally runs a daily ballot for the highly-coveted tee times on the Old Course, so it is a real bonus to be able to include guaranteed tee times on a course considered a must play due to its historic place in the heart of golf.”
In addition to playing golf, visitors can also sample the unique atmosphere and historical coastal setting of St Andrews by visiting the historical buildings of St Andrews Castle, the Cathedral ruins and the University of St Andrews, the most ancient in Scotland. Around St Andrews there are also many picturesque fishing villages, such as East Neuk, Crail and Anstruther, to explore as well as numerous country parks and nature trails.
The Suite Golf package, launched in honour of ‘Homecoming Scotland 2009’, a series of events throughout the year in honour of poet Robert Burns’ 250th birthday, starts at £1,770 per person based on two people sharing and is valid until the end of 2009.

For further details email reservations@oldcoursehotel.co.uk and mention booking reference HOMGLF or visit www.oldcoursehotel.co.uk
-

Stephen Sweeney joins

coaching staff at St

Andrews Golf Academy

PRESS RELEASE
St Andrews Links Golf Academy has strengthened its coaching team with the addition of PGA-certified instructor Stephen Sweeney (pictured right).
A native of County Donegal in Ireland, Sweeney is pleased to be back in the UK and said, ‘Teaching at one of the best academies in Europe, located at the Home of Golf, is going to be an extraordinary experience. I am delighted to be a member of the team and have the opportunity to contribute to its continuing success."
Stephen has taught world-wide. He oversaw the highly successful junior development programme at The Montgomerie in Dubai, one of the Gulf’s most respected academies, and he has also spent time in the US, with stints at Sawgrass Country Club in Florida and the Butch Harmon Golf School in Las Vegas.
While working in the Gulf Region, Stephen was a regular competitor on the UAE PGA Circuit. Stephen’s tournament background ensures he will have major input into new St Andrews Links Golf Academy programmes which provide strategic coaching and course management advice to players out on the golf course.
Steve North, director of instruction at the Academy said, "We aim to bring the best possible coaching to St Andrews, and Stephen’s technical knowledge combined with his competitive experience will be invaluable to our students."
St Andrews Links Golf Academy’s objective is to explore coaching beyond the physical aspects of the golf swing and expose students to full physiological training and mind coaching.
Academy instructors have seen nearly 10,000 golfers per year since the facility opened in 2006, giving Scottish golfers access to the best teaching and coaching while providing unique programmes such as Prepare to Play the Links which guarantees an enhanced playing experience for international visitors.

£100,000 a year for lease

of Hazlehead facilties:

Public voice their anger

FROM TODAY'S PRESS AND JOURNAL

By ROSS DAVIDSON

Residents voiced their anger at multi-million pound plans to redevelop an Aberdeen municipal golf course after it emerged the city council would receive just £100,000 per year from the deal.

More than 160 people met last night to speak out against the proposals for Hazlehead golf course which was opened in 1927.

Craigiebuckler and Seafield Community Council was told the local authority would get £100,000 per year for leasing the course to the Mackenzie Club consortium.

Area Liberal Democrat councillor Martin Greig, who chaired last night's meeting, said the deal would be renegotiated after 10 years of the 99-year lease.

Local residents at the meeting unanimously voted against supporting the plans which would include a hotel, a £2.85 million clubhouse and a golf academy.

The proposals will go before a full city council meeting for final approval later this month.

Golfers and residents attacked the plans last night and demanded a public consultation after concerns were raised about the amount of information released by the council.

Jim Douglas, 70, lives in the area and regularly uses Hazlehead's golf facilities.

He said: "Hazlehead was given to the citizens of Aberdeen years ago and it belongs to us. It cannot be sold off to the highest bidder.

"The company has said the course will be affordable - but also that it will be better than Augusta.

"That does not make any sense. No deveoper will work on a golf coure without wanting to make money.

Conservative councillor for the area, Jim Farquharson, said it was important to allow the Mackenzie Club the opportunity to prove it could offer affordable and accessible golf at Hazlehead but he admitted he was unsure it could be done.

Speaking after the meeting, Mr Greig said: "It is clear there is concerrn that Hazlehead Park will be lost as well as the golf course and that losing one of the city's best amenities is unacceptable. I hope the people who came here tonight will write to the council's chief executive with their views."

City businessman Brian Hendry, pictured above, a self-confessed "golf nut" when it comes to courses designed by the late Dr Alister Mackenzie, is the man leading the consortium. His original estimate of the cost of the enterprise was £10million.

The Great Hazlehead Controversy lives on ....

COLIN FARQUHARSON writes:

This is not the first time that the Hazlehead muncipal golf course has been involved in controversy with citizens of Aberdeen voicing their anger and disapproval. It's a replay of the mid-1920s when the cost - "It will bankrupt the city," was one cry - of the design and construction of the course by Dr Alister Mackenzie (best remembered for his work on the home of the US Masters, the Augusta National course) came in for widespread public critcism in the columns of the "Press and Journal."

