Europe takes 2012 Bonallack Trophy
PORTUGAL (April 27, 2012) -- Europe beat the Asia-Pacific by a resounding 20.5 to 11.5 points to win the Sir Michael Bonallack Trophy at Monte Rei in Portugal.
This was the seventh staging of the biennial three-day men’s amateur international match, first held in 1998, and Europe’s victory in the Algarve means Asia-Pacific’s lead stands at 4-3.
The 12-man teams featured some of the world’s leading amateur players including current European Individual Amateur Champion Manuel Trappel of Austria, 2011 Walker Cup player Alan Dunbar of Ireland and Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama, winner of the Asian Amateur Championship in both 2010 and 2011.
Player of the week was Welshman Rhys Enoch who won all five of his matches.
The format was the same as the Ryder Cup, with foursomes and fourballs involving 20 players per session on the first two days and then all players competing in the final day singles over the Jack Nicklaus designed course.
Europe led 6-4 at the end of the first day and then took the second-day honours 7.5-2.5 before extending their winning margin to nine points with a 7-5 capture of the singles.
Five-time Amateur Champion and former Captain and Secretary of The R&A Sir Michael Bonallack, who was in attendance with Lady Angela throughout the week, presented the trophy to winning captain Andy Morgan of Wales.
This year’s match was supported with an R&A grant of 30,000 Euros.
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ABOUT THE Bonallack Trophy
Biennial "Ryder Cup" style event between
European amateurs and Asia/Pacific amateurs, with
12 on each team. There are three days of play. The
first two days comprise five foursomes matches each
morning and five four-ball matches each afternoon.
On the final day, all twelve team players compete in
singles match play. A win counts as one point, a half
yields half a point and a lost match returns zero. In
the event of a tie, the trophy shall be retained by
the
holders.
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