ENGLAND LEAD QUALIFIERS AFTER ACE OF A DAY AT WESTERN GAILES
 Sub-par
rounds from four of the team left England top of the table
after the second and final day of qualifying at the European
Men’s Team Championships at Western Gailes in Ayrshire.
As the leading qualifiers in defence of the title they won
at Hillside two years ago, England will now meet eighth qualifiers
Denmark in today’s first match play series.
Yesterday’s play was highlighted by a hole-in-one from
Gary Boyd while David Horsey (pictured left - photo courtesy
of Tom Ward) trimmed the course record with a superb 66 which
was bettered later.
The record, which had stood since 1986, saw Horsey fire an
eagle and three birdies in his faultless 66 which bolstered
England to an overall seven under par for the day following
their level par first day return.
However, the record fell again to another home nations hot
shot, Ireland’s Jonathan Caldwell, who returned a sensational
65 to equal the professional course record set by Bernard
Gallacher.
Caldwell, a student at South Alabama College, ran in two
eagles and four birdies in his first European Men’s
Team Championship.
Boyd, the 20 year old from Northamptonshire, shot the second
ace of the championships with a six-iron at the seventh hole
where Spaniard Juan Sarasti secured a hole-in-one on the first
day.
Boyd said: “I’m fairly renowned for getting holes-in-one.
This is my fifth, but this one was special as it was my first
on a links course.”
As England propelled themselves up to pole position, Boyd
added: “There is a really good team spirit in our camp
and our preparations were excellent leading in to this tournament.
Qualifying for the first flight is really the first hurdle
to get over, but match play can be anyone’s game.”
Paul Waring continued his good form with a second bogey-free
68 while Gary Wolstenholme was economy personified with a
five-birdie 69 to follow his opening 70.
Scotland, who were six under for the day, qualified in second
spot, three strokes behind England, and will now face Spain,
while first-day leaders France dropped back to third and will
now meet fifth-place Wales.
In the other first flight match, Ireland play Sweden.
Leading qualifying scores: England 703 (D
Horsey 66, P Waring 68, G Wolstenholme 69, G Boyd 70, J Moul
75, non-counting J Parry 76)
Scotland 706 (K McAlpine 68, K McNicoll 69, R Ramsay 69, L
Saltman 70, J King 73, non-counting J Byrne 80)
France 708 (A Kaleka 69, A Bernadet 70, R Bechu 71, V Dubuisson
72, K Le Sager 73, non-counting J Wolff 74)
Ireland 712 (J Caldwell 65, R McIlroy 69, R Kilpatrick 72,
S Ward 73, S Lowery 75, non-counting G Shaw 75)
Sweden 717
Wales 721
Spain 723
Denmark 724
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