SCOTS FINISH JOINT 2ND BEHIND CHAMPIONS FRANCE IN PORTUGAL

By COLIN FARQUHARSON Colin@scottishgolfview.com Scotland, second placed overnight,. were not able to mount a challenge on leaders France over the fourth and final round of the PGAs of Europe international team golf championship over the Ocean Course at Vale do Lobo Golf Club on Portugal's Algarve coastline. France's Benjamin Nicolay (69), Stephane Lahary (70) and Bertrand Cornut (72) clinched the title with a 19-under-par total of 557. They each earned £2,000. Last year the French team were robbed of potential victory when bad weather led to a decision to disregard the final-day scores and revert to the third-round totals of which England had the lowest. Today Scotland slipped from five shots off the pace with a round to go to nine shots behind the winners and were joined in second place by Spain on 10-under-566. That represented a fine effort by the Spaniards who were reduced to a two-man team over the last two days due to injury. Scotland's "anchor man" Jim McKinnon (Irvine) shot a closing two-under-par 70 but Alan Lockhart (Ladybank) and Chris Currie (Caldwell) had one-over-par 73s, giving the Scots a fourth-round total of 143, their second worst of the week. The consolation for the trio was £1,500 each from the prize fund. Irvine totalled five-under 283, Lockhart 290 and Currie 297. Defending champions England were worse than Scotland on the last day and a team score of 144 pushed them down to fifth place on 568. Gary Brown and Craig Goodfellow both had 72s, Chris Gill a 74. They earned £1,000 a piece. Ireland (Eamonn Brady 69, David Ryan 71, John Kelly 74) earned £966 apiece for finished joint sixth on 569 alongside Denmark. Wales (Simon Edwards 71, Andrew Barnett 75, Matthew Parsley 79) finished out of the money in 15th place on 585.

FINAL TOTALS
Par 576 (8x72)
557 FRANCE 140 140 138 139 (£6,000).
566 SPAIN 142 138 145 141, SCOTLAND 145 137 141 143 (£4,500 each team).
567 ITALY 138 142 147 140 (£3,900).
568 ENGLAND 136 147 141 144 (£3,600).
569 IRELAND 139 143 147 140, DENMARK 148 142 138 141 (£2,900 each team).
575 AUSTRIA (£2,200).
578 SWEDEN (£2,000).
582 POLAND.
583 NETHERLANDS.
584 SOUTH AFRICA, PORTUGAL, GERMANY.
585 WALES 151 145 143 146.
587 SWITZERLAND.
593 CZECH REPUBLIC.
603 UNITED ARAB EMIRATES.
608 NORWAY, BELGIUM.
615 FINLAND.
616 CROATIA.
620 ICELAND.
624 SLOVENIA, RUSSIA.
626 HUNGARY

Marche de Triomphe for nine-shot winners France
FROM THE PGAs OF EUROPE WEBSITE
The combination of sang froid and red hot ball-striking saw France serve up cordon bleu golf to win the PGAs of Europe International Team Championship at Vale do Lobo.
Such was the dominance of the French that the five-shot advantage they boasted at the start of the fourth and final round had almost doubled at the end of it.
All of which left the five teams that harboured realistic hopes of denying the French their second triumph in the tournament scrapping for the runner’s up berth.
In the event it was shared between Spain and Scotland who finished nine strokes adrift. Long beforehand, however, Benjamin Nicolay and his two team-mates had turned the event into a procession.
So much so, that any champagne the French had put on ice before the start of play over the Ocean course could have been cracked open midway through their round. But Nicolay was not taking anything for granted in his team’s pursuit of the £6,000 first prize and cut glass trophy.
“Five shots is not that big a lead in this format and things can change very quickly,” he said. “So it was very important we got a good start to settle us down.”
His caution was especially understandable given the bitter disappointment he experienced last year when Mother Nature was at her most malevolent.
As a result their chances of winning 12 months ago were washed away by the abandonment of the final round and England were the beneficiaries.
“I guess we’ve got our revenge and this makes up for last year,” said Nicolay, without a hint of triumphalism.
And rather than gloat and turn the clock back to 2010, he preferred to talk about the past four days. “We’ve been very consistent throughout the tournament,” he added. “We all carded par or under again today. Apart from once, that’s been the case in every round. We’ve played very well and I’m very happy.”
Bertrand Cornut and Nicolay gave France the steady start they craved, the former posting three birdies in the first six holes, the latter two. And although Cornut could not maintain his early momentum and finished on level par, Stephane Lahary (two-under) picked up the baton.
Once again, though, Nicolay played a role befitting his status and carded a three-under-par round of 69, his fourth successive sub-par return. Meanwhile, Francisco Cea and Ismael del Castillo both posted sub-par rounds to earn Spain £4,500 for finishing joint second – an effort that was particularly noteworthy given that they were deprived of the services of Fernando Roca for the last three rounds because of injury.
Likewise Scotland in the light of a dreadful start that saw them one-over after the first round and nine shots off the pace. “That cost us,” said Jim McKinnon.
“But we turned it round on day two by carding seven-under-par. That was a really good effort and we kept in touch after that.
“Unfortunately we could make up the five-stroke gap today but France played fantastically well, so all credit to them.”
Spain and Scotland finished a stroke ahead of Italy and two clear of England, who were never able to maintain the form they showed on the first day.
For an example of maintaining form, however, look no further than Sweden’s Peter Grimfjord. After an opening round of 76, he carded 69, 68 and 67 – the last two the best of their respective rounds.
* The PGAs of Europe’s Annual Congress and International Team Championship are supported once again by Glenmuir, Associaçäo Turismo do Algarve and the Ryder Cup European Development Trust.

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