The Scottish Girls Team with Rory McIlroy -- Photo Courtesy of the LGUDefending champions England made an impressive start to the Girls’ Home Internationals by beating Ireland 7 ½-1 ½ at Bangor Golf Club, Northern Ireland today.
In the other match, Scotland beat Wales 6-3 .
England took a grip on the outcome of their opening match by making a 3-0 clean sweep of the foursomes against the Irish.
They followed that up with wins in the singles by Elizabeth Mallett (6 and 5), Bronte Law (3 and 1), Lauren Taylor (2 holes) and Alexandra Peters (2 and 1).
The game between Georgia Hall (England) and Anna Courtney (Ireland) finished all square.
Elizabeth Mallett, still on a high from her victory last week in the English Girls’ Championship, was three up on Irish girls champion Laura Grant after five holes. She added further successes at the eighth, ninth and 10th to be six up and halves at the next three holes ended the match.
Bronte Law was twice two up on Sarah Kelly before the turn and then drew away from her opponent on the inward half. Law won the 11th and 12th to go four up but Helly was not ready to throw in the towel. The Irish player hit back with wins at the 14th and 15th to get it back to two down with three to play. Law clinched a 3 and 1 victory by winning the 17th.
Lauren Taylor was four down after six holes to Laura McCarthy but hit back hard to win the seventh, eighth, ninth, 11th and 12th, transforming her position into a one-hole lead.
McCarthy squared the seesaw match at the 16th but Taylor finished the better, winning the 17th and 18th for a two-hole victory.
Alexandra Peters and Paula Grant had a ding dong struggled for most of the way with only one hole in it either way when the game wasn’t at level pegging. All square on the 16th tee, Peters won the 16th and 17th for a 2 and 1 win.
Georgia Hall and Anna Courtney shared the honours after the English player held a two-hole lead at the eighth and again at the 11th. Courtney kept plugging away and was rewarded with a win at the 15th and another at the 17th to square the match. Appropriately, the 18th was halved in birdies. Neither player deserved to lose.
Ireland came out top in only one singles but it was a good one with Emma O’Driscoll winning the lead-off singles. She beat the English women’s champion Hayley Davis by 4 and 2 in a quality match studded with birdies. Emma won the first with the birdie but Hayley won the second and fourth with birdies.
O’Driscoll squared the match at the seventh and then took over the driving seat by winning the eighth, 10th and 11th to forge three up. Davis won back the 14th but the Irish player was not to be denied a memorable win. She won the 15th and 16th for victory.
Scotland carried over a 2pt morning lead into the singles against Wales and at one stage of the afternoon action, it looked as if they would need it resist the Welsh comeback in the singles.
Rachel Watton had an outstanding win for Scotland over Wales’ Amy Boulden in the top singles in that match. Boulden won the third and fourth but was quickly pulled back to square by Watton who won the fifth and seventh. Boulden edged ahead again at the 11th but the tenacious Scot squared it at the 14th then took the lead for the first time at the 16th. Halves at the last two holes gave Watton victory by one hole.
Katie Bradbury beat the new Scottish girls champion Lesley Atkins by 3 and 2 after striking early. The Welsh girl won the first two holes and added the seventh and ninth, without loss, to be four up at the turn.
Atkins found her form to win the 10th and 11th but Bradbury went back into a three-hole lead by capturing the 12th and four halved holes ended the match on the 16th green.
Chloe Williams scored the second win of the day for Wales, beating
Alyson McKechin 5 and 4. The Welsh girl won the first, third, sixth, seventh and ninth to be a commanding five holes to the good at the turn. McKechin scores her only success of the afternoon at the 13th but lost to the 14th and the match.
Hannah McCook was a 7 and 5 winner for Scotland over Kelly Miller. After the first two holes were exchanged, Hannah won the fourth, fifth and sixth but lost the seventh to be two up on the ninth tee after a half at the eighth.
McCook suddenly raised her pace to win the next five holes in a row for the match, going from two up to seven up over the space of six holes.
Scotland were assured of at least a draw with 4 1/2pt in the bag but they got the match-winning point from
Eilidh Briggs who beat the Welsh girls champion Rachel Lewis by 4 and 3 in the sixth singles.
Eilidh won the third, fourth, fifth and sixth but thereafter each hole was halved – seven in a row – until Rachel scored her only success at the 14th. Briggs won the 15th for victory.
The last match to finish – Ailsa Summers v India Friswell finished all square after the Welsh girl had led by two holes after 10 and again after 14. Ailsa, however, came back from two down with three to play to win the 16th and 17th and halve the last
Pamela Pretswell (photo courtesy of Colin Farquharson) - click to enlarge
