West Cornwall’s Harry Hall, who has remained in Las Vegas after graduating from UNLV last summer, was among the early leaders in round two of the South African Open.
Picture by GETTY IMAGES

CORNWALL’S Harry Hall continued the bright start to the West Countryman’s professional career as he fired a 68 at Randpark inthe second round of the South African Open.

That score saw him move into a share the clubhouse lead in the European Tour event, hosted by the City of Johannesburg.

Hall, who played in Great Britain and Ireland’s Walker Cup defeat against the USA at Royal Liverpool, in September, only made his professional and European Tour debut at last season’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

He did not disappoint then, outscoring playing partner and four-time Major winner Rory McIlroy in the final round as he finished in the top 20.

Hall moved to nine-under alongside local favourite Daniel Greene, who fired a 66.

That was one shot behind overnight leader Johannes Veerman.

South African Hennie du Plessis made five birdies in a row from the third on the Bushwillow Course,

He then added another on the ninth to become the first man into double figures before dropping two shots.

Thirty-four-year-old Greene was also playing the Bushwillow Course.

He turned in 32 with birdies on the fourth, seventh and eighth, before sandwiching another gain on the 12th with bogeys on the 11th and 14th.

A hat-trick of birdies from the 15th catapulted Greene up the leaderboard – but he soon had Hall for company.

The Las-Vegas based Englishman, who graduated from the golf programme in the gambling capital in Nevada last summer and is sponsored approriately by MGM Resorts, was also playing the Bushwillow.

Hall, who was the first Cornish player to have appeared in the Walker Cup since Philip Rowe in 1999, was level-par for his round after 11 holes with two birdies and two bogeys.

Harry Hall and Gough win leaves GB&I two points clear of USA in Walker Cup at Hoylake

But birdies on the 12th, 15th and 17th gave him a share of top spot.

Cheshire’s Matthew Baldwin, Peter Karmis and JC Ritchie were all on course in the morning at eight-under, with Italian Nino Bertasio, who was second after the first round, also at that mark but among the later starters.

•To follow live scoring at Randpark, click here.

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England claimed the Raymond Trophy after beating Scotland 9-6 at Lahinch GC, in Ireland.
Picture by PAT CASHMAN / CASHMAN PHOTOGRAPHY

ENGLAND have won the Home Internationals after beating Scotland 9-6 at Lahinch, on Friday, to retain the Raymond Trophy.

Hexham’s Matty Lamb won five out of six matches, losing just one over the three days as England followed up their 12-3 romp over Wales on Wednesday, with a 10-5 win over their Irish hosts, on Thursday, to maintain their 100 per cent record.

England were pegged back to a 21/2-21/2 draw in the foursomes by the Scots, who made a strong start in match three with Eric McIntosh and Darren Howie going up five up with four to play against West Cornwall’s Harry Hall and Rotheram’s teeanage record-breaker Ben Schmidt.

Somerset’s Walker Cup pairing of Tom Sloman and Tom Plumb beat Euan McIntosh and Kieran Cantley 2&1 in the top match to tie things up quickly and extend their foursomes record to three wins out of three.

After Northamptonshire County’s Ben Jones and Saunton’s Jake Burnage lost by one hole to Royal Wimbledon’s Ryan Lumsden and Matt Clark, Lamb playing with Yorkshire’s Ben Hutchinson, beat James Wilson and Connor McKinney 4&3.

The bottom match between Lindrick’s Bailey Gill and Wallasey’s Joshua McMahon ended in a half to take the teams into lunch all-square.

England made a fast start to the singles on the course which hosted the Irish Open won by Jon Rahm.

Sloman took care of Lumsden courtesy of a 3&2 win while Jones won the 18^th to beat Cantley by two.

While Plumb was held to a half by Wilson, Burnage, who was considered very unlucky to miss out on a Walker Cup place despite winning the St Andrews Links, in June, lost 2&1 to McKinney.

Hexham’s Matty Lamb was England’s top scorer losing just one of six matches as they retained the Raymond Trophy at the Home Internationals at Lahinch, with a 9-6 win over Scotland on the final day. Picture by ANDREW GRIFFIN / AMG PICTURES

Northamptonshire’s Callum Farr halved with Irvine Lewis and Hampshire Hog winner Lamb beat Howie by one on the last to make it 61/2-41/2 to England.

Clark ended his week on a high as Scotland’s leading points scorer with a 2&1 win over Hutchinson to keep Scottish hopes alive.

But Schmidt – the youngest player to win both the Carris Trophy and the Brabazon in the same season – was left to claim the winning point for England and the title thanks to a two-hole win over Eric McIntosh.

Lytham Trophy winner McMahon – another to miss out on Walker Cup selection – got a half from Euan after Lindrick’s Bailey Gill took care of Stuart Easton in the bottom match, winning 3&2.

