June 28, 2012
Newcastle, Northern Ireland – Georgia Tech’s James White and Auburn’s Blayne Barber got the United States off on the right foot Thursday, scoring the Americans’ first point with a 6 and 4 victory over Europe’s David Booth and Graeme Robertson as the U.S. took a 6.5-1.5 lead over Europe after the first day of the Palmer Cup matches at Royal County Down Golf Club.
The U.S. won three morning four-ball matches and halved one, then captured three of the four afternoon foursomes matches. Third-round singles matches tee off at 10 a.m. local time Friday morning.
White and Barber gave the United States an early lead in a morning match that lasted just 14 holes. The Americans went 2-up with a Barber birdie and a White par on the second and third holes, respectively. Europe would claim the fourth to move the advantage back to 1-up. Team USA would push the lead to 3-up through 7 after back-to-back birdies by Barber. Robertson would birdie No. 9 to cut the lead back to 2-up. The U.S. would claim Nos. 11 through 14 – including a concession on the final hole of the match – for the 6 and 4 victory.
Chris Williams and Andrew Yun withstood a late rally by Daan Huizing and Thomas Pieters to put the Americans up 2-0, winning 1-up. Europe claimed its first point with a halved match in the third completed bout between Julien Brun and Sebastian Cappelen of team and Corbin Mills and Derek Ernst of the USA. Patrick Rodgers and Justin Thomas of Team USA claimed the final match of the morning with a 2-up victory over Robert Karlsson and Pontus Widegren.
Team USA took the first match of the afternoon session, 5 and 4. Mills and Williams birdied the first and led the entire match, only dropping one hole. The Americans also claimed the second match, with the U.S. duo of Ernst and Yun capturing a 1-up victory over Daan Huizing and Thomas Pieters.
Europe won its only match of the day when Booth and Karlsson downed White and Barber, 2 and 1. Booth and Karlsson birdied the first hole and led throughout. The United States claimed the final match of the day after Rodgers and Thomas rallied from a three-hole deficit to win 1-up.
White will face Thomas Pieters of Belgium, a sophomore at the University of Illinois, in his singles match Friday.
Palmer Cup
The Royal County Down Golf Club
June 28, 2012
United States 6.5, Europe 1.5
Four-Ball Matches Results
Chris Williams/Andrew Yun, USA def. Daan Huizing/Thomas Pieters, Europe, 1-up
Derek Ernst/Corbin Mills, USA halved Julien Brun/Sebastian Cappelen, Europe
Blayne Barber/James White, USA def. David Booth/Graeme Robertson, Europe, 6 and 4
Patrick Rodgers/Justin Thomas, USA def. Robert Karlsson/Pontus Widegren, Europe, 2-up
Foursomes Matches Results
Derek Ernst/Andrew Yun, USA def. Daan Huizing/Thomas Pieters, Europe, 1-up
Corbin Mills/Chris Williams, USA def. Graeme Robertson/Pontus Widegren, Europe, 5 and 4
David Booth/Robert Karlsson, Europe def. Blayne Barber/James White, USA, 2 and 1
Patrick Rodgers/Justin Thomas, USA def. Julien Brun/Sebastian Cappelen, Europe, 1-up
Round Three Singles Matches Pairings
Graeme Robertson, Europe vs. Chris Williams, USA
Julien Brun, Europe vs. Blayne Barber, USA
Daan Huizing, Europe vs. Corbin Mills, USA
David Booth, Europe vs. Andrew Yun, USA
Thomas Pieters, Europe vs. James White, USA
Robert Karlsson, Europe vs. Derek Ernst, USA
Sebastian Cappelen, Europe vs. Justin Thomas, USA
Pontus Widegren, Europe vs. Patrick Rodgers, USA
