Championships

Ireland and Scotland top Senior Homes after opening day

The R&A

13 Sep 22

3 mins

Anyone looking to find a favourite to win the R&A Women’s and Men’s Senior Home Internationals would have left Pyle & Kenfig in Wales scratching their heads – the new-look competition is wide open after the first day’s play.

Ireland got off to a fast start with a 10–8 victory over England, before Scotland defeated Wales by the same scoreline. Damp conditions greeted the 14-player teams – seven women and seven men – as the best seniors in the four home nations combined for the first time to fight it out for bragging rights in Great Britain and Ireland. The Irish raced to an early lead against the English by taking the foursomes session 4–2, with the Irish men leading the charge. All three Irish men’s pairs won, with the English duo of Emma Brown and Kerry Smith the only pair to win a foursomes match on the women’s side against two halved matches.

Strong pair

“The men did extremely well this morning against strong English pairs,” said Irish men’s captain Matt Donohue. “We had a very strong pair out at number one – Eamonn Haugh and Jody Fanagan. They won all three matches in the European Championships. “We were confident they would win today, and they did. The other two pairs came good too. It was a big thing for the men to win three-nil, because England is a very good team.” That two-point head start proved the difference. It meant the Irish could settle for a 6–6 draw in the singles and walk away with a point on the board in the round-robin format. “I was very pleased with the way things went today, especially in the morning,” said overall Irish captain Marilyn Henderson. “The men inspired us in the morning and it made things easier for us in the singles.”

Robert Jenkins' 6&5 victory in the afternoon singles helped Scotland's bright start to the match with a win over Wales.

Tight match

The Wales/Scotland match looked like it would end all square after the opening foursomes were split 3–3. For most of the afternoon it looked like the singles would end honours even too, only for Scotland to edge a victory. “The most experienced players went up against each other in the foursomes and finished all square, and that made things very tight,” said Scottish captain Fiona de Vries. “It was all very even through the rest of the matches. In the singles, Elaine Moffat got a win on the 18th and that flipped the projection because it looked like finishing all square most of the day.” Wales team captain Roger Floyd thought his team were going to pip the Scots. “It was a great match played in great spirit and it was nip and tuck,” Floyd said. “The men were solid this morning with a 2–1 victory and it was all to play for this afternoon. It ebbed and flowed all day and it was just one match on 18 that turned it in Scotland’s favour.”

Traditional competitions

Aside from the combined format, the traditional men’s and women’s team events are taking place. Despite England losing to the Irish overall, England’s women ran out 5½–3 ½ winners over Ireland’s best senior women. For English women’s captain Angela Jones, it was a sweet win. “We played Ireland in the first knockout round of the Europeans two weeks ago and we lost narrowly to them, 3-2,” Jones said. “To have beaten them today is a nice bit of revenge.” England’s women head the women’s table with that victory. Scotland’s 5–4 triumph over the Welsh give them a point too, and trail by just a half point in matches won. Wales are third with no points but four matches won, while Ireland sit bottom with no points and 3½ match points. The English men’s team have work to do to catch up to their female teammates. They lost 6½–2½ to the Irish senior men and sit bottom of the table. Ireland and Scotland are top with a point each, with the Irish first courtesy of those 6½ match victories to Scotland’s five thanks to a 5-4 win over the Welsh men. Wales sit above England with no points and those four match points. Day two sees Ireland play Wales, and Scotland take on England. View scoring/tee times here.