EUROPE WINS PALMER CUP PRESENTED BY MONSTER IRVINE, Scotland — Europe capped an impressive second-day performance winning three and halving three singles matches to reclaim the Palmer Cup presented by Monster at Glasgow Golf Club Gailes Links, 14-10. Europe swept the morning foursomes matches to win 8.5 of the days 12 points. The United States still holds 6-5-1 advantage in the Palmer Cup series but has lost three straight in Europe. “I’m ecstatic for the eight guys on the European team,” said European Captain Mårten Olander. “Our attitude is what made us through the matches. Our swings did not change from yesterday but our belief that we would play great golf today. Winning the four matches this morning really put us in a positive mood entering the singles matches and to beat such a strong American team in singles is quite an accomplishment. My assistant captain Adam (Mednick) did a great job and our team believed in our preparation and worked hard all week. That being said, our part was only 10-percent and the foundation of our success was the players’ own games.” The two sides split the first match between Spain’s Jorge Campillo and Rickie Fowler. The two players raced around the course - completing 18 holes in 2 hours and 45 minutes - in a back-and-forth affair with each player winning five holes. Jonas Blixt of Sweden would claim the first win of the singles session when he defeated Michael Thompson, 2 and 1. Blixt took the first hole before Thompson won the next two. Blixt reclaimed the lead by winning the fourth with a par and an eagle at the fifth. He would push the lead to three by the turn. Thompson capitalized on a Blixt double bogey on No. 10 and bogey on No. 12 to cut the lead to a single hole but conceded the 14th. The two would halve the next three holes to give Blixt a 4-0 record at this year’s Palmer Cup and a career total of seven wins - third most in event history. Blixt only trails Alejandro Cañizares of Spain (13 wins) and Wales’ Rhys Davies (9) on the career list. Sweden’s Jonas Enander Hedin would clinch the Cup for Europe when he downed Adam Mitchell, 3 and 2. Enander Hedin won the first and third holes, but an eagle-birdie combination by Mitchell on Nos. 5 and 6 even the match. Enander Hedin took the lead for good with a win at the seventh and would also claim No. 14. He assured Europe’s victory when he won the 16th hole to claim his match with Jonathan Caldwell’s match against Aaron Goldberg standing dormie 3. Charlie Ford of England battled back from dormie 2 to halve his match against Billy Horschel. Ford won the first hole but Horschel won the second and would lead most of the match. The American won both the fourth and fifth before Ford responded with a pair of wins of his own at Nos. 7 and 8, respectively. Horschel would push his lead back to two holes by claiming the 12th and 15th but failed to capture the match after posting bogey on the final two holes. Jonathan Caldwell of Northern Ireland won Europe’s final match of the Palmer Cup when he beat Aaron Goldberg 3 and 2. Goldberg won the second and held the advantage for three holes before a Caldwell birdie moved the match back to all square. He took control of the match by winning with birdie at No. 11 and posted two more birdies at Nos. 14 and 15, respectively, to move to dormie 3. Caldwell closed the match after both players birdied the 16th. Chesson Hadley won the Americans first match of the day with a 1-up victory over Gareth Shaw. Hadley won the first hole with birdie and would hold the lead until conceding the fifth. The two players traded wins - Hadley at No. 6 and Shaw at the seventh - on the next two holes. Hadley rattled off three-straight birdie victories starting at No. 10. Shaw battled back with wins at the 14th and 15th but was unable to completely close the deficit. Local favorite Scott Borrowman halved Kevin Chappell in a match in which the Scotsman never trailed. Borrowman took a lead he would hold for four holes when he birdied the fifth before a Chappell birdie at No. 9 evened the match. The Scot would again take a brief lead by winning the 11th but relinquished his advantage after Chappell eagled No. 13. Borrowman claimed the advantage yet again after the 17th. Chappell would halve the match when he birdied the final hole. Team USA’s Derek Fathauer claimed the final match of the 2008 event, 3 and 1, over Tim Sluiter. Fathauer won the first hole and led the entire match. He went ahead by two holes through three but Sluiter birdied the par 3, No. 6. Fathauer again moved to 2-up after No. 10 before Sluiter birdied another par 3 - this time at No. 12. The American won two of the next three to close the match with birdie at the 15th and a Sluiter concession on 17 green. Enander Hedin of Taby, Sweden, and Thompson of Tucson, Arizona, were named recipients of the Michael Carter Award. The Carter award is given to a player from each side that best represents the qualities represented by the Palmer Cup. 2008 Palmer Cup presented by Monster at Glasgow Golf Club Gailes Links Day Two Results Glasgow Golf Club Gailes Links Irvine, Scotland Europe 14 United States 10 Day-Two Singles Matches Results Jorge Campillo, Europe halved Rickie Fowler, USA Jonas Blixt, Europe def. Michael Thompson, USA, 2 and 1 Charles Ford, Europe halved Billy Horschel, USA Chesson Hadley, USA def. Gareth Shaw, Europe, 1-up Scott Borrowman, Europe halved Kevin Chappell, USA Jonas Enander Hedin, Europe def. Adam Mitchell, USA, 3 and 2 Jonathan Caldwell, Europe def. Aaron Goldberg, USA, 3 and 2 Tim Sluiter, Europe vs. Derek Fathauer, USA, 3 and 1
EUROPE SWEEPS FOURSOMES TO RECLAIM LEAD AT PALMER CUP PRESENTED BY MONSTER
