The Continent of Europe team who beat Great Britain and Ireland to win the Jacques Leglise Trophy at Aldeburgh GC. Picture by THE R&A / GETTY IMAGES

THE Continent of Europe won the 2019 Jacques Léglise Trophy after defeating Great Britain and Ireland 15½-9½ at Aldeburgh Golf Club.

Leading 6½-5½ at the start of play on the second day, the Europeans consolidated their lead by winning three of the four morning foursomes matches leaving them 9½-6½ up going into this afternoon’s singles matches.

Joachim Fourquet’s side then picked up six of the nine available points in the afternoon singles to seal their first win in the boys’ international match since 2017 when they triumphed 15½-9½ at Ballybunion, in Ireland.

The visitors strengthened their grip on the contest in the morning foursomes.

While Yorkshire’s Ben Schmidt and Welsh Amateur Champion Archie Davies combined well to defeat the French pair of Charles Larcelet and Tom Vaillant, it was the only point won by the GB&I in the early session.

Adam Wallin and Loic Ettlin were too strong for the fancied GB&I pairing of GB&I captain Barclay Brown, from Hallamshire GC, and England’s Florida-based junior international Joe Pagdin, who lost 4&2.

Bård Bjørnevik Skogen and Matteo Cristoni were always in control of their match over Scotland’s Connor McKinney and Ireland’s Aaron Marshall winning two-up.

While Irish junior internationals Tom McKibbin and Josh Hill held the early advantage in their match against Daniel da Costa Rodrigues and David Puig the European pair fought back from being two-down after three holes.

They squared the match at the sixth hole and at the 14^th the GB&I pairing again gained an advantage that was quickly lost at the next.

With da Costa Rodrigues and Puig winning the final two holes of the match they went on to seal the Continent of Europe’s third point of the morning.

With Europe needing just three-and-a-half points from the nine singles matches in the afternoon, Larcelet was the first to strike.

He landed a big blow to the GB&I team, fighting back from three-down after five holes to defeat Brabazon and Carris Trophy double winner Schmidt, the highest ranked player in the field, 2&1

Wallin staved off a late charge from McKinney, defeating the Scott 2&1 to provide the Continent of Europe with its second point in the singles matches.

Bjørnevik-Skogen made short work of Davies, needing just 16 holes to win his match 4&2 against the Welsh international, who plays at Carlisle GC.

Now needing just half a point to win the 2019 Jacques Léglise Trophy it was Ettlin who secured the victory for the Continent of Europe – when he disposed of Ireland’s Luke O’Neill 4&3.

Puig and da Costa Rodrigues also secured points for the Continent when they won their matches against Marshall and McKibbin.

Playing in the first singles match out in the afternoon, Pagdin did his best to mount a comeback for GB&I. In control from the start, the Lake Nona member defeated Alvaro Mueller-Baumgart 3&1.

However, with the Continent of Europe claiming the next three matches, the GB&I had left their charge too late.

Brown, last year’s Daily Telegraph Junior Champion, won his match against Matteo Cristoni putting on an impressive display to fight back from three-down at the eighth hole to win two-up on the 17^th.

McGregor Trophy winner Hill claimed GB&I’s final point when he recorded a one-up victory over Vaillant.

Europe’s non-playing captain Joachim Fourquet said: “I am very, very proud of my team, they showed a lot of things this afternoon.

“First, they showed that they are not just 16, 17 or 18 years old, they are real players – they know how to manage the course.

“It was so different to yesterday afternoon, with the attitude and everything, they played really well this afternoon.

“The thing with the European team is you have 48 hours to create team spirit, it was better and better as the week went on.

“I could feel it last night, they were all talking and joking so I think today we were a real team, yesterday it was 75 per cent and two days ago it was 50 per cent. The attitude and team spirit was amazing today.”

Stuart Wilson, chairman of the Great Britain and Ireland’s Boys Selectors, put a brave face on the defeat at the Suffolk club overlooking the North Sea and River Alde, which strangely has no par fives.

Wilson said: “There were a lot of positives, I think the guys changed their approach a little bit to put the challenge up to the European guys this afternoon.

“But unfortunately they were just too strong for us. They kept the ball in play a little more than us and holed a few more putts – and in the end that makes all the difference.

“We knew they were going to be good, they definitely brought a strong team.

“But we were hopeful with the guys that we had assembled and confident coming into the match that we could repeat a result from Finland last year – but it just wasn’t to be I am afraid.

The victory marks the 13th time that the Continent of Europe has won the Jacques Léglise Trophy since the boys’ international match between the two teams was rejuvenated in 1977.

The GB&I has won the Jacques Léglise Trophy on 29 occasions, with one match tied at Royal Dornoch in 2015.

The 2020 Jacques Léglise Trophy will be played at Blairgowrie in Scotland from August 28-29.

