Irish pip England in Euro Men’s final

England came tantalisingly close to regaining the European Men’s Team Championship only to lose to defending champions Ireland 4.5 - 2.5 in the final at Royal Park Golf Club in Turin.

Having qualified in fourth place to reach the First Flight of match play, England eased past hosts Italy in the Quarter Finals and France in the semis to renew their rivalry with the Irish in the final.

The foursomes were shared 1-1 but Ireland came out on top in the singles, England gaining just one victory through Dale Whitnell, 5 and 3 over Shane Lowry, while Sam Hutsby maintained his unbeaten record with a half.

But it wasn’t enough to regain the title England last won in 2005 at Hillside but an improvement on the fourth place secured last year in Scotland when England again fell foul of the Irish in the semi-finals.

The first day over the par 72 Robert Trent Jones Snr course didn’t start well for England. Although Matt Haines and Hutsby both returned 70, they were the only members of the team to beat par, leaving England on 358 in tenth place at the end of the day.

However, there was a much improved performance on the second day with Wood firing a sizzling 65, 69 by Hutsby and another 70 from Haines. Saw England finish with 347 to qualify in fourth on 705, 15 under par, but seven strokes behind the leaders Scotland and two adrift of Sweden and Germany. Ireland were seventh on 719.

England won both foursomes- one by one hole, the other at the 21st - in their quarter final demolition of the Italians then won three of the five singles to win 5½ - 1½.

Next up were the French, who had bounced back from losing both foursomes to the Scots only to power through by not losing a single. The foursomes were shared but England didn’t lose a single, just surrendering two halves to run out 5-2 winners.

But the final proved a round too far although if one match had been reversed it could have been a different story.

Hutsby (photo courtesy of Tom ward) finished with the best record of three wins and two halves from his five matches while Ford and Wood had three wins from five and Whitnell three from four.

Results from all matches can be found on the Italian Golf Federation's website www.federgolf.it.

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