AMERICANS SURGE TO 6.5-5.5 MARGIN AT PALMER CUP PRESENTED BY MONSTER IRVINE, Scotland — The United States moved ahead of Europe at the completion of the first day of competition at the Palmer Cup presented by Monster at Glasgow Golf Club Gailes Links. The Americans claimed five-consecutive singles matches during the afternoon session. Third-round foursomes matches will begin at 7:30 a.m. Friday. Europe posted the first point of the singles session when Jonas Blixt downed Adam Mitchell, 5 and 4. Mitchell won the first hole with birdie but lost the second with bogey. Blixt would win Nos. 4, 5, 10 and 11 with par and 7 and 14 with birdie. Chesson Hadley began the American winning streak with a 2 and 1 victory against Jonathan Caldwell. Hadley won five of the first seven holes and moved to dormie after halving No. 14. Caldwell would respond with back-to-back birdies before halving 17. Rickie Fowler won the second match for Team USA, 4 and 3, over Charles Ford. Fowler took the lead after No. 2 but fell to 1-down after conceding the fourth and fifth. He would then move to 4-up after winning the next five holes with birdie, birdie, eagle, birdie, par. Ford would cut the lead back to two with birdies at Nos. 11 and 13. Fowler could close out the match by winning the next two holes. Aaron Goldberg led wire-to-wire in his 2-up win against Europe’s Jonas Enander Hedin. Goldberg claimed holes one, four and five to grab an early lead. Enander Hedin would cut the lead back to a single hole after winning with birdie on 13 and 17. A Goldberg par at No. 18 ended the match. Kevin Chappell continued the Americans winning ways by downing Jorge Campillo, 4 and 3. Chappell claimed an early lead with a birdie at the first but bogeyed No. 2 to move the match back to all-square. He moved back into the lead with another birdie at the sixth but the match again moved to even after he conceded the ninth. He would take the lead for good after winning No. 11 and put the match out of reach with a birdie, Campillo concession, birdie combo. Derek Fathauer claimed the final victory of the day for Team USA by defeating Gareth Shaw, 1-up. The match was close for its entirety with neither player gaining more than a one-hole advantage. Fathauer took an early lead by winning the second. Shaw wins by birdie at Nos. 4 and 8 gave him the lead before the match moved to even when he conceded the ninth. Fathauer would again take the lead with Shaw’s second concession at No. 11. Shaw pushed the match to all square by winning the 15th. Fathauer won the match by making par on No. 18. Europe would win the final two matches to bring the team total to 6.5-5.5. Local favorite Scott Borrowman downed Billy Horschel and Tim Sluiter defeated Michael Thompson with 1-up victories. Borrowman led by two holes after winning Nos. 5 and 6 but back-to-back birdies and a par by Horschel gave him the lead thru 10. The match moved back to even the next hole. Horschel took a brief lead after the two traded birdies on the 14th and 15th holes, respectively. Borrowman would take the lead with par at 17 and finished off the match with halving 18 with par. Sluiter birdied the first hole for the lead in is match against Thompson but gave it back with a bogey on No. 2. Sluiter would take the lead for good by claiming Nos. 8 and 9. Thompson birdied the 10th to get with one, but conceded No. 11 and bogeyed the 12th to fall three back. Thompson birdies at Nos. 15 and 17 cut the lead back to one, but he hit into the gorse to the left of the 18th fairway. He pitched into the rough with his second shot but knocked his third to within inches of the pin. Sluiter then two-putted to halve the hole and clinch the match. 2008 Palmer Cup presented by Monster at Glasgow Golf Club Gailes Links EUROPE TAKES 2.5-1.5 LEAD AT PALMER CUP PRESENTED BY MONSTER IRVINE, Scotland — Europe opened a 2.5-1.5 lead at the Palmer Cup presented by Monster after the morning four-ball session at Glasgow Golf Club Gailes Links. The second round singles matches teed off at 1:30 p.m. “I’m very pleased with our morning round,” said European Captain Mårten Olander. “I thought we got off to a good start and felt we had control over three matches early. If not for some very good short game play by the Americans we might have had a larger lead. I applaud them for a strong finish and am pleased with how we played.” Europe opened the round with a 1-up victory by the Swedish pairing of Jonas Blixt and Jonas Enander Hedin. The Swedes won the first hole and extended their lead to three after 13 holes. However, birdies by Chesson Hadley on 14 and Adam Mitchell on 17 shrunk the lead to a single hole before Enander Hedin drained a 35-foot putt to secure the match. The Europeans extended their lead to two matches after Jorge Campillo’s and Tim Sluiter’s 4 and 2 win against Rickie Fowler and Billy Horschel. Counting birdie on Nos. 1, 5 and 6, the Euros built a four-hole margin after six holes. The Americans would record birdies of their own on 13 and 14 to cut the lead to two before Sluiter birdied the next two holes to close out the match. Gareth Shaw and Jonathan Caldwell would build another early lead for Europe in their match against Kevin Chappell and Aaron Goldberg, winning the first four holes and extending their lead to five after seven. Goldberg would birdie the next hole to whittle the lead back to four before the Americans won holes 12-14 with birdies by Chappell at 13 and Goldberg at 14. A Shaw birdie on No. 16 moved the match to dormie before Chappell birdied the final two holes - including chipping in from the bunker on No. 18 - to halve the match. The U.S. would win the final match of the morning with a 2 and 1 triumph by Michael Thompson and Derek Fathauer over Scott Borrowman and Charles Ford. The Americans never trailed, but did not win a hole until the sixth and never leading by more than one until the 15th. 2008 Palmer Cup presented by Monster PAIRINGS ANNOUNCED FOR FIRST ROUND OF PALMER CUP PRESENTED BY MONSTER IRVINE, Scotland — Pairings have been set for the opening round of the Palmer Cup presented by Monster at Glasgow Golf Club Gailes Links. The first round between Europe and the United States will consist of four-ball matches. Game One - 7:30 a.m. Game Two - 7:40 a.m. Game Three - 7:50 a.m. Game Four - 8:00 a.m. |