SCOTLAND 4, IRELAND 5
Foursomes: C Booth, K MacDonald bt S Cunningham, Lisa Maguire 4 and 2; R Wilson, S Vass lost to P Delaney, E O’Driscoll 1 hole; A Niven, L Atkins bt S Meadow, S L Winter 3 and 2 (2-1)
Singles: Booth lost to Cunningham 4 and 3, MacDonald bt S Crowe 7 and 6, Vass lost to Lisa Maguire 5 and 3, Niven lost to O’Driscoll 7 and 6, Atkins bt Winter 2 holes, Wilson lost to Meadow 3 and 2 (2-4).
WALES 2, ENGLAND 7
Foursomes: A Boulden, K O’Connor lost to H Barwood, H Clyburn 2 holes; K Miller, G Bradbury lost to R Connor, H Baek 2 and 1; N Gobey, L Watkins lost to K Tidy, A Peters 3 and 1 (0-3).
Singles: C Williams lost to Barwood 5 and 3, Watkins lost to Clyburn 7 and 5, Boulden bt Baek 3 and 1, K O’Connor bt K Mundy 3 and 2 , Miller lost to Tidy 2 and 1, Gobey lost to R Connor 2 and 1 (2-4).
FINAL PLACINGS
1 England 3pt; 2 Ireland 1 1/2pt; 3
Scotland 1pt; 4 Wales 0pt.
England regain Stroyan Cup,
Scotland finish third
England’s 7-2 win over Wales on the final day of the Girls Home Internationals clinched the recapture of the title and the Stroyan Cup which had been in Scotland’s possession for the past two years.
On another wet day at Panmure Golf Club, England swept the foursomes – as they did against the Scots on Wednesday – and then took the singles 4-2 from Wales.
That meant the English finished with a 100 per cent record through the three days, having earlier beaten first Ireland and then Scotland.
The balance of Under-18 power has swung back to England who had that strength in depth advantage over the other countries. England’s skipper Julie Brown relied in the main on a nucleus of six players over the three days.
Ireland beat the Scots 5-4 today, coming back from 2-1 down at lunchtime, to take the Swansea Spoon as runners-up with one win (over Scotland) and one draw (with Wales).
Scotland slipped down to third place with one win (over Wales) and two defeats.
And so the pecking order established in the recent European girls’ team championship was more or less confirmed. England were beaten finalists at Murcar Links with Ireland seventh, Wales 16th and Scotland 17th of 19.
English women’s champion Hannah Barwood and Holly Clyburn built on the 3-0 foursomes lead to get their team’s points total up to the winning figure of five.
Hannah, who birdied the first and fourth holes to jump into a two-hole lead, went on to beat Wales’ Chloe Williams by 5 and 3. Chloe raised her hopes by winning the 10th and 11th but Barwood bounced back by winning four holes in a row from the 12th for a 5 and 3 victory.
Clyburn started like an express train on her way to a 7 and 5 win against Laura Watkins. The English player won the first three holes, halved the fourth and then took the next three holes to be six up on the eighth tee. Watkins stemmed the tide, if only momentarily by winning the eighth.
But Clyburn was not to be derailed. She won the ninth and 11th – lost the 12th – but won the 13th to end the match.
Katherine O’Connor put a point on the board for Wales by beating newcomer Katie Mundy 3 and 2. After losing the first hole, O’Connor won five out of seven holes in a row from the fourth to get into the driving seat and stay there.
Welsh girls champion Amy Boulden doubled the Welsh points tally with a 3 and 2 win over Heidi Baek. Amy took a grip on the match early on by winning the first, second, fifth and sixth, losing only the fourth. Heidi hung on in there to cut her deficit to one hole at the 11th but Boulden finished just the stronger, taking the 13th, 16th and 17th to Baek’s win at the 15th.
In the battle of the “Kellys,” Tidy of England beat Miller of Wales by 2 and 1. Kelly Tidy was never headed after winning the third but it was all square after seven and it was the English player’s successes at the 10th, 12th and 16th that proved crucial in the final analysis.
Rachel Connor, daughter of the Scots-born Manchester pro, gained England’s seventh point of the day with a 2 and 1 win over Natasha Gobey who mounted a little comeback after being four down at the turn but could not improve on a deficit of two holes.
Scotland started their singles with a one-point lead over Ireland and Kelsey MacDonald made it 3-1 with an impressive 7 and 6 win over Ireland’s Sarah Crowe, a performance by the Scot that included three birdies. That was completed at 3.20pm – and it was almost another two hours before Scotland got their only other win in the singles.
Sarah Cunningham, promoted to the No 1 singles position in the absence of the injured Leona Maguire, the Irish women’s champion, scored her only win of the three days – but it was a notable scalp she claimed. Sarah beat Scots girls champion and Junior Ryder Cup player Carly Booth by 4 and 3, having been four up at the turn.
On a holes-won count, Sarah had a 7-3 advantage over her much more highly-rated opponent.
Lisa Maguire, the Irish girls title-holder, dropped down to the No 3 slot outclassed Sammy Vass with a 5 and 3 scoreline, rounding off the match by winning the 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th, and Emma O’Driscoll was also a handsome winner, by 7 and 6 over Annabel Niven. Emma did not lose a hole and was four up after seven. She ended the tie by winning the 10th, 11th and 12th.
Stephanie Meadow got the winning fifth point for Ireland, beating Rebecca Wilson by 3 and 2 in a match that was very tight for a long spell after Rebecca cancelled out Stephanie’s wins at the first two holes. Successes at the 12th, 15th and 16th tipped the scales in favour of the US-based Irish girl.
Scotland won the last tie to finish with 14-year-old Lesley Atkins, who was three times two down, battling on strongly to win four holes in a row from the 12th, losing the 16th and then clinching a two-hole win by winning the 18th.
Six players finished the tournament with five wins out of six.
England had three with that fine record – Holly Cluburn, Rachel Connor and Kelly Tidy. The others sharing the “Most Valuable Player” honour were Scotland’s Kelsey MacDonald, Ireland’s Lisa Maguire and Amy Boulden of Wales.
Thanks to Colin Farquharson for the full report
To see a photo of the winners and runners up go to the
Gillian Kirkwood Website
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