Scots play Portugal in quarter-finals of

GolfSixes after beating Belgium, Spain

EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS

Home favourites England found their form late in the day to claim an emphatic victory and send the crowd away happy on day one of the GolfSixes at the Centurion Club.

Large numbers of fans were treated to entrance music, pyrotechnics, a sprinkling of celebrity stardust and some thrilling golf as the European Tour broke new ground at the inaugural GolfSixes event.

There were 16 teams of two battling it out over six holes in a Greensomes format, with the teams split into groups of four in a round robin format on Saturday and the top two from each group progressing to the knockout stages on Sunday.

After two draws in their first two matches, top seeds Andy Sullivan and Chris Wood looked in danger of making an early exit but they birdied five of their six holes against the Netherlands to win 4-0 and top Group A.

Denmark beat India 1-0 to also finish on five points but they were bumped down to second in the group on hole difference.

Thailand claimed a 3-1 win over Scotland to top Group B but both teams advanced to the quarter-finals after Belgium won their final match 2-1 against Spain.

Thailand will next face Australia who claimed a dramatic 2-1 win over Wales in Group C, while Scotland will take on Portugal who won the pool, despite a closing 1-0 loss to the United States.

France claimed a 1-0 win over South Africa to win Group D and they will take on Denmark, while Italy also won 1-0 against Sweden to set up a clash with England.

The tournament will move to the knock-out stages on Sunday with the winning team set to take home the first prize of €200,000.

Player quotes

Andy Sullivan - England: “The first two matches, I thought we played pretty decent and just didn't quite get the result. We're undefeated.  We're more than delighted going into the knockout stages.  

“The atmosphere out here from the start has been brilliant.  Obviously being the host nation there’s a lot of home support, which is fantastic for us. We feel like we've got the best of the atmosphere out of all the teams.   

“Hopefully that can push us on tomorrow, and like we said earlier, this can really be something big in the future for golf.  You won't get away from the traditional 72 but I think a few more events like this could really transform golf.”

Marc Warren - Scotland:  “It's been great.  Going to the first tee with the smoke and music playing, it’s a little bit different for us, it's more like a TV show.  It’s very fitting with the rest of the tournament.  I hope it comes across on TV pretty well.

“I think you have to try and smash it from the start tomorrow really.  It's such a short, quick format, that you have to.  I think a lead is so important in six holes. 

“If you get off to a good, solid start, get out in front early on, you kind of fancy your chances.  But if you get behind, it's difficult to try and claw back in six holes.”

Ricardo Gouveia - Portugal: “We played really good golf, really steady in all the matches.  The US played really well in the last match and didn't give us much there.  But yeah, really happy to go through to tomorrow.

“If we keep playing like this, it's going to be hard to beat us.  We've just got to keep playing well and just keep combining the game really well.  That's what we've been doing and let's hope we get through to the semis tomorrow morning.

“It's pretty fun.  It's been awesome to engage a bit more with the fans and see the kids out here supporting, having fun and supporting golf.  I think it's the way forward.  I think the Tour is doing a really good job.”

Matteo Manassero - Italy: “I think those last couple of holes were really important.  We knew that basically we had to win. With the draw, anything could have happened but we wanted to win to be sure.  Yeah, I hit a good shot on five.  Johan made a huge putt, great putt, straight in the middle, and so we knew we had to respond.

“I think it's something that should stick.  It's something that we are all having a lot of fun with.  The crowd is really nice and a lot of cheers, a lot of fun from everybody.

“As I said, this format that we're playing, every putt counts.  Everything counts.  It's a whole different idea, it's really, really good.”

Download the full list of group stage results here: SATURDAY RESULTS.pdf

Download the full schedule of knock-out stage matches for Sunday, May 7, here: QUARTER FINAL DRAW.pdf

RESULTS

England 2, India 2

Denmark 1, Netherlands 1

Thailand 1, Spain 1

SCOTLAND 3, Belgium 2

Australia 1, USA 0.

Wales 0, Portugal 4

S Africa 0, Italy 0

Sweden 2, France 3

England 0, Denmark 0

Netherlands 22, India 1

Thailand 2, Belgium 1

Spain 2, SCOTLAND 3

Wales 1, USA 1

Australia 0, Portugal 4

France 2, Italy 1

S Africa 1, Sweden 2

Denmark 1, India 0

England 4, Netherlands 0

Belgium 2, Spain 1

Thailand 3, SCOTLAND 1

Australia 2, Wales 1

USA 1, Portugal 0

Sweden 0, Italy 1

S Africa 0, France 1