Yorkshire golf: Will Whiteoak and England A celebrate Cadiz tournament triumph

SHIPLEY'S Will Whiteoak played his part as England A staged a command performance to win the Costa Ballena Quadrangular Tournament in Spain for the fifth time.
Willl Whiteoak, far right front row, and the England A team with the Costa Ballena trophy.Willl Whiteoak, far right front row, and the England A team with the Costa Ballena trophy.
Willl Whiteoak, far right front row, and the England A team with the Costa Ballena trophy.

The team were on top form throughout the championship, defeating Finland, Germany and finally Spain by the same scoreline of 7-2.

Yorkshire county player Whiteoak won two of his three singles and partnered Durham’s Andrew Wilson to one and a half points out of three in the foursomes.

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England’s lead coach Paul Ashwell commented: “The week has gone very well. We have had a great team spirit, a lot of fun and the standard of golf has been excellent. I’m very proud of everyone involved.

“It’s a great way to start the year and the players will all have lots of positives to take into their early-season events.”

The team, from England Golf’s A squad and captained by Tony Moran, set the tone for the championship early in the first match against Finland, securing a win and two hard-fought halves in the foursomes, before going on to take five of the six singles.

Ashwell commented: “We had very good fightbacks to get halves in two of the morning foursomes. That gave us momentum which we carried into the afternoon singles.”

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On the second day, against Germany, the team won all three foursomes before facing a stiff singles challenge. Four of the games went to the 18th and one to the 17th, but England proved the stronger finishers, winning four of the six singles.

“It was a great afternoon, with excellent golf and some very tight matches,” said Ashwell.

That result gave England a healthy lead going in to the final day’s play against Spain and they kept up the pressure. Another strong foursomes performance meant they took a 2-1 lead into the singles, where they conceded just one point.