Wilson, the Scottish winner of the 2004 Amateur Championship, added: “It will be nice to be up in Scotland at Blairgowrie.

“It’s a cracking course up there. The players will enjoy it and they have another a year to get ready for it.”

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ENGLAND have won the R&A Boys’ Home Internationals for the fourth year running after defeating Ireland 8-7 in a nail-biting title decider at Ashburnham Golf Club.

For the second straight year, England triumphed at the expense of its Irish counterparts in a tense contest at the South Wales links course.

The match was almost a carbon copy of last year at Royal Dornoch. England won the deciding match by the identical score of 8-7 but, as with 12 months ago, it could have easily gone to the Irish.

England staged a remarkable comeback after losing the first morning foursomes session in three days of competition.

The Irish took a two-point lead into the 10 afternoon singles after winning the foursomes 3½-1½ – and looked like winning the trophy for the first time since 2013.

The early projections in the afternoon were Ireland would go on to win 8-7.But England slowly turned the tables on a strong Ireland team with good victories in the first seven matches.

They won five of those matches to get in front and it was an edge they would never relinquish.

Stoke Park’s World No. 2 Conor Gough led his side in the first singles matches and the B.B.&O. teeanger gained a half against Tom McKibbin.

Conor Gough, winner of last week’s English Amateur at Hankley Common, earned England a vital half against Ireland’s Tom McKibbin, in the Boys’ Home Internatinals, at Ashburnham.
Picture by ANDREW GRIFFIN / AMG PICTURES

That result took the score to 4-2. USA-based Joe Pagdin and Peterborough Milton’s Robin Williams quickly evened the score at 4-4 with respective victories over Luke O’Neill and Aaron Marshal.

Ireland’s Joshua Hill hit back with a 5&4 victory over Hallamshire’s Barclay Brown to put Ireland ahead.

Hill deserves special mention as the reigning McGregor Trophy champion was the only player over the three days to win six points out of six.

England’s Max Hopkins, from Bishop’s Stortford, in Hertfordshire, wasn’t far behind, winning five and a half out of a possible six points.

Hill’s brilliant play couldn’t stop the English comeback though. The trio of Hopkins, Enrique Dimayuga, from Walton Heath, and Ipswich’s Habebul Islam put three further points on the board

That took their side to seven points and within reach of a fourth straight title win.

Islam’s match proved key to England’s success. He held a one-hole lead against Simon Walker playing the last and looked like he might lose the hole when he hit his second shot close to the out-of-bounds line on the left.

Suffolk’s Habebul Islam made a superb up-and-down on the last to beat ireland’s Simon Walker to set up the deciding match in England’s favour at Ashburnham GC. Picture by ANDREW GRIFFIN / AMG PICTURES

He then made the up and down of his young life, pitching the ball from 80 yards to four feet and holing the subsequent putt for par after Walker had missed his 20-foot birdie putt.

Cue delight from the English players watching Islam playing the 18^th. That point set up Callum Macfie to deliver the coup de grace.

The Lindrick teenager duly did so by birdieing the 17^th hole to defeat Max Kennedy 2&1 and ensure England retained the trophy for yet another year.

England captain Stephen Burnett said: “Even though we lost the foursomes this morning, I just felt that we could get six points out of the singles and that would do the job.

“We’ve got a very strong team and I knew they might just be stronger over the closing nine holes when the conditions got a little tougher.

“The wind picked up and the back nine played harder and the boys showed their talent by turning matches around that Ireland could’ve won.

“We got a lot of good performances. I thought Conor’s half point in the first match was important to get us off to a good start.

“Habebul’s par at the 18^th when he got up and down from 80 yards was crucial because it set up Callum to take us over the line, which he did.

“I’m over the moon,” Burnett added.

His Irish counterpart Alasdair Gibson was proud of his players despite coming up short for teh second year in a row.

Gibson said: “For the second year in a row we’ve just came up short. That’s golf. The first nine holes of the singles we were looking okay and it just turned around a bit.

“We were always struggling in matches there on the back nine. We did very well this morning in the foursomes. The boys played very well.

“The golf this afternoon was very good. There were a lot of birdies out there and at the end of the day they got more than we did.

“It was good effort but we just came up short. There’s no shame in losing to a strong team like England.”

Scotland and Wales finally got some joy in the foursomes after difficult results in the first two days.

They split the session 2½-2½ to set up an intriguing singles contest in the match for third place. Scotland won the session 6½-3½ to beat the Welsh 9-6 to finish third.

For full match results over the three days click here.

COVER IMAGE: England after winning the R&A Boys’ Home Internationals four a fourth year in a row by defeating Ireland at Ashburnham GC, on Thursday. Picture by THE R&A / GETTY IMAGES

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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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