Scots stripped of seniors title

Men’s side have Home Internationals crown taken away after administrative blunder

The Scottish senior men’s Home Internationals team have been stripped of their title after an administrative blunder was corrected - more than a MONTH after the championship took place.

England Golf, which staged this year’s championship at Crowborough Beacon Golf Club in Sussex, issued a press release declaring Ireland as the winners of the annual tournament following an appeal against the original result.

Three countries - Ireland, England and Scotland - finished level on ‘Match Points’ at the end of the tournament, having each won twice and lost once. After consideration, the trophy was awarded to Scotland, as the defending champions.

However, that proved be in clear contravention of the tournament rules, which state that ‘in the “in the event of an overall tie on Match Points, the result will be determined in sequence upon: (i) Overall total points won; (ii) The individual match result of the tieing Countries.

“Should there still be a tie on the number of points the higher placed team in the previous year’s meeting shall have preference.”

Ireland, who finished the championship with 18 ‘Game Points’ to England’s 17 and Scotland’s 14.5, appealed against the decision to award the title to Scotland, which, after review, was upheld.

In a statement, England Golf wrote: “The England Golf Championship Committee concluded that the tie-breaker had been incorrectly applied, that the team from the Golfing Union of Ireland were the rightful winners of the championship and the records should be amended accordingly.”

After being presented with the trophy at the time, Scotland’s captain David Gardner had expressed his surprise at being awarded the title.

“We didn’t think we would win because we thought it was decided on ‘goal difference’,” said Gardner.

Scottish Golf released a statement about the debacle, which said: “The wording of the rules for the tournament were ambiguous. An appeal was made by Ireland on the original result and was upheld by the England Golf Championship Committee. We respect that decision and move on.”

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