Tartan triumph in PGAs of Europe team championship

ALL-THE-WAY WINNERS SCOTLAND BRING
A TEAR TO THE EYE OF PETER LLOYD

From Colin Farquharson, Our Man in Murcia

Scotland’s all-the-way victory in the PGAs of Europe 72-hole international team golf championship at Roda Golf Resort, Murcia in Spain on Saturday brought a tear to the eye of hard-bitten, ex-steel worker Peter Lloyd, the Tartan Tour supremo.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better retirement present,” said Peter who calls it a day at the end of December after more than 20 years with the PGA Scottish Region.
“I became secretary of the region after we last won this title in 1996 and 1997 so I have never had the honour of holding this trophy before. I’m proud of the three lads – Craig Lee, Sam Cairns and Jim McKinnon.
“To lead at the end of each of the four rounds, coming out on top of a field of 25 countries was quite a performance. The team spirit was terrific. So, as I say, I’m proud of them and I’m sure Scotland will be too.”
Lee, Cairns and McKinnon combined for a 29-under-par total of 547 under the best two individual scores per day to count for the team total.
The Scots won the 6,000 Euros first team prize by three strokes from Ireland, their only serious challengers over the last two days.
The Irish trio of Robert Giles, John Dwyer and Leslie Walker got to within two shots of the Scots in the closing holes of the third round and they did it again in Saturday’s last session.
With Craig Lee having a 69 – his fourth sub-par 70 round of the week – and Sam Cairns having his worst round of 74, it was up to McKinnon to hold the strong-finishing Irish at bay.
The Irvine pro had a double bogey 6 at the 16th and that meant the Scots’ overall lead had come down to two.
TENSION
“I’ve never felt so much tension in all my life as golfer playing these last two holes,” said Jim McKinnon. “Ireland’s top man Robert Giles was one of my playing partners. If he finished birdie-birdie and I finished par-bogey then that would have been the three-shot swing the Irish needed for victory.
“I’ve never done so much praying on a golf course, praying I would hit the fairway, praying I would hit the green. It was knee-knocking stuff for me. Fortunately Robert could only par the last two holes. I parred the 17th and then holed a 6ft birdie putt at the last for a round of 70 to clinch the title for Scotland. It was a great feeling – more relief than anything else.”
Craig Lee from Stirling. was the lynchpin of the Scotland team. His score counted every day and he broke the course record twice in the first two rounds. Not surprisingly, he won the individual honours with a 21-under-par total of 267. What a pity there was no cash prize for that.
“I’m delighted with the way I played all week. It couldn’t have happened at a better time of the season. I think Scotland’s victory underlined the strength in depth of very good players on the Tartan Tour,” said Craig, a 29-year-old former Scottish assistants champion who turned pro soon after winning the Scottish boys’ open stroke-play title at Arbroath 12 years ago.
“If the team had been selected from the top three in the Scottish Order of Merit, then Sam and Jim would not have been it. They were outside the top 10 in fact,” said Lee who finished third to Greig Hutcheon and Dean Robertson. They were ruled ineligible for selection because they did not meet the minimum requirement of working 25 hours a week in a pro’s shop of golf business.
“But I couldn’t have asked for a better pair of team-mates on and off the course. They played very well when they had too – and there is a lot of pressure playing for your country.”
Wales and Norway finished joint third on 553 with England fifth on 565.
+Picture shows (left to right): the PGA's chief executive Sandy Jones, Jim McKinnon, Peter Lloyd, Sam Cairns and Craig Lee.

COLLATED SCOREBOARD

FINAL TEAM TOTALS (Best two from three individual scores counted for daily team total).
Par 576 (8 x 72).

