FIVE STAR ENGLAND LEAD THE QUALIFIERS
England produced an awesome display of golf to lead the qualifiers
into the match play stages, effectively the quarter finals,
of the European Men’s Team Championship at Hillside,
Southport. With all six players returning sub-par rounds,
the English finished top on 704, 16 under par, two strokes
ahead of Wales and five clear of Scotland.
The other five qualifiers, who will battle it out for the
title over the next three days will be France, Spain, Germany,
Switzerland and Italy.
England will now meet Italy, Wales play Switzerland, the
Scots face Germany and France tackle Spain.
Wales apart, England were in a class of their own and it
was Jamie Moul (pictured left) who led the way with a near
faultless five under par 67.
Out early, the Suffolk lad, whose 77 on Tuesday was discounted,
took advantage of the slightly easier conditions after heavy
overnight rain and made his score with a run of four successive
birdies from the tenth.
“After yesterday I just wanted to help the team,”
said the 20 year old. “Hitting the fairways is a premium
here, which I managed to do and consequently I had more control
of my game.
“The run of four birdies contained only one long putt,
from around 50 feet at the 13th, otherwise they were all from
fairly close.”
Moul then returned to the course to caddie for Gary Wolstenholme,
who 69 contained three birdies in the final four holes. “That
run cheered me up because I’d heard how the rest of
the team were doing and I wanted to help,” said the
Walker Cup man.
With 16 year old Oliver Fisher contributing 68 and Gary Lockerbie
and Matthew Richardson 69s, it was Steven Tiley’s 71
that didn’t count this time.
Wales, who began the day as joint leaders with France, three
strokes ahead of England, were only a shade behind England
in class, all six of their men also shooting below par. They
also began well with 68 from Zac Gould, 11 strokes better
than his opening effort, while Tim Dykes added a 69 and Nigel
Edwards, James Williams and Gareth Wright shot 70s.
The Scots, many people’s favourites for the title,
climbed to third thanks to a bogey-free 67 from Richie Ramsay,
playing with a damaged wrist, 68 from Eric Ramsay, while Jonathan
King returned 69.
The best round of the day came from Frenchman Julien Guerrier
with a six birdie 66 that helped his side to fourth spot.
“I had six birdies and no bogeys,” said the 19
year old. “I just played perfectly and missed only one
green. I shot 73 yesterday but then I lost a ball.”
But the Irish weren’t smiling. They finished tenth
on 742 and will compete in the second match play flight.
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