Great Britain & Ireland lead the St Andrews Trophy by seven points to five after the first of two days of matchplay at Linna Golf, Finland.
Matias Honkala and Sami Valimaki lead the Continent of Europe team out in the foursomes matches this morning. The Finnish duo only missed one green and didn't make a bogey on their way to a 3&1 victory against Robin Dawson and John Murphy.
Gian-Marco Petrozzi and Matthew Jordan claimed a one-hole victory in a very tight match with Fredrik Nilehn and Angel Hidalgo.
Mitch Waite and Nick Poppleton comfortably defeated French pair, Frederic Lacroix and Catherine Edgar, 4&3, while Italian duo, Stefano Mazzoli and Lorenzo Scalise, narrowly edged over Conor Purcell and David Hague to leave the session tied at two points each.
Frederic Lacroix claimed the first point in the afternoon singles with a 6&5 victory over John Murphy. After the match he said: "It was a good day, I played solid. I was -6 after the 12th, so I didn’t make many mistakes. We came here to win and still want to do that. The GB&I team is strong but I believe we can catch them tomorrow"
Robin Dawson (one hole) and Matthew Jordan (3&1) replied with victories for Great Britain & Ireland, while Fredrik Nilehn added another point for the Continent of Europe. Gian-Marco Petrozzi and Conor Purcell both won 4&3, against Lorenzo Scalise and Edgar Catherine respectively.
Matias Honkala claimed the fifth point of the day for Yves Hofstetter's side against Mitch Waite, and David Hague defeated Angel Hidalgo in the last match of the day to leave the score at 7-5 in favour of Great Britain & Ireland.
"Today was full of tight matches and they could’ve gone either way." Said Hofstetter.
"The Finns performed great – no bogeys in foresome is impressive. They will play again.
The course is beautiful and well-suited for matchplay. The facilities are also great, it’s enjoyable to play here.
It’s been +30 (degrees) all week here in Finland. But I think the even more tiring than the heat is the tension and need to concentrate. Now it’s time to relax and recharge for tomorrow."
Full day one scores: http://scores.golfbox.dk/Shared.aspx?l=http://www.ega-golf.ch/golfbox-result-widget/0&m=t&h=/competition/1655067/teamcup
