England’s young golfers completed a clean sweep in Spain, winning the European Nations Cup while Sam Hutsby took the individual title.
The four-man team of Hutsby, Charlie Ford, Luke Goddard and Dale Whitnell led from start to finish at Sotogrande and their four round aggregate of 840, 24 under par, was four better than France and nine ahead of Spain.
With the best three scores to count each day, England made their intentions apparent from the start, their opening 206, Goddard shooting 68 and Hutsby and Ford 69, saw them leading by one from the French with Spain on 209.
But it was on day two that the foundations for victory were laid. Goddard and Whitnell went round in 68 while Hutsby supported with 69 to leave England on 411, 21 under par, seven strokes clear of France.
It was a similar story on the third day, England increasing their lead to eight strokes over Spain on 617 thanks to a 65 from Hutsby, 69 from Ford and 72 by Goddard.
The final day was played in difficult conditions, a strong wind coming from the opposite direction from the previous days. That was reflected in the scoring with only a handful of the field breaking par.
One of those was Hutsby whose 71 was backed by 76s from Ford and Whitnell, while France overtook the Spanish to take the silver medals.
In the individual prize, Hutsby finished tied with Spain’s Carlos Pigem, who led by four going into the final day.
But the Spanish international suffered in the wind, shooting 75 to Hutsby’s 71 and it was the Hampshire man who prevailed with a par at the first extra hole in a sudden death playoff to bring the title to England for the fifth time in ten years, following Gary Wolstenholme’s wins in 2000, ‘01, ‘03 and ‘05.
Leading final scores:
European Nations Cup
840 England; 844 France; 849 Spain; 855 Ireland; 866 Denmark, Wales; 870 Italy
Individual
274 S Hutsby (Eng) 69 69 65 71; C Pigem (Sp) 67 65 67 75
(Hutsby won playoff at first extra hole)
279 A Kaleka (Fra) 68 69 71 71
280 J Lopez-Lazaro (Fra) 69 69 69 73
Other scores:
285 C Ford (Eng) 69 71 69 76, L Goddard (Eng) 68 68 72 77
287 D Whitnell (Eng) 70 68 73 76
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