Scotland squad with captain Joan Marshall and manager Pat Wilson at the senior women's home internationals (image by courtesy of the Ladies Golf Union website).

SENIOR SCOTS LOSE LUNCHTIME
LEAD TO WALES IN SINGLES

Scotland, 2-1 leaders after the foursomes, lost four of the five afternoon singles to go down 5-3 to Wales on the opening day of the senior women's home golf internationals at Little Aston Golf Club, Birmingham today.
Fiona De Vries (St Rule) was Scotland's only afternoon winner. She beat Jane Rees 2 and 1.
Scottish seniors match-play champion Lorna Bennett (Ladybank) was narrowly beaten in the top singles by her Welsh counterpart Vicki Thomas (Carmarthen) who won by one hole.
England, winners of the title every one of the six years the over-50s championship has been in existence, looked different class as they opened their title defence with a 7 1/2-1/2 drubbing of Ireland.

Day 1 results at Little Aston:
SCOTLAND 3, WALES 5
Foursomes: L Bennett & F De Vries bt V Thomas & J O'Connor 1 hole; M Smith & K Sutherland lost to J Rees & J Doleman 5 and 4; J Harrison & F Hunter btr A Lewis & D Richards 3 and 1 (2-1).
Singles: Bennett lost to Thomas 1 hole, De Vries bt Rees 2 and 1, H Anderson lost to H Joyce 3 and 2, Harrison lost to Lewis 4 and 3, Hunter lost to Doleman 2 1nad 1 (1-4).
ENGLAND 7 1/2, IRELAND 1/2
Foursomes: C Quinn & C Watson bt H Jones & S O'Brien-Kenney 3 and 2; J Collingham & B Laird bt V McBride & M Henderson 6 and 5; C Stirling & C Kirk bt M McKenna & M Madden 5 and 4 (3-0).
Singles: S Dye halved with O'Brien-Kenney, Laird bt Jones 1 hole, Collingham bt V Hassett 5 and 4, Watson bt McBride 2 and 1, Quinn bt Madden 3 and 2.

PRESS RELEASE BY ENGLISH LADIES GOLF ASSOCIATION

England made an impressive start to their defence of the Seniors’ Home Internationals, beating Ireland 7½-½ on the first day of the tournament at Little Aston, near Birmingham.
“It was an excellent win in difficult conditions,” said captain Cathy Bowerbank as she described a day of cold winds and rain.
The team laid the foundations of their win in the morning foursomes. Chris Quinn and Christine Watson were two down after seven but came back fighting to win 3 and 2. The twi other pairs both lost an early hole but quickly took command of their matches and scored very comfortable wins.
In the singles, English senior champion Sue Dye demonstrated all her fighting qualities to halve her match. She was three down after 14 but won three of the remaining four holes to square matters.

Barbara Laird was two down at the turn before she moved ahead with three birdies early on the back nine. She held on to her lead to make a winning singles debut.
Senior stroke-play champion Janet Collingham closed out her match on the 14th after a display of very steady play.

Christine Watson won a ding-dong battle by dint of taking the 16th and 17th, while Chris Quinn was in control throughout her match, getting to four up at one point.
“It was a fantastic start and we had a lot of local support, which was very pleasing,” said Cathy.
In the day’s other match Wales beat Scotland 5-3.

Tomorrow (Wednesday), England will play Scotland.

Lyndsey Hewison

EWGA Press Officer