Europe beat Great Britain and Ireland in golf’s Jacques Léglise Trophy at Blairgowrie
The Continent of Europe secured victory over Great Britain and Ireland in the Jacques Léglise Trophy at Blairgowrie.
The keenly contested Jacques Léglise Trophy was won by the Continent of Europe by 13½-11½ but they were pushed all the way by a gritty GB&I team.
The GB&I boys had their work cut out for them against the Continent of Europe in the Jacques Léglise Trophy starting the day with a three point deficit but they bounced back in the morning foursomes, winning three of the matches and losing only one to reduce the arrears to one point.
Things looked ominous for the home team when the German pairing of Carl Siemens and Tim Wiedemeyer won the opening match against Dylan Shaw-Radford and Niall Shiels Donegan by 3&1 but GB&I fought back strongly to win the remaining three matches with Frank Kennedy and Connor Graham securing a 3&2 win against William Wistrand and Albert Hansson in the final match.
The Continent of Europe boys kept their eyes on the prize in the early afternoon singles matches with Spain’s Jorge Siyuan Hao halving the opening match with Tyler Weaver and then Wiedemeyer and Siemens putting two more points on the board against Harley Smith and Josh Hill.
Shaw-Radford struck back for GB&I with a fine 3&1 victory over Marco Florioli from Italy and Kennedy followed up by taking his match with Tom Haberer by 4&3.
Boys’ Amateur champion Albert Hansson tried to slam the door on any building GB&I momentum with a comprehensive 7&5 triumph against Shiels Donegan and Thijmen Batens clinched another point with a two hole win against Junior Open champion and Blairgowrie member Connor Graham.
Oihan Guillamoundeguy halved his match with Josh Berry and Scottish Men’s Amateur champion Oliver Mukherjee closed the match with a one-hole win over Wistrand.
Joachim Fourquet, non-playing captain, the Continent of Europe, said: “I feel very happy but there’s also real relief because I was anxious this afternoon. The team started off very well this afternoon which made it more comfortable in the end. It was a great match, Great Britain and Ireland played really well to fight back.
“I watched great golf by both teams and it was very competitive. This really was a great experience for them and we all agree on that. I think we need some sleep after this, so we’ll relax tonight and have some fun, but the only drink will be lemonade!”
Chris King, non-playing captain, Great Britain and Ireland: “We played fantastic this morning to give ourselves an opportunity this afternoon. We played some good golf but the Europeans got off to a good early start. We should clawed back a couple of matches but they played very well. It’s just a shame we couldn’t get it over the line this afternoon, but eight of the team still have another year at this level.
“It’s some of the best golf I’ve seen in the Jacques Leglise Trophy and all credit to the European team, they were fantastic and what a great bunch of boys. They are a credit to their individual nations and the continent. The spirit of the match was fantastic over the two days.”
The Continent of Europe achieved a historic double by securing victory over Great Britain and Ireland by also winning the Junior Vagliano trophy at Blairgowrie on the same day, the first time that the matches have been played alongside each other.
