USA Leads after Morning Matches at Palmer Cup at The Royal County Down Golf Club

NEWCASTLE, County Down – The United States won three matches and halved another to take a 3.5-0.5 lead after the morning four-ball session at the 2012 Palmer Cup at The Royal County Down Golf Club. Afternoon foursomes matches are currently under way.

Blayne Barber and James White gave the United States an early lead when they defeated David Booth and Graeme Robertson, 6 and 4. 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. The U.S. took the fourth with par to go 1-up and held that advantage until a Huizing birdie on No. 8 moved the match to all square. Team USA claimed holes 10, 11 and 13 to go 3-up but Europe birdied Nos. 16 and 17 for a 1-up standing headed to the final hole. All four players recorded par on the 18th for the U.S. to win 1-up.

Europe claimed it’s first point with a halved match in the third completed bout. Julien Brun and Sebastian Cappelen of team Europe took control of the match early by winning the first hole and led until Corbin Mills claimed hole No. 13 with par. Derek Ernst would put the USA 1-up with birdie at No. 15 but Europe would even the match two holes later. Both sides would par the final hole.

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. The Americans won the second hole and built a lead of 4-up through 10 holes. Karlsson led a comeback back with birdies on Nos. 12 and 14 and an eagle on the 17th to extend the match to No. 18. Rodgers birdied the final hole to clinch the win for the Americans.

Palmer Cup
The Royal County Down Golf Club
June 28
United States 3.5, Europe 0.5