Two Spanish sides make men’s semi-finals at Gleneagles

Tournament: European Golf Team Championships Venue: Gleneagles, Auchterarder, Scotland Prize fund: €1,100,000 Hashtag: #EC2018

.  Day Three report Santiago Tarrio Ben and David Borda ensured there will be two Spanish teams in the semi-finals of the inaugural European Golf Team Championships at Gleneagles after recording a 3 and 2 victory over Sweden 1 to top Group A. Spain 2 went into their final group match level on three points with Great Britain 1, knowing only one team could progress to the final four. And with Lee Slattery and Callum Shinkwin suffering a 3 and 2 defeat at the hands of Sweden 2 on Friday, Borda and Tarrio Ben joined countrymen Scott Fernandez and Pedro Oriol of Spain 1 in the semis after leading from start to finish against Johan Edfors and Per Langfors. Spain 1, who were already assured of their place in the last four after winning Group C on Thursday, lost to Denmark as heavy rain began to fall at Gleneagles  Iceland’s duo of Axel Boasson and Birgir Hafthorsson, and Italy 2’s Francesco Laporta and Alessandro Tadini are also through after they maintained their 100 per cent records with victories over Norway and Great Britain 3, respectively, in their winner-takes-all matches. The semi-finals will be played in the foursomes match play format on Sunday morning, with the winners going through to the Gold Medal Match and the losers battling it out for bronze. In the Women’s Group Stage, Dame Laura Davies and Georgia Hall of Great Britain 1 and Meghan Maclaren and Ellon's Michelle Thomson of Great Britain 3 advanced into the semi-finals after they both topped their group. They are joined by France 2’s Justine Dreher and Manon Molle, and Cajsa Persson and Linda Wessberg of Sweden 3, as they won their final matches by one hole and two holes, respectively. Player quotes David Borda: “We are really happy to be in the semi-finals. We didn’t expect it at the beginning of the tournament. We did our best and we are so happy to be in the semi-finals. “I think the half against Great Britain was key on Wednesday. We played against the favourite team, and we knew that, and I think we played pretty well. We halved the match and that was the key to getting to the semi-finals. “We knew we had to win today and we started really well. Santiago made an eagle on two and a birdie on five – we started 3UP. We were playing against great players – Johan Edfors, he’s won many tournaments on the European Tour. We fought until the end and we are really happy.” Birgir Hafthorsson: “The weather changed things, especially the ball flight, but we’re used to it. We’ve played in plenty of wet and windy weather. “It would be a great honour to win a medal for Iceland. We’ve played well in our matches and hit lots of good shots, so if that’s what it takes to bring a medal home then that will be fantastic.” Francesco Laporta: “It was an unbelievable day. We started really badly, but we came back on the back nine with some solid golf. We made a lot of birdies on the back nine after struggling on the front nine, where we lost two holes after we made bogeys and they made pars, but on the back nine we played perfectly. “On Sunday we will be fighting shot-by-shot for a medal.” Alessandro Tadini: “It will be a dream to win a medal. Three weeks ago, the Italian Federation told us we would be playing together, and we’ve never played together competitively, we’ve only played practise rounds together. We arrived this week as Italy 2 and now we are fighting for a medal.” Download the final standings after Day Three of the Group Stage here: EUROPEAN GOLF TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS - GROUP STAGE DAY THREE RESULTS  And the match schedule for Day Four - Mixed Team Championship can be found here: EUROPEAN GOLF TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS - MIXED TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP DAY FOUR SCHEDULE                                                                                Ends

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