British and French prosper on Day 2 at Gleneagles

Great Britain leads three groups and France 1 and 2 are tied at the top of Group B after the second day of the Women’s European Golf Team Championships at Gleneagles.

Ricoh Women's British Open champion Georgia Hall and Dame Laura Davies beat Germany 2's Isi Gabsa and Leticia Ras-Anderica 4 and 3 to top Group A.

Davies said: "We were just cruising along. Georgia hit a really good par on 8 - that was a tough pin. Then we had a drive on the 9th which gave us the eagle putt, which is always nice. Then we had a lovely wedge into 10, which was really tough, but
Georgia lined it up and it went in.

"She's lined up three this week and I've got them all so it's been a good combination. That was a really big turning big point in the match."

Hall added: "It's been really fun. Laura has a very good sense of humour. She's really great to play with. I never feel under any pressure when I get a bad shot. The four of us, the caddies as well, are getting on very well."

There was nothing to separate Spain and Belgium in the group's other match as they finished all square.

In Group D, Great Britain 2 also won again, Catriona Matthew and Holly Clyburn beating Norway by one hole to strengthen
their grip on top spot, while Sweden 1 were 5 and 4 winners against Sweden 3.

Matthew holed an eight foot birdie putt on the last to win 1 up and said afterwards: "I’d rather have won three holes earlier. But that’s the attraction of match play. It can be exciting and can come down to the last putts on the last green.”

Clyburn added: "Hopefully we get through to the semis. It was hard, we kept plodding away and thankfully I had a good partner over the last three holes. We both played well in parts and took our chances when we needed to.”

The all-French battle between Celine Herbin and Astrid Vayson de Pradenne of France 1 and France 2's Justine Dreher and Manon Molle ebbed and flowed before finishing all square to move both teams onto three points in Group B.

Sweden 2, represented by Johanna Gustavsson and Julia Engstrom, beat Germany 1 3 and 2 in the other Group B encounter, while Great Britain 3's Meghan MacLaren and Michele Thomson were 5 and 3 winners against Austrians Christine Wolf and Sarah Schober and Finland's match with Iceland finished all square in Group C.

Engstrom said: "We got off to a good start and that meant we could keep our heads cool when they made some birdies and allowed us to keep on playing and that was the key today."

Gustavsson added: "It definitely feels good to be a few up as everyone is making birdies up at some point. So, if you have a few shots to play with, that's definitely a good thing."

In the Men’s Team event, Great Britain 1's Lee Slattery and Callum Shinkwin breezed past Sweden 1 as Group A was blown wide open.

After their opening match against Spain 2 finished all square, Great Britain 1 knew they needed to take something from their clash with Johan Edfors and Per Langfors to keep alive their hopes of topping the group and progressing to Sunday's semi-finals.

And they duly delivered, leading from start to finish in a commanding 6 and 5 victory which takes their tally to three points.

Spain 2, meanwhile, won the last hole of their topsy-turvy match against Sweden 2 to secure a superb one-hole victory and join Great Britain 1 at the top of the group.

Group B is led by Great Britain 3 and Italy 2, while Spain 1 lead Group C and Norway and Iceland are both on four points in Group D.

With only one team from each group going through to the last four in the Men’s and Women’s events respectively, Friday’s matches promise to produce plenty of drama.