England lose to Spain in European ladies' team championship
7th July 2011

England dropped out of the hunt for medals after they lost 5-2 to Spain in the quarter-finals of the European ladies' team championship at Murhof, Austria.

"It's disappointing," said team captain Lynn Booth. "The best we can do now is finish fifth, and that would be better than last year. So, we've got an incentive to push on."

The team lost both morning foursomes, but despite the result they impressed their coach Steve Robinson. "Although we were disappointed with the result, I was not at all disappointed with the way the girls played," he said.

And, although the singles also went Spain's way, there were highlights for England from Charley Hull (Woburn) and Charlotte Ellis (Minchinhampton). Charley, 15, was described by Lynn Booth as "a class act" after she beat her opponent 3/2.

Charlotte, meanwhile, was locked in a great battle with a member of Europe's winning Vagliano Trophy team and was two up when the overall result was decided and the remaining matches declared halved. By then, she'd had four consecutive birdies from the eighth and also eagled the 14th.

Results
Foursomes
Hayley Davis (Ferndown) & Charlotte Ellis (Minchinhampton) lost to Mireia Prat & Noemi Jimenez  2/1
Lucy Williams (Mid-Herts) & Holly Clyburn (Woodhall Spa) lost to Marta Silva & Camilla Hedberg 3/1

Singles
Davis lost to Prat 4/2
Charley Hull (Woburn) beat Jimenez 3/2
Kelly Tidy (Royal Birkdale) halved with Rocio Sanchez
Clyburn lost to Silva 6/5
Charlotte Ellis (Minchinhampton) halved with Hedberg

In other matches: Germany beat France 4-3; Sweden beat Ireland 5-2; Belgium beat Denmark 4-3

Semi-finals: Germany v Sweden; Spain v Belgium.
Other matches: England v Denmark; France v Ireland

Date