LORETTO COMPLETE HAT-TRICK IN ISGA HOME INTERNATIONALS

NEWS RELEASE
The Loretto School Golf Academy has won the prestigious ISGA Home Internationals for a remarkable third time in succession. The Independent Schools Golf Association (ISGA) held its Home Internationals at Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland on February 27-28.
The top finishing schools from last year's knockout, which had over 120 schools competing, qualified to play for their country. Loretto School qualified as the best Scottish school and was selected to represent Scotland.
Monmouth represented Wales, Millfield represented the best English school and Coleraine Academical as the best Irish school.
The format was medal play over two rounds to find the winning team. Each school fielded a four-man team. The Loretto team looked the part in their new Adidas kit for the first round on the Valley in almost perfect weather conditions.
Loretto’s Carl Kolloss led the team out and after a slow start fought back for a four-over par 72. Sami Bouzabia got off to a blistering start with five birdies in the first six holes but he was unable to maintain the momentum dropping back to a 72. Alexander Wilson played steady golf the whole round to shoot a two over par 70.
Ben Skinner was out last and shot the low round of the day with an excellent two under par 66. This gave the team a four over par total which put them three shots clear of Millfield in second place.
The final round was on the Dunluce, a fantastic course which is due to host the Irish Open in the summer. Playing in reverse score order Carl Kolloss led the team out, playing a crucial round of two under par 70, the low round of the day.
Sami Bouzabia, out second again, got off to a good start but was again unable to maintain his score, dropping to a ten over par 82. This put the pressure on the final two players as Millfield were playing well.
Alexander Wilson, after another steady round, made a fantastic up and down on the 18th to post a one over par 73. Ben Skinner, out last for the second time, shot a fantastic front nine but hit a rocky patch in the middle of the back nine with three double bogeys in a row.
He regrouped quickly and finished with two crucial pars to shoot a four over par 76 and a team score of +3 for the day and +7 for the tournament. This was good enough to retain the ISGA Home Internationals, maintaining a three- shot lead over Millfield who finished second ahead of Coleraine in third and Monmouth fourth.