England Wins 2017 Girls’ Home Internationals
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- Category: Inside Golf
- Published: 2017-08-14
England Won The Girls’ Home Internationals After A Strong Final Day Performance On The Final Day At Little Aston, Near Birmingham. (Photo/The R&A)
The English team were in dominant form throughout the match in spite of losing Amelia Williamson to gastroenteritis on the eve of the championship.
Despite being down to six players for the three-day tournament, England defeated Wales 8-1 and Scotland 7-2 before battling hard to defeat a tough young Irish squad by 6 ½ - 2 ½ on the last afternoon.
The English claimed the morning foursomes 2 ½ - ½ and then went further ahead when in the singles Hollie Muse and Samantha Fuller both won their sixth matches out of six by recording 6&5 victories over Lauren Walsh and Sara Byrne.
However, the Irish never stopped fighting and got the result they deserved when Emma Forbes beat Hannah Screen 2&1. Rachel Thompson and 13-year-old Beth Coulter earned halves against Lily May Humphreys and Emily Price. The other English winner was Martha Lewis who beat Valerie Clancy by 5&4.
“The plan this week was to try to win every session,” said England captain Janet Melville. “We knew that wouldn’t be easy but we’ve managed it so we’re very pleased. We got off to a really good start this afternoon. They were all up early on so that took the pressure off a bit. Hollie (Muse) was amazing. She’s been a real star this week."
Ireland captain Gemma Butler beamed with pride following her young team’s performance. She said, “I’m absolutely thrilled. They are a very new, young team. We have four new Home Internationals players, three new caps, so to run the English so close is very encouraging.
“We knew we were up against it. We recognised that but after a shaky, nervous start we gave it a real go. I couldn’t be more proud, particularly at the end when one of our new caps won on the 17th and we managed to steal two halves on the 18th.
The match to decide third and fourth places in was fought out between Scotland and Wales with the Scots coming out on top by a 6 ½ - 2 ½ margin.
After establishing a 2 ½ - ½ up after the morning foursomes, the Scots sealed victory with singles wins from Hazel MacGarvie, Jasmine McIntosh, Hannah Darling and Louise Duncan. Caitlin Evans-Brand and Carys Worby were the Welsh winners as Scotland took the singles 4-2.