England shine in the Oxfordshire sun
 England
had to battle hard before they earned a 14-10 victory over
France in the biennial contest at sun-bathed Frilford Heath
in Oxfordshire.
Going into the second and final day one point ahead, they
doubled that in the morning foursomes which left them needing
three wins and a half from the eight singles. But it was no
easy task as the French put up stout resistance. However,
Danny Willett, Chris Wood and Gary Wolstenholme put them on
the brink and it was left to Neil Chaudhuri to seal the winning
point for the England team (pictured - photo courtesy of Tom
Ward).
Willett led from the front in his match with Johann Lopez
Lazaro. There was little to choose between them for 11 holes
mainly through the Frenchman’s superb short game. But
Willett then reeled off five successive birdies to close out
the contest 3 and 2, being six under par at the end.
There was no holding Wood who completed his fourth victory
by 2 and 1 over Alex Kaleka. The only time the Gloucestershire
man was behind was when Kaleka birdied the second hole but
Wood responded with a birdie-two at the fourth and was two
up at the turn which he reached in 33 strokes. Kaleka closed
the gap on the tenth but Wood never let his opponent back
on terms and a French bogey at the 15th sealed his fate.
At no stage could France be written off especially when Mathieu
Bey handed new cap Matt Haines his first defeat by 5 and 3.
Bey was in top form, starting with three successive winning
birdies and was still three up when he reached the turn in
32. No matter what he tried, Haines couldn’t dent Bey’s
defence and the Frenchman added further birdies at the 13th
and 15th to complete a fine afternoon’s work.
Sam Hutsby also boasted a perfect record going into his match
with Benjamin Hebert and looked like extending that when he
stood on the ninth tee two up. But he lost the short tenth
with a bogey then a mistake on the 16th saw him fire into
the gorse and take a penalty. That left the contest all square
playing the 18th which didn’t prove lucky again for
the English as Hebert took two from off the green for birdie
after Hutsby had chipped and two-putted for bogey and a one
hole defeat.
That left the contest 11-9 and Wolstenholme put England within
sight of the finishing line with a 2 and 1 win over Edouard
Dubois.
Wolstenholme, winless to this point, opened with two winning
birdies but Dubois got back on terms with two of his own at
the fifth and sixth. There was nothing to separate them until
the 11th where Dubois dropped a shot to slip back again. A
further birdie at 12 restored Wolstenholme’s two hole
lead and after he slipped again at the 15th, the England veteran
secured the vital birdie at 17 to seal victory.
Chaudhuri, drafted in as a replacement for the injured Steve
Uzzell, made sure he didn’t finish with a blank return
by coming from two down to beat Rudy Thuillier on the final
green.
After losing the first hole to a par, Chaudhuri was always
playing catch-up, especially when he fell two down on the
seventh. But a run of five successive birdies from the tenth
saw the Leicestershire man romp to two up only to lose that
advantage through 16. However, he won the 17th with a par
and secured the 18th when Thuillier conceded after driving
into an unplayable lie and taking a penalty before firing
his third over the green with Chaudhuri safely on the putting
surface in one.
Dale Whitnell, in the final match was always ahead against
Jean-Jacques Wolff, also winning on the final green, while
Matt Cryer battled back from four down to also take his contest
with Victor Dubuisson to the 18th only to lose by two holes.
It was England’s second successive win in the event
following their victory in Bordeaux two years ago
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