Amateur golf: GB&I retain Jacques Leglise Trophy

There was drama at the end as defending champions GB&I overcame a two-point deficit to level the overall score at 12/5-12/5 against the Continent of Europe and retain the Jacques Leglise Trophy at Royal Dornoch.

On a windy afternoon by the Dornoch Firth there was no telling how the matches would finish as the advantage swung one way then the other. 

The outcome was eventually decided by the final shot on the final green of the final match.

GB&I team manager Peter McEvoy said: “We’ve retained the trophy but we wanted to win, we should have won. We played the 18th five times today and we lost the 18th five times. We should have won the match comfortably.

‘I thought the lads showed tremendous spirit and great golf all afternoon’ “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.”

After a topsy-turvy afternoon that saw a purple patch from Europe, before three GB&I players in a row won their matches. This left playing captain Bradley Moore to secure the all-important point to retain the trophy.

This year’s Carris Trophy champion had a close match against Denmark’s Christoffer Bring, but finished strongly and closed out the match 3&1 to allow the GB&I team celebrations to begin.

Europe’s team manager Miguel Franco do Sousa said: “It was very tight, it could have gone either way and you have to congratulate the GB&I team, they played really good golf in the afternoon, a very good fight back.

“They should be very proud of themselves and I am very proud of my team. It’s a draw but we are not taking the trophy home.”

For scoring from the matches, visit Championships.randa.org

The 2016 Jacques Leglise Trophy will be played at Prince’s in England on August 26 and 27.