An exceptional France side managed to hold their nerve on the final day at Moortown Golf Club in West Yorkshire to secure a 13.5-10.5 win in the biennial International Match with England.
The visitors led 7-5 after day one and maintained their two-point advantage after Sunday’s morning foursomes, and despite England getting off to a good start in the afternoon singles, the French fought back to win five out of the eight matches.
The tournament threw up some great golfing tussles, with four French players and two England players – Dylan Shaw-Radford and Harley Smith – all winning three of the four matches they played.
Morning Foursomes: England 2-2 France
Noa Auch-Roy and Hugo Le Goff were in devastating form to be six-under as a team through 12 holes including an eagle on the 7th. Dylan Shaw-Radford and Harley Smith did fight back to take it to the 16th before the French pair sealed a 3&2 win.
Will Hopkins and Zach Chegwidden played a thriller with Darren Strachan and Rafael Bobo-Lloret, halving the 1st in eagles and there was nothing to separate them after 13. But the English duo won 14 and 15 to take a two-hole lead before a breathtaking 17th hole. Hopkins produced a great tee shot but Bobo-Lloret’s response was a dart straight at the pin just several feet short. Despite France looking set to reduce the deficit, Chegwidden stepped up to hole a fantastic 15-footer and win the match 3&1.
Ben Brown and Ben Bolton found themselves 2-up against Oscar Couilleau and Louka Morin after 8 but were 2-down after 16, a hole which saw the English pair lose one off the tee. Despite England doing brilliantly to win 17, the French held their nerve to win 1-up on the last.
Eliot Baker and James Claridge got their first points of the competition as they won against Callixte Alzas and Aaron van Hauwe. The Frenchmen had battled back to be all-square after 11 but a composed par on 17 eventually sealed a 2&1 win for the English duo.
Afternoon singles: England 3.5-4.5 France
Harley Smith finished an impressive weekend with a 4&3 win over Noa Auch-Roy while Dylan Shaw-Radford was in mesmerising form again with a 5&4 win over Louka Morin, including six birdies for the Yorkshireman. The two wins denied Auch-Roy and Morin four wins from four matches played.
However, Rafael Bobo-Lloret saw off Ben Bolton 6&5 and Hugo Le Goff gained revenge on the 18th over Will Hopkins, after yesterday’s fantastic comeback from the England man, with a 1up win.
Zach Chegwidden found himself 4-down to Darren Strachan, including a hole halved in twos on the 10th, before the Essex man eagled the 12th and won the 13th and 15th. Unfortunately, he couldn’t make the most of a birdie chance on the 16th and 3-putted to lose the hole, eventually defeated 2&1.
Ben Brown was 3-up after 5, but Callixte Alzas enjoyed five threes in six holes to catapult himself into the lead. The pair jostled for the lead till the death and Bolton slotted a birdie putt from off the green in front of the clubhouse to secure England’s third singles win of the day.
In the final two games, Aaron van Hauwe eagled the 7th as he went on to win four out of six holes before beating Eliot Baker 2&1, and James Claridge played out a tight contest with Oscar Couilleau, winning the final two holes to halve the match and end the competition.
For all the results and scores, click here.