547 SCOTLAND 134 136 138 139 (C Lee 267, J McKinnon 281, S Cairns 285) 6,000 Euros to team.
550 IRELAND 139 137 136 138 (R Giles 270, J Dwyer 283 , L Walker 298) 4,800 Euros to team.
553 WALES 136 140 141 136 (S Edwards 277, M Litton 284, A Evans 287); NORWAY 142 135 139 137 (N Diethelm 277, J Elgborn 278, J Uppard 298) 4,050 Euros to each team.
555 ENGLAND 139 142 138 136 (P Simpson 279, P Wesselingh 280, D Muscroft 285) 3,600 Euros to team.
565 AUSTRIA 143 144 138 140 (A Wernig 285, M Krainz 286, S Beretzki 291); ITALY 143 141 142 139 (M Bianco 283, S Betti 293, J Baglioni 297) 2,900 Euros to each team.
567 FINLAND 143 138 147 139 (S Aho 282, R Soravuo 285, M Martikainen 305) 2,500 Euros to team.
568 SOUTH AFRICA 143 139 142 144 (I Palmer 284, I Ficalbi 285, M Truter 297) 2,200 Euros to team.
573 CZECH REPUBLIC 142 139 147 145 (J Nemecek 279, J Juhaniak 297, P Strougal 299); GERMANY 142 145 141 145 (S Brown 281, L Spencer 294, M Stevenson 304) 1,000 Euros to each team.
574 FRANCE 147 146 139 142 (D Montesi 282, J C Clugnac 294, Y Yver 315), SWEDEN 141 142 148 143 (S Sterner 287, J Stenberg 289, R Thornqvist 295).
576 SWITZERLAND 146 142 143 145 (R Swords 289, J Dusson 291, V J Ross 300).
583 BELGIUM 149 148 144 142 (M Willems 293, F Dhondt 293, G D’Hollander 297).
587 POLAND 145 143 154 145 (M Proctor 294, M Bednarczyk 300, D Ekberg 304); UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 147 152 143 145 (S Payne 287, A Mackenzie 304, J Shippey 304).
588 SLOVENIA 148 151 147 142 (D Kraljic 284, U Gregoric 304, A Osmancevic 316).
592 HOLLAND 150 147 145 150 (A Hastie 294, B Valk 301, G Loning 310).
593 BULGARIA 150 143 149 151 (N Turley 283, P Simard 311, S Nikolay 322); PORTUGAL 150 150 148 145 (N Cavalheiro 297, A 314).Sequeira 299, D Moura 303).
597 CROATIA `152 147 148 150 (M Raic 294, N Smoljenovic 307, D Ljubanopvic 313).
601 LUXEMBOURG 150 152 150 149 (J Pailler 300, J Pickford 306, L Cain NR).
606 SPAIN 149 154 152 151 (M Alonso 303, D Romero 310, R Do Miguel 314).
612 RUSSIA 153 158 148 153 (A Nesterov 299, L Akremenko 315, S Staskov 316).

TOP TWENTY INDIVIDUALS
267 C Lee (Scot) 66 64 68 69.
270 R Giles (Ire) 67 67 66 70.
277 S Edwards (Wal) 68 71 69 69, N Diethelm (Nor) 70 65 69 73.
278 J Elgborn (Nor) 72 70 70 77.
279 J Nemecek (Cze) 69 67 72 71, P Simpson (Eng) 72 72 69 66.
280 P Wesselingh (Eng) 70 71 69 70.
281 S Brown (Ger) 69 69 72 71, J McKinnon (Sco) 69 72 70 70.
282 D Montesi (Fra) 71 73 69 69, S Aho (Fin) 73 69 73 67.
283 M Bianco (Ita) 70 71 73 69, N Tgurley (Bul) 71 70 70 72, J Dwyer (Ire) 72 71 70 70.
284 D Kraljic (Slo) 70 73 71 70, M Litton (Wal) 73 69 72 70, I Palmer (SAfr) 71 69 73 71.
285 R Soravuo (Fin) 70 69 74 72, A Wernig (Austria) 73 70 69 73, I Ficalbi (SAf) 73 70 69 73, D Muscroft (Eng) 69 71 70 75, S Cairns (Scot) 68 73 70 74.