England’s four sides made it safely through to the match play stages of European Team Championships as Kris Kim (pictured below) enjoyed a memorable afternoon in Switzerland.
After two days of stroke play qualifying at venues in Belgium, Finland, France and Switzerland, England’s women, men, girls and boys comfortably qualified for the top flights and teed up head-to-head matches for Thursday.
Tomorrow’s match play encounters (see below) will comprise of two morning foursomes and five afternoon singles.
Boys: England vs Switzerland (Golf Club of Geneva, Switzerland)
Women: England vs Ireland (Tawast Golf & Country Club, Finland)
Men: England vs Netherlands (Royal Waterloo Golf Club, Belgium)
Girls: England vs Sweden (Hossegor Golf Club, France)
Day Two Headlines
- 15-year-old Kris Kim shot a new course record at the Golf Club of Geneva with a memorable round of 65 to help the boys finish as top seeds
- Lottie Woad's phenomenal second round of 67 ensured the women's title defence continued as they eased through to the match play stages
- Barclay Brown followed up yesterday's score of 66 with one of 68 as the men's side made it through as third seeds
- Battling day two performances from all six members of the girls' squad contributed to them qualifying for the match play stages
England’s Boys
Kris Kim produced the performance of a lifetime at the Golf Club of Geneva as he shot an incredible course-record round of 65 which included six birdies and an eagle to help England reach the match play stages as top seeds.
Kim was ably supported by his teammates as Hugh Adams (68), Tyler Weaver (68), Harry Malin (69) and Sam Easterbrook (71) all shone on day two in Switzerland as Jake Plumb (80) completed England's scoring to leave them nine shots clear of nearest challengers Sweden.
The boys' outstanding collective display sets up a quarter-final against the host nation Switzerland on Thursday but the day belonged to 15-year-old Kim was understandably delighted by his own individual performance.
"I'm really happy with my round and it was important today that we had a game plan to get on with," he said.
"I feel like I played similar to yesterday, ball-striking wise, but so many more putts dropped today and luck was on my side.
"I'm excited for the game against Switzerland tomorrow, especially with the home crowd, so it would be nice to beat them with everyone watching.
"I think we can go all the way this year. Obviously tomorrow is a very different day so it is important that everyone resets and make sure we go all in for the match play stages."
Day Three – England vs Switzerland – quarter-final (UK start times)
6:30am – Kim/Weaver vs Keller/Messerli
6:40am – Adams/Malin vs Brand/Mao
11:30am – Tyler Weaver vs Marc Keller
11:38am – Kris Kim vs Alexander Brand
11:46am – Harry Malin vs Massimo De Giorgi
11:54am – Jake Plumb vs Tom Mao
12:02pm – Sam Easterbrook vs Pedro Messerli
England's Women
Lottie Woad (pictured above) posted seven birdies in her second round of 67 as she backed up her first score of 68 on another impressive day for the 19-year-old at the Tawast Golf & Country Club in Finland.
Patience Rhodes was also in fine form as she carded four birdies, including an outstanding one at the 18th, to shoot 69 while teammate Jess Baker wasn't far behind with a round of 72 on the second day.
Charlotte Heath and Caley McGinty were both rock solid as they recorded second rounds of 71 and 72 respectively to complete England's five scores out of six.
The women's side will hope to take another step towards defending the title they won at Conwy Golf Club 12 months ago when they face Ireland in Thursday's quarter-final, the two sides separated by just two shots in the stroke play stages.
Day Three – England vs Ireland – quarter-final (UK start times)
5:20am – Baker/Heath vs Byrne/Coulter
5:30am – McGinty/Woad vs Foster/Martin
10:40am – Jess Baker vs Sara Byrne
10:48am – Charlotte Heath vs Jessica Ross
10:56am – Lottie Woad vs Anna Foster
11:04am – Caley McGinty vs Kate Lanigan
11:12am – Patience Rhodes vs Beth Coulter
England's Men
Barclay Brown and Dylan Shaw-Radford (pictured above) led the men's team's charge into the match play stages where they face an intriguing quarter-final against The Netherlands on Thursday.
As was the case yesterday, Brown got his round underway with a stunning eagle at the third before birdies followed at the fifth and the ninth as he went on to card a superb score of 68 to follow the 66 he recorded on Tuesday.
Shaw-Radford was the model of consistency once again as he shot 69 for the second day in a row while John Gough and James Claridge produced excellent second-round displays as they recorded five and six birdies respectively in their scores of 68.
Meanwhile the men’s five scores out of six were completed by Jack Bigham (70) as England made it through to the match play stages as the third seeds behind Denmark and Spain.
Day Three – England vs Netherlands – quarter-final (UK start times)
6:40am – Bigham/Gough vs Ingham/van der Vight
6:50am – Brown/Shaw-Radford vs Batens/Reuter
12:20pm – John Gough vs Jerry Ji
12:28pm – Barclay Brown vs Jack Ingham
12:36pm – Jack Bigham vs Thijmen Batens
12:44pm – James Claridge vs Benjamin Reuter
12:52pm – Dylan Shaw-Radford vs Lars van der Vight
England's Girls
Sophia Fullbrook (pictured above) carded four birdies in her round on Wednesday as she helped the girls' side set up a match play quarter-final against Sweden.
The Melbourne golfer made an outstanding start to her second round by picking up shots at the first, second and fourth holes as she went on to record a score of 73 at France's Hossegor Golf Club.
Fullbrook was supported by battling rounds from teammates Maggie Whitehead (74), Sadie Adams (75) and Isla McDonald-O'Brien (75) as Ellise Rymer's score of 77 completed the five counting scores for England.
Day Three – England vs Sweden – quarter-final (UK start times)
7:15am – Fullbrook/Whitehead vs Bjorkman/Gyllner
7:25am – McDonald-O’Brien/Wan vs Sunberg/Torstensson
1:25pm – Maggie Whitehead vs Josefin Widal
1:33pm – Ellise Rymer vs Moa Stridh
1:41pm – Sadie Adams vs Matilda Bjorkman
1:49pm – Isla McDonald-O’Brien vs Havanna Torstensson
1:57pm – Sophia Fullbrook vs Nora Sunberg
TOURNAMENT FORMAT
From tomorrow, nations are separated into flights A, B and C depending on team stroke play positions. The competition then becomes a match play event.
The ‘A’ flight will feature eight teams with a nation required to win three successive matches to claim the European title.
Photography: EGA