Championships - Home International Matches 2009
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09.09.2009
Wales and Scotland take the points after Day 1 at Irvine
Wales have made a excellent start in their defence of the Miller Trophy they won on home turf at Wrexham 12 months ago.They beat England by the surprisingly wide margin of 7-2 by taking the foursomes 5-1.
In the other match Scotland came back from a 2-1 foursomes deficit to beat Ireland 5-4.
Top performers for defending champions Wales were Amy Boulden, Gemma Bradbury and Rhian Wyn Thomas who each played twice and won twice.
“It was a great team effort. All the girls are totally together on this,” said Wales team captain Sue Turner who led the 2008 squad to overall victory, even though they lost their last match 5 ½-3 ½ to England at Wrexham.
“All my girls are playing well so the difficult thing for me is having to leave two out for each session of play. That is a luxury..
“We are a young team with three juniors in the line-up and our oldest player is only 23 years.
“So we’ll enjoy the moment but it’s only the first day. And we’ll start again on Thursday morning.”
Wales increased their 2-1 lunchtime lead to a winning margin of 5-1 before England scored their first and only win of the singles when left-hander Charlie Douglass beat Tara Davies by two holes in the tussle of the native champions.
Former Welsh girls champion Lucy Gould beat Nikki Foster by 8 and 7 after being six up at the turn.
Rhian Wyn Thomas won by 3 and 2 against Hannah Barwood in a match that was all square after 10. Thomas won the 11th, 14th and 15th in a decisive surge.
Gemma Bradbury gained the fifth point that assured a team victory when she beat English girls champion Holly Clyburn 3 and 1.
Gemma went two up after 13 and clinched victory after a series of halves by winning the 17th.
After Douglass had gained England’s second point, Amy Boulden and Gemma Bradbury’s sister Katie wrapped up a 7-2 Wales win.
Amy beat Junior Solheim Cup team player Kelly Tidy by 4 and 3. Boulden went two up with a birdie at the 11th and also won the 12th and 14th to take a decisive edge.
Katie Bradbury won by two holes over Charlotte Ellis in a tight match in which there was never more than a hole in it after the turn until Katie won both the 17th and 18th
Scotland made up their one-point foursomes deficit by winning the first two singles to finish against Ireland.
Teenager Carly Booth beat the new British women‘s open amateur stroke play champion Danielle McVeigh by 2 and 1 in the top singles tie.
Booth lost the first hole but squared it at the second – and was never in arrears again after that.
One up at the turn, Booth lost the 10th but hit back with a birdie 4 at the long 11th to regain the lead. Booth conceded the 12th to lose the advantage again but won the 13th and then birdied the 14th to take a vital two-hole lead.
McVeigh won back the 15th but after a half in 3s at the short 16th, Carly won the 17th for a 2 and 1 margin of victory.
Kelsey MacDonald put Scotland 3-2 ahead by beating Mary Dowling 3 and 2. Kelsey always held the whiphand but could not shake off a determined opponent. MacDonald’s eagle 3 at the ninth enabled her to go two up but Dowling won the 12th only for Kelsey to birdie the 13th to regain a two-hole advantage. The 15th was the decisive hole. The Scot won it to go three up with three to play and a half at the 16th finished the match in her favour.
But Ireland had the advantage in the ties still to finish and Gillian O’Leary’s 3 and 2 win over Laura Murray levelled the overall scoreline at 3-3. Gillian built up a two-hole lead on the outward half and won the 11th and 12th to double that advantage before losing the 14th.
With three matches to finish and Scotland three up in one and Ireland three up in another, it was clear that the Pamela Pretswell (Scotland) v Aedin Murphy (Ireland) tie – all square after 17 – was going to have an important bearing on the overall result.
Pretswell was two down with five to play but won the 14th with a birdie 3 and squared the match with a par 3 at the short 16th.
After a half at the next, Pamela hit a massive drive off the 18th and won the hole and the match with a 4.
Kylie Walker beat Niamh Kitching by 3 and 2 in a match that was all square after 11 holes. Walker won the 12th, 13th, 14th and 16th in an strong finish.
Charlene Reid got Ireland’s fourth point by beating Louise Kenney 3 and 1. Reid won the seventh, eighth and nine to go three up and she stayed in the driving seat for the rest of the match.
Morning Foursomes Update
Wales made a promising start to their defence of the Miller Trophy in the Women’s Home Internationals at a bright and breezy Irvine course in Ayrshire.
Leading in all three opening foursomes against England with only a few holes to play, Wales had to settle for a 2-1 lunchtime lead.
Ireland lead Scotland 2-1 going into the afternoon singles.
Welsh champion Tara Davies and Amy Boulden put the first points on the board by beating Rachael Jennings and Kelly Tidy by 3 and 2.
The England pair won the first with a bogey but Davies and Boulden never looked back after winning the third and the fourth to go one up. Two ahead at the turn, the Welsh pair went three up at the 13th and though they lost the 14th, Davies and Boulden clinched victory on the 16th green.
England squared the contest 1-1 with a come from behind win by champion Charlie Douglass and Holly Clyburn.who won the last two holes for a one-hole victory over Lucy Gould and Sam Birks.
Douglass and Clyburn had the better of the outward half and were two up at the turn but Gould and Birks won the 11th with a birdie and were conceded the 13th to get back on level terms.
The Welsh pair went one up with a par 4 at the 15th but England were able to square the match at the 17th hole with a bogey.5 and they won the last hole for the match with a par 4
Wales’ No 2 pairing of Rhian Wyn Thomas and Gemma Bradbury were three up at one stage against England’s Charlotte Wild and Hannah Barwood but squeezed home in the end by one hole to ensure a 2-1 lunchtime lead for the defending champions.
Three down with three to play, Wild and Barwood won the short 16th with a 3 and the 17th with a bogey 5 but Thomas and Bradbury held them at bay by halving the last in par 4s.
Ireland drew first blood against Scotland when Mary Dowling and Sarah Cunningham won the third tie by 5 and 4 against Kylie Walker and Megan Briggs.
Two up at the turn, the Irish pair went three up for the second time in the contest with a par 4 at the 2th.
Dowling and Cunningham then went four up with a 4 at the 13th and they finished off the match in style with a birdie 3 at the 14h.
Louise Kenney and Pamela Pretswell levelled it for Scotland at 1-1 by beating Gillian O’Leary and Victoria Bradshaw by 5 and 3. One up at the turn, the Scots birdied the 11th to double their lead and another birdie at the 12th put Kenney and Pretswell three up.
A par at the next was good enough to increase the Scots’ lead to four and a couple of halved holes clinched vicgtory for the home pairing.
But Ireland got their noses in front again when British stroke play champion Danielle McVeigh and Charlene Reid won the top foursome by 3 and 2 against Kelsey MacDonald and Carly Booth.
The Irish pair were one down in the early stages but never looked bazck after squaring the match at the fourth and going one up at the fifth.That lead increased to two at the seventh and the Irish pair held that advantage until MacDonald and Booth won back the 12th.
But it was a temporary setback for McVeigh and Reid who regained a two-hole advantage by winning the 13th and a par at the short 16th gave them a 3 and 2 victory.
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