Scots star as GB&I win PGA Cup

Hutcheon secures winning point for fellow Aberdonian MacKenzie’s side at Foxhills Golf Resort in Surrey

By SCG Newsdesk

It would have come as no surprise had the brass band that serenaded the victorious Great Britain and Ireland team during the PGA Cup’s closing ceremony blasted out a few bars of Scotland the Brave.

In defeating the USA 16-10 to register back-to-back victories for the first time since 1984, a trio of Scots played influential roles at Foxhills Resort.

Greig Hutcheon, an Aberdonian, holed the match-winning putt after Glasgow’s Chris Currie had staged a stirring recovery to halve the match that retained the trophy.

Masterminding the triumph, meanwhile, and pulling the string behind the scenes was Albert MacKenzie, another son of Aberdeen.

MacKenzie, though, was at pains to point out that the success was not solely down to his compatriots.

“It was all about being a team effort, there was no individual glory here,” he insisted.

He was right, too. Every member of his ten-strong team, vice-captains Cameron Clark and Martyn Thompson and numerous backstage staff, played their parts in what turned out to be a comprehensive victory.

That appeared to be an unlikely scenario  after the USA won Saturday’s foursomes  3-1 to go into the singles a point adrift of their hosts.

A close contest looked in the offing, especially considering other recent contests. The match at Slaley Hall in England four years ago ended all-square whilst the 2015 match at CordeValle, in California, resulted in Great Britain and Ireland prevailing by a point.

BRILLIANT

However, there was to be no nail-biting finish this time around. Robert Coles, Matthew Cort and Andrew Raitt, as well as Phillip Archer, Hutcheon and David Higgins all won their matches, as did Damien McGrane after trailing Brown by two holes.

Currie had a chance of winning the match for the hosts when he went up the 18th a hole to the good after halving the 17th. However, his opponent Rod Perry dug out a birdie to halve their match.

That meant it fell to Hutcheon to claim the half-point needed for outright victory on the 17th and deliver the coup de grace match-wise.

“It is absolutely brilliant,” said the Scot afterwards. “At my age, I’m never going to get in a Ryder Cup team, so it’s absolutely the next best thing.

“I had a feeling when I saw I was playing seven that it could come down to me.

“Golf is an easy game when it is going well but when it goes bad it is so difficult. I found it hard this week. Albert rested me a couple of times and that was probably just as well, so I could get that half-point.”

In Other News...