Scotland win European Youth championships

Scotland beat England 4-3 to win the European Amateur Youths’ Team Championship at the Island.

In a thrilling finale, Richie Ramsay holed a 25 foot birdie putt at the 18th to beat Jamie Moul by two holes and give Scotland a dramatic 4-3 victory.

It was sweet revenge for Scotland who had lost to England in the title match at Kilmarnock in 2000.

Having shared the two morning foursomes, the Scots got off to a positive start when George Murray beat Walker Cup star Michael Skelton by 4 and 3 in the top singles.

Matthew Richardson levelled for England with a 5 and 3 win over Kevin McAlpine before Londoner James Heath came through to beat Lloyd Saltman with a par four at the 19th.

Scott Jamieson was always in control against Paul Waring and eventually closed out the match at the 18th for a one hole win, leaving Moul and Ramsay to decide the destiny of the title.

The Scot was one up playing the 17th and ensured that he would maintain his advantage going up the last when he pitched stone dead from a difficult position short of the green to ensure a half in par.

At the 18th both men split the fairway with their drives but Moul, playing first, drilled a four-iron through the back of the green before Ramsay fired a six-iron to 25 feet.

Moul’s chip from behind the green ran well past the hole and Ramsay took his chance for victory and rammed home the putt to give Scotland the title.

Ireland’s participation ended in disappointment when they were beaten 3-2 by Belgium and had to settle for tenth place.

After singles wins by Harry Diamond and Niall Turner it all came down to the match between Pierre Relecom and Dunmurry’s Stephen Crowe.

Crowe was two down with three to play but won the 16th and 17th to take the match to the last.

However, the Ulster player pushed his tee shot into the dunes at the 18th and Relecom took advantage by blasting a huge drive over the hill to set up a winning par four and victory by one hole.

In the third place match, Spain beat Germany 5-2 with France taking fifth place after a convincing 4-1 win over Denmark.

Meanwhile, in the European Boys Team Championship in Finland, Ireland beat Sweden 4.5 to 0.5 to finish in seventh place as England beat Spain 4-3 to take the title.

European Youths Team Championship results

The Island Golf Club, Dublin, Ireland

Final Day Results

Flight One

Spain 5 Germany 2

Foursomes

P Martin & P Bech bt N Meitinger & M Kramer 3/2; A Canizares & R Cabrera lost to M Kaymer & F Fritsch 4/3 Singles P Martin bt M Kramer 5/3; P Bech bt N Meitinger 2 holes; A Quiros bt F Fritsch 3/2; A Canizares lost to P Niederdrenk 1 hole; R Cabrera bt M Kaymer 2/1

England 3 Scotland 4

Foursomes

J Heath & M Richardson lost to R Ramsay & G Murray 3/2; P Waring & L Dodd bt L Saltman & K McAlpine 4/3 Singles M Skelton lost to G Murray 5/3; J Heath bt L Saltman 19th; M Richardson bt K McAlpine 5/3; P Waring lost to S Jamieson 1 hole; J Moul lost to R Ramsay 2 holes

Wales 2 Sweden 3

Foursome

C Cousins & L Matthews bt D Palm & R Karlberg 2/1

Singles

R Davies bt O Floren 2/1; M Laskey lost to J Blixt 1 hole; B Briscoe lost to O Henningsson 4/3; T Hayward lost to N Lemke 1 hole

France 4 Denmark 1

Foursome

J Duclos-Grenet & A Snobeck bt L Jan Johanson & P Baunsøe 3/1 Singles J Fourquet bt P Jacobsen 4/3; J Guerrier lost to C Christiansen 1 hole; B Coathalem bt P Meldgaard 4/3; J Millet bt M Haastrup 1 hole

Flight Two

Finland 3 Netherlands 2

Foursomes

J Perttila & T Hakala lost to A Munro & R Kind 3/1

Singles

P Roos bt R Niemer 4/3; A Ahokas bt S Maurits 20th; M Merilainen bt T Remkes 3/2; J Pernaa lost to W Besseling 4/2

Ireland 2 Belgium 3

Foursome

P O'Hanlon & C O'Malley lost to P Hanauer & G Watremez 4/3 Singles C Bowe lost to Q de Valensart; H Diamond bt P Thomas 1 hole; S Crowe lost to P Relecom 1 hole; N Turner bt H Joannes 2/1

Flight Three

Iceland 4 Portugal 1

Foursome

R Oil Einarsson & S Orri Olafsson bt S Castro & P Ferreira 4/2 Singles M Larusson bt P Lemos 2/1; B Hilmarsson bt J Folhadela Furtado 3/2; S Einar Masson bt T Tavares 3/2; G Thor Gunnarsson lost to A Rosado 5/4

Final Standings

1 SCOTLAND

2 ENGLAND

3 SPAIN

4 GERMANY

5 FRANCE

6 DENMARK

7 SWEDEN

8 WALES

9 BELGIUM

10 IRELAND

11 FINLAND

12 NETHERLANDS

13 ITALY

14 SWITZERLAND

15 ICELAND

16 PORTUGAL

17 CZECH REPUBLIC