There was no clean sweep for England at the conclusion of the R&A Men’s Home Internationals at Hankley Common. England captain Gareth Jenkins and his 11-man side failed to match the exploits of the English teams at the Women’s, Senior and Mixed Girls’ and Boys’ events at Woodhall Spa when England swept up all three trophies. The Raymond Trophy is the only missing piece of silverware from the four 2021 Home International tournaments.
Jenkins’ side was defending the trophy, having won at Lahinch Golf Club two years ago (COVID-19 forced the cancellation of the 2020 Home Internationals). England also was looking for a fourth consecutive victory, and a 47th triumph in a tournament dating back to 1932 at Royal Troon.
Moreover, the home nation was strongest on paper. The England team featured an average World Amateur Golf Ranking of 324th, with Ireland averaging 499th, Scotland 641st and Wales 2,706th. Sam Bairstow was England’s highest-ranked player at 30th, while Laird Shepherd (at No. 51) was another highly ranked player in Jenkins’ line up.
As the old adage goes, though, the strongest team on paper doesn’t always win international golf matches. Ireland won the Home Internationals by finishing with 2½ points from three matches. Scotland was second with 2, England finished third with 1½ points while Wales failed to record a point.
However, the points table doesn’t tell the whole story. After defeating Wales 10½-4½ on the opening day, England lost 10-5 to Scotland on Day 2. It set up a nerve-jangling final day with Ireland, Scotland and England all capable of finishing the week with bragging rights among the four nations.
“I’d have liked to make it a clean sweep for England this week with the other teams having done the business, but it wasn’t to be.”
Gareth Jenkins
England had to run out strong winners against Ireland to defend the trophy, and hope Scotland and Wales were involved in a close match in the other fixture. Jenkins’ team got off to a flyer by taking the morning foursomes, 4-1. A similar heavy defeat of the Irish in singles play and England might have walked off with the trophy.
However, as with the previous day against Scotland, England struggled in head-to-head play against the Irish. A 6½-3½ afternoon loss meant the two teams finished level on 7½ points to see Ireland earn its first Raymond Trophy since 2017. However, had Callan Barrow holed his 10-foot birdie putt on the final green, England would have beaten the Irish. While the win would have been welcome, it still would have been a mere consolation for Jenkins since that putt would have given Scotland the title on the basis of more matches won and lost during the three days. England still would have finished third on the same basis, but at least the home team would have left Hankley with two victories.
“I’d have liked to make it a clean sweep for England this week with the other teams having done the business, but it wasn’t to be,” Jenkins admitted.
The England captain was disappointed with the three-day performance but not depressed. Indeed, he looked back on the week as an important lesson for his team.
“Not quite the week we were looking for but I think the boys have learned loads,” he said. “I think it’s been an eye-opener in a good way. We have coaching coming up now and it’s a great time to reset and think what we need to do to get better.
“I can’t fault their character and effort and the way they’ve approached this week. We just weren’t good enough. We were playing against great nations who have good players and they raised their game and played well.
“Credit to Scotland on Thursday and Ireland for their play this afternoon. That’s what Home Internationals are all about.”
Jenkins is right not to feel too depressed. Another old adage comes into play: Anything can and probably will happen in 18-hole match play. On another week England perhaps would have swept all before them and won.
As the season winds to a close, England Golf can look back on an outstanding season from its players and teams. Aside from sweeping the other three Home Internationals, and their ladies’ team triumphing in the European Ladies’ Team Championship at Royal County Down, Northern Ireland, there were many strong individual performances in important tournaments.
Jenkins’ team featured Amateur champion Shepherd, who came from 8 down at Nairn Golf Club to defeat fellow Englishman Monty Scowsill at the 38th hole. Also: John Gough won the English Amateur; Bairstow is reigning Brabazon Trophy winner; Barrow the Scottish Men’s Open champion; Zachary Chegwidden won the South East of England Links Championship and Berkshire Trophy; Jack Bigham is the Boys’ Amateur champion.
On the teams front, Jack Dyer was one of seven Englishmen who played in this year’s Walker Cup at Seminole along with Barclay Brown, Alex Fitzpatrick, Angus Flanagan, Ben Jones, Matty Lamb and Joe Long.
English women – Annabell Fuller, Charlotte Heath, Caley McGinty and Emily Toy – made up half this year’s Curtis Cup team for Great Britain & Ireland. Toy was runner-up in the Helen Holm Scottish Women’s Open Championship while the other three are making names for themselves in American college golf.
On the senior front, Aileen Greenfield won the R&A Senior Women’s Amateur Championship, while Stephen Jensen triumphed in the Scottish Senior Men’s Open Championship. It’s an impressive list and one to be proud of.
Jenkins and other England Golf officials were understandably disappointed with the Men’s Home International result but have nothing to be depressed about after a banner 2021 season.
E-Mail Alistair