Palmer Cup: The United States broke a 2-2 tie yesterday afternoon, winning two matches and halving another while taking a 4½ to 3½ lead over Britain and Ireland in the Palmer Cup presented by Pennzoil at Doonbeg Golf Club.
Brock Mackenzie and Nick Watney scored the first point of the afternoon for the United States, defeating Andy Smith and Justin Walters.
Britain and Ireland answered the Americans with a 5 and 4 victory by Geoff Harris and Stuart Manley. The two built their lead over John Klauk and Hunter Mahan gradually, leading 2 up after six holes, 3 up after nine and 4 up after 12.
It appeared that Britain and Ireland would win a second-straight match as Philip Rowe and Oliver Wilson led by two with two holes remaining against Hybl and Williamson. Needing only a halved hole to win the match, the Englishmen conceded both the 17th and 18th.
While Rowe and Wilson could only hope for bogie on 17, Williamson stuck a five-iron within one foot of the hole for birdie. Then on 18, Rowe and Wilson both found the beach with their tee shots, earning two penalty strokes before landing on the fairway. The pair then conceded the hole, and halved the match.
Bill Haas and DJ Trahan ended the afternoon with a 2 and 1 victory over Justin Kehoe and Stuart Wilson. While the match was closely contested, the Americans never trailed and closed out their opposition on the 17th hole.
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Boys: Ireland bounced back from a disappointing stroke-play phase to sweep aside the Netherlands in the European Boys' Team golf championship at Reykjavik, Iceland, yesterday.
Having failed to make the top flight, the best they could hope for was a ninth-place finish and they went about their task with vigour overcoming the Dutch 4½-½.
Co Sligo's Martin McTernan and Dubliner David Rawluk got Ireland off to a flyer with a splendid 4 and 2 foursomes success and when Gareth Shaw of Lurgan and the talented Clancy Bowe of Tramore won their matches, they really were home and dry.
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Under-21: Ireland also played the Netherlands in the European Under-21 Women's championship in Moscow but did not have such good fortune.
They went down in that game by four matches to two with one halved. Their backs were to the wall after losing the two foursomes.
There was a good top of the order singles win for Martina Gillen but they were never in with a realistic chance of winning their match and they will now take on Wales hoping to avoid finishing at the bottom of the pile.
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Youths: In the Youths' championship at Gdansk, Poland, Ireland beat Portugal 3½-1½ and will play Wales in their pursuit of ninth place today.
Robert McCarthy and Brian McElhinney gave them a boost with a foursomes win and Alistair McKinley and Derek McNamara completed the job by winning the bottom two singles.
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