The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Matthew finds top form to lead GB charge at Gleneagles
Ever-cool Catriona Matthew at her very best to secure progress at Gleneagles
We’ll miss her when she’s gone. No, correct that, we’re probably going to miss her while she’s still there.
Catriona Matthew is adamant that her playing career for Europe in the Solheim Cup is over, and that she will be a captain only when she returns to Gleneagles next year. Yet yesterday the tenacious matchplayer showed exactly why she has been a mainstay for so long.
Holly Cyburn, her team-mate for Great Britain in the European Team Championships, could only stand aside in admiration as the 48-year-old holed three “clutch” putts on the final three holes to first deny and then defeat Norwegian pair Marianne Skarpnord and Marita Engzelius.
Even the ever-cool and collected Matthew gave a fist-pump – more a symbol of satisfaction than outright celebration – as the final putt on 18 went in to clinch victory. It doesn’t seem to matter what form of matchplay it is, the Scot is relentless.
Matthew and Clyburn, Great Britain Women 2 in this format, go into today’s final group match needing just a half to make the semi-finals of the fourball competition at the weekend. The other two women’s home teams, Laura Davies and Georgia Hall and the partnership of Michele Thomson and Meghan Maclaren, are also poised for the semis if they avoid defeat today.
In the men’s section, Connor Syme and Liam Johnston stayed on course with a narrow win over Irish duo Michael Hoey and Niall O’Briain. A winnerstake-all match with Italians Francesco Laporta and Alessandro Tadini today will determine who plays on Sunday.
In all five of six GB teams are well placed going into today’s final round of fourball matchplay to reach the semifinals on Sunday, after tomorrow is given over to the mixed-team foursomes.
But the day’s masterclass in staying cool came from the veteran Scot from North Berwick, showing all the class that made her so dominant in matchplay in her amateur days and in the Solheim Cup for nearly two decades.
There was even a little scare on the 18th when Skarpnord, on the bank off the tee, shanked her second shot straight at her waiting opponents and her ball ricocheted off the Scot’s golf bag.
But Matthew had already proved herself unflappable, holing an eightfooter for par when she left her first putt a little short at the long 16th and Clyburn was out of the hole in the pond, then another of similar length for par at the short 17th. The Norwegians had a knee trembler each to stay all square and although Skarpnord saved them there, there was no respite on the last.
At 18, Engzelius’ downhill putt for a four was too tentative and stayed on the low side, but Matthew’s birdie putt from five feet was firm and decisive on the right edge.
“It came down to who holed the putts, and it’s what I’ve been trying to do my whole career,” she said afterwards. “I’d much rather have won the three holes earlier, but that’s the attraction of matchplay, it can always come down to the final green.”
Matthew added that she “got lucky” with her final three putts, but Clyburn demurred.
“It was hard and tricky and thankfully I had a good partner for the final three holes,” said the Grimsby girl. “It’s too early to be thinking about medals but we’ll see where we are, we’ve still got a tough game tomorrow.”
Davies and Hall won again.
The veteran seems to be getting a spark off her young team-mate, contributing an eagle and birdie in successive holes, but the third GB&I women’s team, Maclaren and Thomson, won impressively 5 and 3 over Austria to set themselves up for a decisive contest with Finland today.
“We’re the under-the-radar GB team and that suits us well,” said Maclaren, daughter of European Senior Tour chief David, who is on caddying duties this week.
Thomson said: “We dovetail well and we knew we’d make a really good team this week, so it’s nice to be in with a good chance going into tomorrow.”
All three GB women’s teams could end up in the last four but in the men’s competition it’s again the third duo, Scots Syme and Johnston, who have impressed.
Syme “didn’t play my best today” but he holed a huge 47-foot putt from the lower level at the short 17th to close out the Irish.
“It was nice to contribute after Liam did most of the legwork today,” he said.
Johnston had three birdies in a match that was always close but the Scots just kept their noses in front, and now know exactly what they have to do against the Italians.
“I said to Conor I fancied him to hole that putt,” said Johnston. “We know we have to win the last game, that will clear the mind and we can just go for it.”