England’s bid to retain the Home Internationals crown they won at Conwy 12 months ago, began with Wales holding them to 21/2-21/2 in the foursomes.

Jones – who, along with Ben Schmidt, was one of two reserves for the Great Britain and Ireland side that lost the Walker Cup to the USA at Royal Liverpool, on Sunday,– helped Burnage to a 4&3 win over Jake Hapgood and Jacob Davies.

But from 2-0 up Welsh pair Connor Jones and George Bryant won on the last against Hutchinson and Lamb while Matt Roberts and Kieron Harman picked off Gill and McMahon by 3&2 leaving Schmidt and Farr to share the spoils with Wales’ Gaelen Trew and Tom Froom.

But the singles were a very different proposition as the scoreboard was turned red with England winning nine out of the 10 matches, with just Farr held to a half at the death by Trew to make it 12-3.

Plumb beat Davies 7&6 in match two while Burnage collected his second point of the day with a 5&4 win over Hapgood.

Hutchinson picked up the winning point with a 5&3 win over Roberts as Gill raced to his win over Jones by the same scoreline a hole behind them.

Ireland claimed the Raymond Trophy four years in a row before England’s victory in 2018 but their hopes of regaining the crown in front of their own fans was effectively ended when they lost the foursomes 4-1.

Plumb and Sloman took care of Walker Cup team-mate Conor Purcell, playing with Keith Egan, winning 4&3 while Gill and McMahon beat another of Ireland’s four Walker Cup players – Tom KcKibbin – by two holes, playing with Colm Campbell.

Ireland’s only success came courtesy of Walker Cup player Caolan Rafferty’s 2&1 win playing with Tiarnan McLarnon against Jones and Burnage.

Ireland had to come out fighting and Purcell ended Sloman’s 100 per cent record with a 3&2 win before Rafferty got the better of Plumb by 2&1.

But wins from Farr – his first for England – Burnage, Jones and Lamb – the latter against McKibbon on the last – wrapped up the 10-5 win.

Schmidt kept his unbeaten run going with a 2&1 win over McLarnon before Gill halved the bottom match with Campbell who played in all four of Ireland’s recent Home International triumphs.

For full scores from Lahinch, click here

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The USA team’s five-point victory against Great Britain and Ireland at Hoylake was the biggest away win since Sunningdale in 1987. Picture by USGA

THE USA Team rebounded from a 7-5 overnight deficit, winning 10½ out of a possible 14 points to capture the 47th Walker Cup Match over Great Britain & Ireland at Royal Liverpool Golf Club, on Sunday.

Any thoughts of a nail-biting finish to men’s amateur golf’s most prestigious team competition were banished in just four hours.

USA captain Nathaniel Crosby (left) is congratulated by GB&I captain Craig Watson after the American’s victory at Royal Liverpool. Picture by USGA

Winning USA captain Nathaniel Crosby, who played at Hoylake when the Americans last won at Royal Liverpool in 1983, said proudly: “The singles were amazing The guys played great.”

John Augenstein, who was runner up in last month’s US Amateur at Pinehurst, hit the opening tee shot of the competition on Saturday morning – and then secured the winning point beating Somerset’s Thomas Plumb, 4&3.

“I did not know that my match this afternoon was the clinching point,” said Augenstein. “I mean, it really doesn’t matter who clinches it.

Yorkshire’s Alex Fitzpatrick lost the 18th to Isaiah Salinder to go down by two holes in the top singles match. Picture by USGA

Hallamshire’s Alex Fitzpatrick – who was cheered on by his Ryder Cup brother Matt – had just lost to by two holes to Isaiah Salinder at the top of the order.

Mid-amateur Stewart Hagestad – the only player on either side who played two years ago – had a sparkling final day, winning two matches.

Scott bounced back with birdies on the 12th and 14th to go four up – and closed out the match when the 15th hole was halved in par.

Somerset’s Tom Sloman salutes a winning putt on the 15th in his foursomes match against World No. 1 Hammer Cole. Picture by USGA

The post Straight down the middle for Crosby’s boy as his USA team win Walker Cup at Hoylake appeared first on Golf North.

ENGLAND Golf have announced a strong team for the defence of their title at the Men’s Home Internationals, to be played at Lahinch, in Ireland, from September 11-13.

The 11-man team includes West Cornwall’s Harry Hall, and Somerset pair Tom Sloman and Tom Plumb, who will travel to Ireland straight from playing in the Walker Cup match at Royal Liverpool the weekend before, but not schoolboy Conor Gough, the 16-year-old English Amateur Champion, from Buckinghamshire’s Stoke Park GC.

Captain Nigel Edwards has also picked Rotherham’s record-breaker Ben Schmidt and Ben Jones, from Northamptonshire County, who were listed as first and second reserves for the biennial fixture against the USA when the Walker Cup team was named on Monday.

