GB&I retain Jacques Leglise Trophy

Defending champions Great Britain and Ireland (GB&I) overcame a two-point deficit to level the overall score at 12½ to 12½ against the Continent of Europe and retain the Jacques Leglise Trophy at Royal Dornoch. Peter McEvoy’s GB&I side held a narrow one-point lead at the start of the day but the outcome looked far from assured after the Continent of Europe turned the match on its head by winning the morning foursomes 3½ to ½ to open up a nine to seven lead going into the singles.

The outcome was eventually decided by the final shot on the final green of the final match. For most of the afternoon Scotland’s Sandy Scott trailed Norway’s Viktor Hovland in the anchor match. Buoyed by large local support, the Nairn golfer rallied from two down with four to play to get back to all-square playing the 18th.

A halved match would have been enough for GB&I to win the contest outright but Hovland fired his 200-yard approach over the flag to 15 feet and two-putted for par. Scott, the Scottish Boys Open Stroke Play Champion, missed the green right and was unable to get up and down for par and lost by one hole. It meant the matches were tied for the first time since 1978 when the contest was played over one day instead of two.

Peter McEvoy, Great Britain and Ireland team manager said, “We played the 18th five times today and we lost the 18th five times. I think we should have won the match comfortably. I thought the lads showed tremendous spirit and great golf all afternoon, apart from not quite finishing the job off on the 18th. I’m proud of the team, it was a great effort but I think we will still go away feeling the job wasn’t quite done. I know we retained the trophy but we wanted to win the match.”

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A graduate of Cardiff University’s highly respected post-graduate magazine journalism course, Andy has successfully edited four different publications across the B2B, trade and consumer sectors. He is skilled at all aspects of the magazine process in addition to editing websites and managing social media channels.