The Continent of Europe won the Jacques Léglise Trophy for the first time since 2012 with a 13½-11½ victory against Great Britain and Ireland at Prince’s Golf Club, England.

It is the eleventh time the Continent of Europe has won the prestigious trophy. 

Jeroen Stevens, non-playing captain of the Continental Team said straight after the match, “I’m very happy for the boys, I think we deserved the win. It was a stressful afternoon after such a good morning, but we had good results to get the one and half points we needed to win the trophy. 

“The boys looked like they hadn’t won at the end because they expected to win by a bigger margin but once the prize ceremony takes place they will realise that they have done something special and they will be very glad about the result.”

The Continent of Europe began the international match by beating GB&I 3½-½ in the opening foursomes and extended the lead to 8½-3½ with a 5-3 win in the first day’s singles. At the start of the second day the Continent of Europe collected three more points in the foursomes to increase their advantage to 11½-4½ going into the afternoon singles. 

Germany’s Maximilian Schmitt and Falko Hanisch won impressively 5&4 against Toby Briggs (ENG) and Mark Power (IRE). The Swedish pairing Marcus Svensson and Pontus Nyholm lost narrowly to England’s Marco Penge and Alex Fitzpatrick by one hole, but French pairing Adrien Pendaries and Edgar Catherine secured another point for the Continent of Europe with a one hole victory against Englishmen Charlie Strickland and Harry Goddard. Alejandro Aguilera Martin (ESP) and Kristoffer Reitan (NOR), who were four holes down to Kevin LeBlanc (IRE) and Jamie Stewart (SCO) at the 10th, produced an epic comeback to turn around the match on the final hole, with the Spaniard holing an outstanding putt.

In the afternoon, Pendaries, who contributed a maximum four points for the Continent of Europe and is the only player with a 100 per cent record, defeated Goddard in a convincing 3&2 win to put his team 12½-4½ up and within short distance of the victory.

However, GB&I’s playing captain Penge initiated a strong comeback from his side after defeating 2015 Boys' Amateur Champion Svensson by one hole. 
LeBlanc won four holes in a row from the 10th to beat Denmark’s Jonathan Goth-Rasmussen 4&3, while Power picked up another point for GB&I shortly after, overcoming Boys' Amateur Championship finalist Aguilera Martin 2&1.

Nevertheless, the Continental Team did not have to wait much longer to win the overall match. Frenchman Catherine secured the vital half point against Thomas Mulligan (IRE) to take his side to the 13 point mark and into an unchallengeable winning position.

Fitzpatrick won by 3&2 against Nyholm and reigning Boys' Amateur Champion Hanisch lost closely against Strickland by one hole, after the Englishman birdied the 17th and the 18th was halved. 
The second last match between Schmitt and Briggs was halved, before Stewart’s two-hole win over Reitan resulted in a 13½-11½ final score and victory for the Continent of Europe.

The 2017 Jacques Léglise Trophy will be played at Ballybunion’s Old Course in Ireland from 1-2 September next year.

For scoring from the matches please visit Championships.randa.org.

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Photos by The R&A