The 2019 team also includes Jake Burnage and Bailey Gill, who were part of the 2018 English Men’s Home International team that beat this year’s hosts Ireland in the deciding match 12 months ago at Conwy GC, in Wales.

Plumb and Sloman were also part of that winning squad. Hall and Schmidt are both newcomers to the Home International team and earn their first full England caps.

Hall graduated from University of Las Vegas, in May, where he won twice in five weeks in 2018 and played under Cornwall’s Walker Cup player Philip Rowe, who was in the same team as Justin Rose, in 1997.

They are joined by Hampshire Hog winner Matty Lamb, Yorkshire’s Ben Hutchinson and Wallasey’s Joshua McMahon, who also make their debut in the contest.

The final debutant is Northamptonshire County’s second representative in the team – Callum Farr, who lost in the final of the English Amateur to Stoke Park’s Conor Gough at Hankley Common, earlier this month.

Farr, who earned his place in this year’s England A squad by winning the Selborne Salver last year and by reaching the last four of the 2018 English Amateur, was also runner-up in the Spanish Amateur, in March.

Two reserve players have also been selected – Castle Royle’s David Langley and Malton and Norton’s Yorkshire player David Hague, who both were in the team a year ago.

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The England team who were beaten 41/2-21/2 in the final of the European Amateur Team Championship by hosts Sweden at Llunghusen Golf Club.

ENGLAND narrowly missed out on the chance to win the European Men’s Team Championship for a record 12th time when they lost to hosts Sweden in the final of this year’s championship at Llunghusen GC.

Tom Sloman, Alex Fitzpatrick and Ben Jones all claimed top-10 finishes as England finished second behind Ireland in the 36-hole strokeplay qualifier earlier in the week.

And they went on to defeat both Wales and Scotland by 4-3 before losing 4½- 2½ to the hosts in a keenly contested final in which all but one of the matches went at least as far as the 17th green.

The English team were the first to put a point on the board when Somerset pair Tom Sloman and Tom Plumb recorded their third foursomes win of the tournament with a 2&1 win over Ludvig Aberg and Christoffer Palsson.

But David Nyfjall and Vincent Norrman ensured the scoreline was level at lunch with a 4&3 victory over Alex Fitzpatrick and Matty Lamb.

In the afternoon Harry Hall made it three-out-of-three in the singles with a 2&1 victory over Norrman, and Plumb also halved with Nyfjall – but that was not quite enough to see the team over the line.

The result means England have won three sliver medals in a row having also achieved that feat in Austria in 2017 – and then again in Germany 12 months later.

The men’s team comprised Sloman (Taunton & Puckeridge) Fitzpatrick (Hallamshire), Jones (Northamptonshire County), Plumb (Yeovil), Hall (West Cornwall) and Lamb (Hexham).

For full scores click here.

Women’s team end up in fifth place

•ENGLAND ended the European Ladies’ Team Championship on a high note when they beat Scotland 3-2 to claim fifth place at Is Molas in Sardinia.

The team made up of Lianna Bailey, Roehampton’s Annabell Fuller, Berkhamsted’s Alice Hewson, Stoke by Naylan’s Lily May Humphrey and Cornwall’s Women’s Amateur Champion – Emily Toy, from Carlyon Bay – lost the chance of collecting a medal when they were beaten 5½ – 1½ by Sweden in the opening round of the knockout competition.

But they then defeated Denmark 3½-1½ before rounding the championship out with a win over the Scots. The event was won by Sweden who beat Spain 5-2 in the final.

For full results from the championship click here.

Boys also fifth as hosts France win

THERE was also a fifth-place finish for the English team at the European Boys’ Team Championship where hosts France won in front of the own fans at Chantilly.

England – represented by Hallamshire’s Barclay Brown, Stoke Park’s Conor Gough, Bishop’s Stortford’s Max Hopkins, Florida-based Joe Pagdin, Rotheram’s Brabazon Trophy record-breaker Ben Schmidt and Robin Williams, from Peterborough Milton – lost 4-3 to Ireland in the opening round.

But the U18s then defeated Italy 3½-1½ before rounding things by beating Spain by the same scoreline.

Click here for full results

Girls qualify in fifth but lose to hosts

THE English Girls team finished fifth in qualifying at the European Girls’ Team Championship, at Parador El Saler, in Spain, but then lost 4-3 to Spain, 3-2 to The Netherlands and 3½ – 1½ to Sweden to finish eighth.

The event was won for the first time by Denmark who beat Spain in the final. Click here for full results.

ENGLAND GIRLS: Jessica Baker (Gosford Ladies), Rosie Belsham (Whitely Bay), Ellie Gower (Gleneagles), Charlotte Heath (Huddersfield), Euphemie Rhodes (Burnham & Berrow and Caitlin Whitehead (Carus Green).

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