ENGLAND CALIM LAST GASP VICTORY IN PORTUGAL
 England
won the inaugural Portugal Nations Cup after a dramatic final
day at Vale do Lobo in which they took the title on card count
back from Ireland.
The teams finished tied on 420 so the non-scoring cards were
taken in account with Ben Parker’s (Pictured left -
photo courtesy of Tom Ward) 75 against Niall Kearney’s
77 for the Irish giving England the trophy.
England had gone into the final day in third place, trailing
leaders Ireland by five strokes and Sweden by one. But with
Ben Evans returning 68 and 69 from Chris Wood, England had
the best final day aggregate.
Evans had two eagles in his 68, at the tenth and 16th, while
Wood also eagled the tenth.
That left the ball in Ireland’s court and with Shane
Lowry signing for 68 and 74 from Simon Ward, they were tied
with England. Lowry, in the final game on the course, had
a 14-foot eagle putt on the par-five 18th to give Ireland
the title but his ball missed on the low side.
Earlier, Parker missed a tap-in putt on the 18th that could
have proved costly if Kearney had not had such a poor day.
Denmark finished third on 422 thanks to a course record 66
by Kristian Grud, France fourth on 423 while Sweden dropped
back to fifth.
Lowry won the individual prize on 205, one ahead of European
Amateur champion Benjamin Hebert from France with Wood collecting
the bronze medal on 207.
Leading Team Final Scores:
420 England, Ireland
422 Denmark
423 France
Individual:
205 S Lowry (Ireland) 70 67 68
206 B Hebert (France) 70 69 67
207 C Wood (England) 71 67 69
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