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Vagliano
Continent of Europe win Vagliano Trophy and retain Junior Vagliano Trophy
01 Jul 23
3 mins
A rainbow appeared over the Dornoch Firth as the Vagliano Trophy was reaching its denouement on the nearby links of Royal Dornoch. The pot of gold underneath it didn’t belong to Great Britain and Ireland, but to the Continent of Europe.
For the eighth straight time.20 winless years
You have to go back to 2005 to find a GB&I victory. It’ll be 20 winless years when the teams reconvene in The Netherlands in two years’ time. The Continent of Europe now leads the series 16-15 with one drawn match since the inaugural 1959 event. Europe won the 33rd match 13 ½ – 10 ½. A combination of Spanish, German, Belgian and Swedish women gave Continent of Europe captain Ane Urchegui Garcia victory on her debut as captain of the senior team.A tough match to play
“I’m so happy,” Urchegui Garcia said after Germany’s Helen Briem earned the winning point, taking her side to the required 12 ½ points with a 2&1 singles victory over Caley McGinty. “I feel very proud of the players. This was a very tough match to play and I want to congratulate GB& I captain Maria Dunne on her team because they played great golf.” GB&I won the morning foursomes 2 ½ – 1 ½ to level the contest at eight points apiece with eight singles left to play. Strong winds and driving rain should have favoured the home side on a traditional links, but the anticipated tense finish turned into something of a damp squib thanks to the excellent play of the Continent of Europe. Two of the first three singles sessions went GB&I’s way with England’s Lottie Woad defeating Savannah de Bock of Belgium 2&1 and Aine Donegan’s beating world number one Ingrid Lindblad by the same score after a half in the lead match between Ireland’s Beth Coulter and Rocio Tejedo of Spain. Those were the only GB&I singles’ wins before the bottom five players in Urchegui Garcia’s order reeled off victories.
Urchegui Garcia - Continent of Europe Vagliano Captain
“I’m so happy. I feel very proud of the players. This was a very tough match to play and I want to congratulate GB& I captain Maria Dunne on her team because they played great golf.”
Team spirit
“My team was very nervous after losing the morning foursomes but they were determined to go out and fight and they did,” Urchegui Garcia added. “I didn’t have to say anything to them at lunchtime to try to inspire them. They were doing that on their own. They were cheering each other on because there was such a spirit in my team. They all played for each other and inspired each other to this victory.” GB&I captain Dunne took heart from winning the morning foursomes, hoping her team would kick to victory.Gutted
“I’m gutted for my players,” GB&I captain Maria Dunne said. “We gave it our all. I asked them to fight for every point. They did and I couldn’t really have asked for anything more from them. “They fought hard to level the match after this morning’s foursomes but we just came up short. On another day the result would have gone our way but we can do ourselves proud because it was so close. The European team was just stronger on the day. They were better putters than us this afternoon, and that was obvious over the two days. We can be proud of ourselves for the way we fought.” Briem was one of three players on the Continent of Europe team to record three points out of four along with Spain’s Cayetana Fernández García-Poggio and Meja Ortengren of Sweden. Only Woad on the GB&I team managed that feat.
Ginerva Coppa - Continent of Europe
Italy's Coppa had a brilliant two days at Dornoch winning three of her four matches in helping her side retain the Junior Vagliano Trophy.