KirkwoodGolf

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Welsh beat Scots 4-0 in training match in Spain

FROM WELSH GOLF UNION WEBSITE
http://www.golfunionwales.org/
Current Ladies British Open champion Catriona Matthew was part of a Scotland team beaten by the Wales ladies amateur side in a friendly four-ball better ball foursomes match (at Desert Springs Golf Resort) in Spain.
Welsh amateur champion Tara Davies and rising star Amy Boulden beat top European Tour star and Solheim Cup player Matthew and her amateur partner Megan Briggs 5 and 3, in the match played while the two squads were at warm weather training together.
Wales whitewashed the Scots 4-0, who had invited Matthew to help their amateur squad as part of their build-up to the season - a result which will help push the Curtis Cup claims of several of the Wales players.
For Davies this was her second good result in a week after finishing fourth in the Portuguese amateur championship, where she was the best British and Irish player by a margin of five shots, to give her Curtis Cup hopes a real boost.
However, the rest of the Wales team also did well against the strong Scottish squad, Gemma Bradbury and Katherine O'Connor beat Eilidh Briggs and Rachel Watton by two holes with Bradbury holing her eight-iron approach at the last hole to close out victory.
Sam Birks and Chelsey Herbert beat Jane Turner and Gillian Monteith by one hole, with Birks holing a six foot putt on the last to seal the win, while Walker Cup captain Nigel Edwards filled in for Katie Bradbury, to even things up with Major-winner Matthew playing for Scotland.
Edwards was there to supervise the training week in his day job as Golf Union of Wales director of player development and coaching, but he also partnered Chloe Williams to a comfortable win by 5 and 4 over Kelsey MacDonald and Laura Murray.
Edwards was seven under par for the holes played!
The match was the culmination of a good week of training, but also a useful marker as Wales aim for a hat-trick of Home International victories when they host the event at Whitchurch in Cardiff this summer.
"It really spiced up our week to play Scotland, to win so comprehensively and play against the Open champion was all just great," said Golf Union of Wales ladies national coach Jeremy Bennett.
"It was superb and gave them all a lift after coming out here to get some of the work done that we could not achieve at home because of the weather.
"It was also a good performance for Gemma, Amy and Tara as they prepare to go onto Spain for one of the events which will have a bearing on Curtis Cup selection.
"For instance Amy has added about 10 yards to her drives and it was good for her to see that she was hitting it up with the British Open champion, while Tara has improved her short game over the winter.
"It has been a really good training week, the girls have worked exceptionally hard on their game and have made progress.
"We are looking forward to the Home Internationals in the summer, trying to win for the third year running, and this result will certainly help confidence."

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