Monday, September 19, 2011

US BEAT G B AND I BY NINE POINTS TO KEEP PGA CUP

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE PGA
By NATHANIEL SYLVESTER
Great Britain and Ireland team-mates failed in their trans-Atlantic bid to recapture the PGA Cup against a strong American team at CordeValle, California on Sunday.
Needing victory in eight of the 10 singles matches to overhaul the 10 ½ - 5 ½ deficit at the start of the final day’s play, it proved a trans-Atlantic mission impossible for Russell’s Weir’s team of PGA professionals as the USA won     17 ½ - 8 ½, a repeat of the scoreline from two years ago at The Carrick.
The US, requiring just three points to win outright for a 17th time in the history of the matches, swept the singles by 7-3 in another impressive display over the Robert Trent Jones Jnr course.
Marty Jertson, a senior design engineer for PING, posted the first red on the leaderboard with an emphatic 5 and 4 victory against Goodfellow including eagles on the par-5 sixth and par-4 10th holes where he holed from 140 yards.
Danny Balin in the second match birdied the last to pip Chris Gill (Exeter) with Sonny Skinner clinching the decisive half against Stuart Little(Minchinhampton) to ensure the trophy was retained.
Gill was one up on 16 but Balin holed a 35ft putt to square the match and found the par-5 18th in two to set up a winning birdie.
GB and I registered only two wins but both were impressive with Shacklady inflicting a 3 and 2 defeat on David Hutsell, the reigning US PGA Professional champion, and Rob Giles overturning a three hole deficit with four birdies on the spin from the turn to win one up against four time PGA Cup player Mike Small.
Simon Edwards (Windermere) scored GB and I’s other half point against Rob McClellan.
Mossock Hall’s David Shacklady again performed strongly becoming the leading GB and I points scorer with two wins and a half from his five outings.
“Three and two flatters him (David Hutsell), I hit it inside him eight times in the first 10 holes,” said Shacklady.
“I missed a tiddler on 12 which I was annoyed about because it was the first time it was his honour and I’d set myself the target of him never getting hitting first.
“I have a lot of respect for the Americans, great players and nice guys, but when I have a club in my hand I want to destroy them.
“The lads feel we have not got the best out of it but the only time the Americans missed putts was when we put them under pressure and we didn’t do that enough.
“I’ve played in two Opens and thought it would never get better than that but this is up there and I will take a lot more memories from this week without a shadow of a doubt.”
An emotional GB and I captain Russell Weir said: “This has been the most exciting week I have experienced in golf. It is the pinnacle of my career and I will never forget it.
“It was nerve-racking as a captain, feeling for every player, but the American team were awesome today.
“They came out firing with so many birdies and our players tried their best and unfortunately there were too many birdies flying about out there on the wrong side.
“But the players gave their all this week and have got to be very proud of themselves, and are very special people.”
The US built the platform for victory with six-and-a-half points from the two foursome sessions on Friday and Saturday afternoon – 3 ½ - ½ and 3-1 respectively.
They also won the opening day fourballs 2 ½ - 1 1/2. GB and I rallied to take the Saturday fourballs by 2 ½ - 1 ½ with a half earned at the last from Sonny Skinner and Brad Lardon against Craig Goodfellow and David Mortimer halting the momentum of Weir’s side.
After the victory, US captain Jim Remy said: “We had three veterans and seven first timers but it didn't seem to matter. Everybody worked together. It was a clear situation where the team worked together and they just shone.
“I asked them on Monday night to really focus on foursomes, they did that. They got a lot of points in foursomes. And these guys in singles are tenacious and I knew would be a pretty hard team to beat.”
The US now has 17 wins in the Ryder Cup style contest, compared to GB and I’s five with a victory on US soil still proving elusive.
Results:
SUNDAY SINGLES

UNITED STATES 7, GB AND IRELAND 3

US names first
Marty Jertson bt Craig Goodfellow (Carlisle Driving Range) 5 and 4.
Danny Balin bt Chris Gill (Exeter Golf and Country Club) 1 hole.
Sonny Skinner halved with Stuart Little (Minchinhampton New)
Mike Small lost to Rob Giles (Greenore) 1 hole.
David Hutsell lost to David Shacklady (Mossock Hall) 3 and 2.
Mark Sheftic bt John Wells (Cherry Burton) 1 hole
Rob McClellan halved with Simon Edwards (Windermere)
Faber Jamerson bt Gary Brown (Ganton) 3 and 2.
Brad Lardon bt David Mortimer (Galway) 6 and 4.
Scott Erdmann bt John Kennedy (Wexham Park) 3 and 2.

Final result

USA 17 ½, GB and 1reland 8 1/2

Visit www.PGACup.com and www.PGA.info for more information on the PGA Cup and all PGA tournaments

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