The Hazlehead 18-hole course was officially opened on Saturday, July 2, 1927 with an exhibition match (which drew a gallery of between 4,000 and 5,000) between 50-year-old J P Taylor, five times Open champion, and 30-year-old Durham-born Aberdeen University graduate Dr William Tweddell who had won the British amateur championship at Hoylake a few weeks earlier.

Aberdeen Lord Provost Andrew Lewis had the honour of driving the first ball.

The P&J said that both Taylor and Tweddell went round in an approximate 76 shots.

It was on April 2, 1923 that the Aberdeen Town Council had decided to lay out a golf course at Hazlehead at an estimated cost of £8,000 (a lot of money in those days). Dr Mackenzie, Leeds, was engaged, not only to design the course but also to construct it.

Dr Mackenzie gave an assurance early on that the cost of his work would not exceed £10,000 but in January 1925, he reported that his estimate had been based on the assumption that the price obtained for timber would pay not only for the cutting of the trees but also for their uprooting. The actual cost to that date was already £10,415.

Dr Mackenzie also told the town council that the engineering difficulties had also been much more than he could have reasonably expected ... "In fact, the difficulties have been more formidable than those in the construction of any golf course in Europe!"

Throughout the formation of the course, there was a fierce public controversy over the nature of the work. Dr Mackenzie himself was widely criticised in respect of his estmating. Later events suggested that the total cost proved to be £18,000, i.e. £1,000 per hole, which was a massive outlay in the 1920s, particularly for a municipal golf course.

In fact, I have a photo-copy of Dr Mackenzie's original plan for the Hazlehead lay-out. It is not exactly the same as the one over which the Taylor v Tweddell exhibition match was staged, nor is it the course as it is today. The parkland 10th and 11th were not in the first blueprint.

Although Dr Mackenzie never confirmed it, the suggestion was that it would have been just too expensive to fell more trees, drain more peat bogs and remove more stones to have the course that the designer envisaged.

But, for many years, it was ranked as the No 1 municipal golf course in Scotland if not farther afield.

Yorkshire-born Dr Mackenzie died in Santa Cruz, California in 1934.

But the Great Hazlehead Controvery lives on ...

Inchmarlo Golf Resort's Laird's Course, looking west (image by courtesy of Inchmarlo Golf Resort).

Inchmarlo Golf Resort

is sold by Shelbourne

to property developer

One of the most popular and successful pay-and-play golf resorts in Scotland has changed hands for an undisclosed sum.

Majority shareholder Jonathan Shelbourne, pictured on the left above with Susan Simpson of the Ladies Golf Union and Inchmarlo secretary Andrew Shinie, said he had sold his entire stake in Inchmarlo Resort and Golf Club, near Banchory to property developer Frank Burnett and businessman Colin Wilson.

Mr Shelbourne, a retired helicopter pilot who started the Inchmarlo complex from scratch with his father-in-law Bob Massie, Deeside, would not reveal the size of his stake in Inchmarlo, which is set amid the wooded, rolling foothills or Royal Deeside, or how much he will collect from the deal.

It is thought other shareholders are in the process of concluding negotiations with the new owners who aim to develop the existing facilities as well as adding a hotel and housing.

Mr Burnett has already lodged plans for an additional 35 holiday lodges at Inchmarlo which features an 18-hole course, a nine-hole course, a 30-bay floodlit and covered driving range, a visitors' restaurant, two clubhouses and villa accommodation with 104 bedrooms on its 100 acres.

The deal announced sees Stanley Troup, the former chief executive and chairman of diversified Aberdeen-based industrial service group Richard Irvin, joining the boards of both Granite City-based Frank Burnett Ltd and Inchmarlo Golf Centre as chairman.

A spokesman for the new owners said: "We will need a period of consolidation. Our immediate objectives will include a programme of continuous improvement for the existing facilities, simultaneous to continuing discussions and negotiations in connection with the enhanced development.'"

He added: "The current economic climate and the impact it has had on other similar projects has been uppermost in our minds as we created our own corporate strategy for the future.
"Various contingencies have been planned to ensure that both our short and long-terms plans can continued to be developed."

+Both Inchmarlo courses were designed by North-east man Graham Webster. The nine-hole course was opened by Paul Lawrie in June, 1997 and the 18-hole Laird's Course in July 2001.

+The villa accommodation already in place represented an £8million investment two or three years ago. It has been a very successful move and gave Inchmarlo Golf Resort the ability to not only stage golf tournaments such as last year's Scottish women's county golf championship finals but also house all the competitors "on site."

