GolfSixes group stage sees England Women and European Women impress
Saturday 5 May 2018 20:25, UK
The two all-female teams both made their mark on Day One of the GolfSixes by booking their places in Sunday's quarter-finals at the Centurion Club in St Albans.
The England Women pairing of Charley Hull and Georgia Hall progressed to the last eight by finishing in second place behind England Men in Group D after three hard-fought sessions.
Mel Reid and Carlota Ciganda teamed up to form the European Women team and the English/Spanish combination produced a major shock by ousting defending champions Denmark - Thorbjorn Olesen and Lucas Bjerregaard - in a play-off for second place in Group A.
The tournament saw 16 teams of two competing over six holes, with the pairs split into four groups of four for three sessions of round-robin matches.
The greensomes format was used, with the teams picking the best tee shot from the two players and then playing alternate shots from there.
Each match was then decided on the number of holes won, with three points awarded for a head-to-head won and one point for a tie.
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The opening match in Group D saw Hull and Hall taking on England Men - Eddie Pepperell and Matt Wallace - in a domestic showdown and honours were even as they drew 1-1.
England Women followed that up by thrashing the South African duo of George Coetzee and Haydn Porteous 4-1 and although they lost their final match 2-1 to the Swedish pairing of Alexander Bjork and Joakim Lagergren, that proved to be good enough as they went through thanks to winning one more hole over their three matches - six to five.
England Men topped the group after following a 2-2 draw with the Swedes with a vital 2-1 triumph over the South Africans.
Group A was even tighter than Group D as European Women and Denmark finished locked together on four points, with both teams winning five holes - they also drew their head-to-head match 1-1.
That set up a play-off on a specially-prepared par-three hole and a par was good enough for Reid and Ciganda after Bjerregaard missed his par-putt from around four feet.
The Thailand pairing of Thongchai Jaidee and Kiradech Aphibarnrat were the first team to reach the quarter-finals after winning their opening two matches in Group A, hammering the Danes 5-1 and edging out USA - Daniel Im and David Lipsky - 2-1, before losing 3-0 to Reid and Ciganda in their final round-robin match.
Australia - Sam Brazel and Wade Ormsby - were unbeaten as they topped Group B with seven points, starting out with a 2-2 draw with South Korea - Soomin Lee and Jeunghun Wang - who also went through in second place.
The European Captains team of Thomas Bjorn and Catriona Mathew lost their first two matches in Group B, 3-0 to Spain - Pablo Larrazabal and Adrian Otaegui - and 2-1 to Australia, but signed off with a point following a 1-1 draw with South Korea.
Group C remained in the balance for much of the day with Ireland and France eventually qualifying for the last eight after winning their final matches.
Paul Dunne and Gavin Moynihan, representing Ireland, topped the group courtesy of a 2-0 win over Italy - Edoardo Molinari and Renato Paratore - after starting the day with a 3-0 defeat of Scotland duo Richie Ramsey and Scott Jamieson.
France - Mike Lorenzo-Vera and Romain Wattel - shaded Italy for second place by edging out Scotland 1-0 in their final match.
Sunday's quarter-finals
Thailand v South Korea - 12.40pm
Ireland v England Women - 12.55pm
Australia v European Women - 1.10pm
England Men v France - 1.25pm
