Two women’s teams battled into the knockout stages of the European Tour’s GolfSixes as Scotland tumbled out early in front of large crowds and glorious sunshine in St Albans.
The tour’s attempt at a shortened version of the game to attract a new audience got an enthusiastic response from galleries full of families, and this year’s innovation of including women’s teams for the first time was a huge success.
For Scotland’s pairing of Richie Ramsay and Scott Jamieson, however, there was to be no repeat of last year’s semi-final campaign.
A conceded eagle on the final hole of their second of three ties after Jamieson’s superb approach shot kept them in the hunt with a draw against Italy, but they had earlier lost their opening match 3-0 to Ireland and a 1-0 loss to France in the final tie put them out of the competition.
Both the European women’s team of Mel Reid and Carlota Ciganda and the all-English duo of Charley Hull and Georgia Hall qualified for Sunday’s knockout stages, Hull and Hall going through second in a tough pool with England men, Sweden and South Africa.
The Scots were two-under in each of their three six-hole matches, but even that wasn’t good enough with number of birdies and eagles flying about at the Centurion Club.
Ireland’s Paul Dunne and Gavin Moynihan were five-under for the six holes of greensomes, and an eagle at the last was enough to win 3-0 without losing a hole despite the Scots’ birdie-birdie finish.
In the second game the Scots again could only produce pars until the final hole eagle that forced a tie with the Italians and kept their hopes of qualification alive.
However against France the key was the short fifth hole of the contest, where France holed for birdie from 12 feet and the Scots missed from 10, meaning the Scots were out no matter what happened up the par five final hole.
“I don’t think we did a lot wrong over the three ties,” said Jamieson. “We just didn’t hole enough putts and although we were two-under in the games, that wasn’t good enough in the end.
“It’s funny because you don’t feel like you’ve missed the cut which I suppose is effectively what this is. We feel we played pretty well but I suppose that’s what often happens in matchplay.”
The key was the penultimate hole, where Mike Lorenzo-Vera holed out for birdie when the Scots once again burned the hole.
“That’s how quickly it turns, we hole and they don’t and we’re one-up playing the last,” added Jamieson.
But the main story was both women’s teams qualifying for the knockout stages, with the popular pairing of Hull and Hall just getting through.
Charley Hull set the tone with an opening tee shot to within a foot of the flag in front of a noisy crowd, Eddie Pepperell and Matt Wallace making a mock retreat back up the stairs as if they were giving up.
However the English men – in 1966 World Cup shirts – battled back for a half in the game, and although they got another half against the Swedes they dominated South Africa in the final game to win the group.
Hull and Hall’s crushing 4-1 win over South Africa in their second game was to prove significant, because although they lost 2-1 to Alexander Bjork and Joakim Lagergren in the third match they still progressed as they won more holes than the Swedes overall on the day.
The Ruropean women’s team of Ciganda and Reid fell to the USA in the opening game, but rebounded for a 1-1 draw with reigning champions Denmark in the second session.
Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat and Thongdai Jaidee had already won the group with wins over the Danes and the US before they lost in the third session to Reid and Ciganda, meaning that qualification went to a play-off hole with the Danes.
Lucas Bjerregaard missed a short putt to keep the match alive as the Danes three-putted the play-off and the women progressed.
