SCOTS WIN EURO TITLE BY NINE SHOTS

Winning Scotland line-up (left to right) Gareth Wright (with trophy), David Orr and David Patrick. First left is Colin Mee of the tournament sponsors, Glenmuir.    A Scotland team lacking top Order of Merit finishers Greig Hutcheon and Stephen Gray still outclassed the opposition to win the PGAs of Europe international team golf championship by nine shots on the Algarve today. West Linton's Gareth Wright, the Glenmuir club professional champion who elected to play for Scotland rather than Wales, finished joint first in the individual standings. Wright, David Orr (Mearns Castle) and David Patrick (Elie Sports Club) virtually led throughout the 72-hole event in which a team's best two from three individual scores counted daily. England shared the first-day lead with Scotland but over the three remaining days the Scots trio forged farther and farther ahead. Scotland team captain David Orr stressed: "It's been a real team effort. We dovetail very well and the fact that we finished third, fourth and fifth in the Scottish Region's Order of Merit reflects that." Said David Patrick: "We're all very good golfers but we combined so well as a team," he said. "That was apparent today and has been all week as we've all played our part." Seven sub-par rounds and another two in regulation out of the dozen the Scots played was evidence of the consistency. Equally important for captainOrr was the experience of his trio. "We've got more than 200 Challenge Tour and 50 European Tour appearances between us and that helped us today," he explained. "Once we'd gone five clear at the end of the third round, I was more relaxed because I felt we had the experience and know-how to see the job through." It was Scotland's seventh win in the tournament but their first since 2006 when Craig Lee, James Irvine and Samuel Cairns won on the Costa del Sol. Patrick, a member of the winning Walker Cup team at Nairn in 1999, was Scotland's top scorer with a one-under-par 71 in the final round while Orr had a 73 and Wright, who had made a major contribution to the winning effort over the first three days, went off the boil with a closing 74. Scotland earned the 6,000 Euros first prize with an impressive total of 16-under-par 560.  Holland (Robin Swane, Joost Steenkamer and Ralph Miller) tied with England (Craig Shave, Steve Parry and Stuart Little) for second place on 569.  Defending champions France finished fourth on 570.  Wales (Simon Edwards, Andrew Barnett and Richard Dinsdale) came ninth on 590. Ireland (David Ryan, Donal Gleeson and John Kelly) finished 10th on 592. In the individual competion, Gareth Wright, Robin Swane and Stuart Little all finished on six-under-par 282. David Orr was joint fourth on 283 and David Patrick joint 10th on level par 288.  PGAs of EUROPE INTERNATIONAL TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP  Onyria Palmares Golf and Beach Resort, Alvor Course, Algarve, Portugal.  FINAL TEAM TOTALS  Par 576 (8x72). 560 SCOTLAND 137 141 138 144. 569 HOLLAND 146 140 142 141, ENGLAND 137 144 140 148. 570 FRANCE 145 142 138 145. 578 GERMANY. 580 SPAIN, PORTUGAL. 581 SOUTH AFRICA. 590 WALES 148 147 147 148. 592 IRELAND 143 149 147 153. 593 ITALY. 594 SWEDEN, POLAND. 598 AUSTRIA. 605 DENMARK. 606 SWITZERLAND. 609 FINLAND. 612 NORWAY. 613 GREECE. 614 BELGIUM. 619 CZECH REPUBLIC. 621 SLOVENIA. 627 RUSSIA. 631 CROATIA. 654 ICELAND LEADING INDIVIDUAL TOTALS  Par 288 (4x72)  282 Gareth Wright (Sco) 68 69 71 74, Robin Swane (Hol) 72 70 70 70, Stuart Little (Eng) 70 71 68 73.  283 David Orr (Sco) 71 72 67 73, Mike Michell (SAfr) 71 70 72 70  SELECTED TOTALS 288 David Patrick (Sco) 69 72 76 71 (T10). 291 Steve Parry (Eng) 67 73 72 69 (13th). 293 Andrew Barnett (Wal) 75 74 71 73 (14th). 294 Donal Gleeson (Ire) 72 73 74 75 (15th). 296 Craig Shave (Eng) 70 73 78 75 (T18). 302 Richard Dinsdale (Wal) 75 73 76 78 (T30). 303 David Ryan (Ire) 71 70 76 80, John Kelly (Ire) 73 78 73 78 (T33). 304 Simon Edwards (Wal) 73 79 77 75 (T36)