- he's fresh (or tired!) off a low am finish at Pebble Beach
PORTRUSH, N. Ireland (June 24, 2010) – The United States swept the afternoon foursomes matches to take a 6-2 lead in the Palmer Cup at Royal Portrush Golf Club. The sweep was the first session sweep at the Palmer Cup since the Americans swept the round two singles matches at Caves Valley in 2007.
David Chung and Jonathan Randolph won their second match of the day after beating David Lingmerth and Patrick Spraggs, 5 and 4. The Americans won the first hole with birdie and led throughout. The two teams halved the next two holes before the U.S. won No. 4 by concession and the fifth and sixth with birdie to move to 4-up. Chung and Randolph moved the lead to five after eight holes. Europe would trim the lead to 3-down after No. 11, but the Americans won Nos. 13 and 14 to close out the match.
The U.S. would claim its second foursomes match when John Chin and Daniel Miernicki downed Rhys Enoch and Andrea Pavan, 1-up. The Americans took the lead on the second hole and would hold a narrow margin - never leading by more than 2-up - until Europe squared the match after a birdie on No. 16. The both sides parred No. 17. Enoch’s tee shot on No. 18 went right of the fairway into thick grass. Pavan’s second shot went left into the grass and Enoch’s third was 25 feet past the pin. The Americans, meanwhile, hit their first shot on the fairway and their second to within 12 feet. When Pavan’s putt ran eight feet past the cup the Europeans conceded the hole to give the USA the victory.
The Americans got off to a quick start in the third match when Scott Langley and Corey Nagy were 3-up after four holes. The European duo of James Byrne and Pontus Widegren would close to within 1-down after winning holes six and seven. The Euros would even the match after a birdie on No. 11 and took a 1-up lead after No. 13. They would hold that advantage until 16 when the U.S. evened the match. Europe conceded No. 17 to give the Americans a 1-up lead. The Europeans would also concede No. 18 after driving left into the bushes, hitting its provisional into the cross bunker and it’s fourth shot out of the bunker into the fairway to give Team USA a 2-up win.
Jesper Kennegard and Henrik Norlander won the first two holes for Europe in the final match but would drop the next two holes to Tyson Alexander and Russell Henley. The Americans would take a brief lead with a conceded birdie on No. 9. Europe would pull back to even after a birdie on the 11th and retake the lead after No. 13. Team USA would move the match to all-square with a conceded birdie on No. 14 and take the lead after Europe conceded No. 17. The sides both parred No. 18 for the USA to win 1-up. It was the second victory of the day for the Alexander/Henley pairing.
“They did great,” said United States Head Coach Chris Zambri. “As it turns out we lost the first two matches of the event and we’ve won since then. I’m proud of my guys. I’m proud of Jonathan (Randolph) and David (Chung) for winning two matches and winning convincingly. I’m also proud of the guys who had close matches that could have gone either way and luckily for us they went our way. That’s the real sign of a champion, to win a close match. Their whole lives they will be playing in close matches and they’ll have to play important rounds and it’s great to see them step up when they need to.”
Friday’s round will consist of singles matches and begin at 10 a.m.
Palmer Cup
Royal Portrush Golf Club
June 24
United States 6, Europe 2
Four-Ball Matches Results
Henrik Norlander/Pontus Widegren, Europe def. Scott Langley/Corey Nagy, United States, 4 and 3
Rhys Enoch/Andrea Pavan, Europe def. John Chin/Daniel Miernicki, United States, 3 and 2
David Chung/Jonathan Randolph, United States def. David Lingmerth/Patrick Spraggs, Europe, 1-up
Tyson Alexander/Russell Henley, United States def. James Byrne/Jesper Kennegard, Europe, 3 and 1
Matches All-Square
Foursomes Matches Results
John Chin/Daniel Miernicki, United States def. Rhys Enoch/Andrea Pavan, Europe, 1-up
David Chung/Jonathan Randolph, United States def. David Lingmerth/Patrick Spraggs, Europe, 5 and 4
Scott Langley/Corey Nagy, United States def. James Byrne/Pontus Widegren, Europe, 2-up
Tyson Alexander/Russell Henley, United States def. Jesper Kennegard/Henrik Norlander, Europe, 1-up
United States leads Europe, 6-2
Singles Matches Pairings
Henrik Norlander, Europe vs. Daniel Miernicki, United State
David Lingmerth, Europe vs. John Chin, United States
Pontus Widegren, Europe vs. Corey Nagy, United States
Andrea Pavan, Europe vs. Scott Langley, Unites States
James Byrne, Europe vs. Jonathan Randolph, United States
Rhys Enoch, Europe vs. David Chung, United States
Patrick Spraggs, Europe vs. Tyson Alexander, United States
Jesper Kennegard, Europe vs. Russell Henley, United States
View results for Palmer Cup
ABOUT THE Palmer Cup
The annual Ryder Cup-style competition
features
top men and women collegiate players from the
United States
against their International counterparts.
Each team will be comprised of 12 men's and
12
women's golfers.
Day one will feature Mixed Four-Ball
competition, day
two will see Mixed
Foursomes in the morning and Four-Ball in the
afternoon, with 24 singles
matches on the final day.
View Complete Tournament Information