Horschel and U.S. team lead 6.5-5.5 after day one of Palmer Cup
Thursday, June 26, 2008 | Men's Golf
The United States team came from behind to take a 6.5-5.5 lead over the European team after day one of the Palmer Cup presented by Monster at the Glasgow Golf Club Gailes Links in Scotland. Europe lead after the morning four-ball session 2.5-1.5 but the American team charged back in the afternoon singles matches winning five of the eight matches.
In the morning session Florida's Billy Horschel (Grant, Fla.) was paired with Oklahoma State's Rickie Fowler against Jorge Campillo (Indiana/Spain) and Tim Sluiter (Southern California/Netherlands). The Euro pair had birdies on holes 1, 5 and 6 to build a four hole lead over the Americans after just six holes. Horschel and Fowler earned birdies on 13 and 14 to cut the lead to two before Sluiter birdied the next two holes and clinch the match.
The European team also got a win from the pair of Jonas Blixt (Florida State/Sweden) and Jonas Enander (Charlotte/Sweden) to give their team a two point advantage. The American team's lone win in the morning came from the duo of Derek Fathauer (Louisville) and Michael Thompson (Alabama). The final match was halved, giving the Euro team a 2.5-1.5 advantage heading into the afternoon round.
In the afternoon singles matches, Blixt extended the Euro lead with a 5 & 4 win over American Adam Mitchell (Georgia). At that point the American team started to pick up momentum earning wins from Fowler, Aaron Goldberg (San Diego State), Chesson Hadley (Georgia Tech) and Kevin Chappell (UCLA). With three matches to go the U.S. side held the lead at 5.5-3.5.
UF's Horschel faced off against the local favorite Scott Borrowman (Stirling/Scotland) and the match was back and forth for most of the afternoon. Borrowman won holes five and six to take a two-hole lead before Horschel had back-to-back birdies and a par to give him a lead thru 10 holes. Borrowman evened the match the next hole, but Horschel earned a birdie on 14 to take the lead but was matched by Borrowman's birdie on 15 to make it all square. Borrowman took the lead for good with a par on 17 and halved 18 with a par to win the match.
The American team also got a singles match win from Fathauer to push their advantage to 6.5-4.5, but Sluiter pulled out a close win over Thompson to pull the Euros back to within one.
Play will conclude tomorrow, with foursome matches (alternate-shot format) in the morning and singles matches again in the afternoon. Live scoring can be found online at the Palmer Cup website.
2008 Palmer Cup presented by Monster at Glasgow Golf Club Gailes Links
Day One Results
Glasgow Golf Club Gailes Links
Irvine, Scotland
United States 6.5
Europe 5.5
Four-Ball Matches Results
Jonas Blixt/Jonas Enander Hedin, Europe def. Chesson Hadley/Adam Mitchell, USA, 1-up
Jonathan Caldwell/Gareth Shaw, Europe halved Kevin Chappell/Aaron Goldberg, USA
Derek Fathauer/Michael Thompson, USA def. Scott Borrowman/Charles Ford, Europe, 2 and 1
Jorge Campillo/Tim Sluiter, Europe def. Rickie Fowler/Billy Horschel, USA, 4 and 2
Day-One Singles Matches Results
Aaron Goldberg, USA def. Jonas Enander Hedin, Europe, 2-up
Jonas Blixt, Europe def. Adam Mitchell, USA, 5 and 4
Chesson Hadley, USA def. Jonathan Caldwell, Europe, 2 and 1
Derek Fathauer, USA def. Gareth Shaw, Europe, 1-up
Scott Borrowman, Europe def. Billy Horschel, USA, 1-up
Kevin Chappell, USA def. Jorge Campillo, Europe, 4 and 3
Tim Sluiter, Europe def. Michael Thompson, USA, 1-up
-UF-
