By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Colin@scottishgolfview.com
Title holders Scotland, bidding for an eighth win in the tournament, finished a creditable second, two shots behind winners Netherlands, in the PGAs of Europe international team golf championship at Palmares on the Algarve.
Star man for the Scots' trio of Graham Fox (Clydeway Golf), Greg McBain, who joins the Kemnay GC pro staff next month, and David Orr (Mearns Castle) was Fox who finished joint first with Ralph Miller (Netherlands) on two-under-par 286 in the individual standings.
Fox, McBain and Orr divided 4,800 Euros for their four days' work. There were no cash prizes for leading individual totals.
Fox was in the front rank throughout the tournament with rounds of 72, 76, 67 and 71.
McBain finished joint 20th on 299 with scores of 79 74, 72 and 74.
Orr had rounds of 78, 79, 71 and 72 for 300 and a share of 22nd place.
Netherlands team of Miller, Robin Swane and Nicolas Nube earned the top team prize of 6,000 Euros with a total of 579.
The Scots finished on 581. The decisive round in the best two individual scores to count
for the team daily was the third in which the Netherlands had an aggregate of 135, compared with Scotland's 138.
Wales (Jon Bevan, Lee Rooke and Stuart Runcie), Ireland (Brendan McGovern, Cian McNamara and John Kelly) and Denmark tied for third place on 582.
England's Dan Greenwood, David Callaway and Nick Brennan were never in contention and finished 10th on 590. Callaway had a No Return in the last round
PGAs OF EUROPE INTERNATIONAL TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
Palmares Golf Resort, The Algarve, Portugal
FINAL TEAM TOTALS
Par 576 (4x144)
579 Netherlands (R Miller, R Swane, N Nube) 149 152 135 143
581 Scotland (G Fox, G McBain, D Orr) 150 150 138 143
582 Wales (L Rooke, J Bevan, S Runcie) 156 146 141 139, Ireland (J Kelly, C McNamara, B McGovern) 153 147 139 143, Denmark 149 149 142 142.
Rest of totals:
585 Italy
587 Sweden
588 Spain, France
590 England (D Greenwood, D Callaway, N Drennan)
598 Portugal
602 Slovenia
603 Germany
607 South Africa
610 Austria
612 Switzerland
614 Belgium
616 Finland
617 Greece
619 Poland
625 Czech Republic
630 Iceland
631 Croatia, Norway
643 Slovakia
660 Russian Federation
LEADING INDIVIDUAL TOTALS
Par 288 (4x72)
286 G Fox (Sco) 72 76 67 71, R Miller (Ned) 73 80 64 69
287 M Atlevi (Swe) 74 71 73 69
288 B Nicolay (Fra) 75 73 67 73
289 J Lorea (Spa) 74 75 70 70
291 H Santos (Port) 77 72 72 70
292 J Bevan (Wal) 79 74 69 70, B McGovern (Ire) 76 74 70 72, M Hansen (Den) 80 72 67 73
SELECTED OTHER SCORES
294 N Drennan (Eng) 78 75 69 72 (11th)
295 C McNamara (Ire) 77 73 74 71 (T12)
296 D Greenwood (Eng) 80 74 69 73 (15th)
297 J Kelly (Ire) 81 74 69 73, L Rooke (Wal) 77 72 73 75 (T16).
299 G McBain (Sco) 79 74 72 74 (T20)
300 D Orr (Sco) 78 79 71 72 (T22)
303 S Runcie (Wal) 79 83 72 69 (25th)
NR D Callaway (Eng) 85 77 72 NR
Published by scottishgolfview.com