+Susan Simpson, the Ladies Golf Union's head of golf operations, visited Inchmarlo last year with a view to playing one of its prestigious tournaments there at a future date.

+With hotel rooms not only at a premium in Aberdeen but also very pricey, the combination of a golf course that can offer accommodation for competitors is a big attraction for tournament organisers.

England name strong

team to face Spain

at Sotogrande

PRESS RELEASE ISSUED BY ENGLISH GOLF UNION
Dale Whitnell, winner of last month’s Portuguese amateur championship, and Sam Hutsby, runner-up in last week’s Spanish amateur, have been named in a strong England side to face Spain in the biennial international at La Reserva Golf Club, Sotogrande, on March 21 and 22.
Whitnell is pictured above by courtesy of Tom Ward Photography.
Also selected for the first time is Jamie Abbott, who earned his first full England cap as a late replacement during last autumn’s Home Internationals at Muirfield.
The full nine-man England team is:
Jamie Abbott (Fynn Valley, Suffolk), Todd Adcock (Nevill, Sussex), Tommy Fleetwood (Formby Hall, Lancashire), Charlie Ford (Kirby Muxloe, Leicestershire), Luke Goddard (Hendon, Middlesex), Matt Haines (Rochester & Cobham, Kent), Sam Hutsby (Liphook, Hampshire), Eddie Pepperell (Drayton Park, Berks, Bucks & Oxon), and Dale Whitnell (Five Lakes, Essex).
The reserve is Matt Nixon (Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire).
The Portuguese title, in which he beat Abbott in a play-off, was Whitnell’s first foreign success although he did win the Daily Telegraph Junior Championship in Dubai in 2006. The Essex 20- year-old’s wins last year included the Lagonda and Tillman Trophies and the North of England Youths Championship, while he also reached the semi-finals of the Australian Amateur.
Hutsby, 20, battled back from seven down with eight to play to lose the Spanish crown to Dutchman Reiner Saxton by 2 and 1, having won the title back in 2006.
Like Whitnell, Hutsby made his full England debut in the 2007 Home Internationals while last year he won the Bernard Darwin Salver and was runner-up in the Welsh Open Stroke Play.
Abbott, 21, from Suffolk, had been knocking on the England door for some time before being called up as a replacement for Pepperell on the final day at Muirfield. Joint winner of the Henriques Salver with Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy at Ganton in 2007, last year Abbott was runner-up in the Midland Open Amateur and the Parman Trophy and third behind Hutsby in the Welsh Open Stroke Play.
Adcock was a surprise winner of the England amateur championship at Woodhall Spa last summer. The 23-year-old former Sussex champion was capped for the first time in last September’s Home Internationals and finished fourth in the Federal Amateur in Australia towards the end of the year.
Fleetwood, 18, also made his full England debut at Muirfield having captained England in the Boys Home Internationals. Also in 2008, he won the Lancashire Championship, the English County Champions Tournament and finished runner-up to Saxton in the Amateur Championship.
Ford, 23, was another who made his full England debut in the 2007 Home Internationals. The Leicestershire man is a graduate of the University of Tennessee, where he gained golfing success, and finished runner-up in the World University Games in Bangkok in 2007.
Ford also enjoyed a successful sortie in Australia earlier this year, losing a playoff for the Avondale Medal, finishing tied third in the Lake Macquarie International and reaching the quarter finals of the New South Wales Amateur.
Goddard, 20, has also tasted recent success by winning the Argentine Amateur Championship at the end of last year. That topped off a successful 2008 in which the Middlesex man won the South of England Stroke Play, was a member of the side that won the Portugal Nations Cup, finished runner-up in the Lagonda Trophy, third in the European Amateur and was a quarter-finalist in the English Amateur.
He also earned his first full England cap in the Home Internationals and was a member of the England Eisenhower Cup team with Hutsby and Whitnell.
Haines made his full England debut against France at Frilford Heath last May. The Kent 19 year old is a former winner of the McEvoy and Carris Trophies and last year won the Lytham Trophy. He also helped GB&I beat Europe in the St Andrews Trophy.
Pepperell, 18, earned his first full England call-up in last year’s Home Internationals only to miss the final two days through illness. A former winner of the Reid Trophy, the Oxfordshire-based player reached the semi-finals of the British Boys in 2007 and the semi-finals of the Spanish Amateur last year. His other 2008 successes include runner-up in the McEvoy Trophy and the Bernard Darwin Salver, third place in the Berkhamsted Trophy and the West of England Stroke Play, while he also helped GB&I win the Jacques Leglise Trophy.
England have a good record in their matches with Spain which began in 1985. They sported an unbeaten record until 2005 when the Spanish gained their first success by 15-8 with one match halved at Puerta de Hierro. Two years ago England returned to winning ways with a 16-8 success at Royal Ashdown Forest.