Canada Claims Four Nations Cup Honours

Playing this past week in Laval-sur-le-Lac, Que., Team Canada won two of three morning foursome matches and five of six afternoon singles matches against Australia to claim the 2009 Four Nations Cup Saturday, August 8.

RCGA Release
 

The convincing team victory marked the second time Canada has won the prestigious international event and first since winning in 2001 on home soil at Lambton Golf and Country Club in Toronto.  For team captain Derek Ingram, the victory was a culmination of team chemistry and stellar play throughout the championship.

“The boys all played terrific golf and are absolutely pumped to win this event,” said Ingram, assistant coach of Canada’s national amateur team.  “To come in and beat a team like Australia that has dominated this event over the years is a true measure of how well our guys competed.  The whole team played so well consistently throughout the event and I can’t say enough how proud I am to see them win the title.”

In morning foursome action, Canada and Australia squared off in the event’s marquee matchup with Canada winning two of three morning contests.   Eugene Wong and Darren Wallace got the team started with a 4&3 victory over Daniel Beckmann and Lester Peterson while Nick Taylor, ranked No. 1 world amateur, and David Markle edged out Brendan Smith and Jordan Sherratt 1-UP.  Matt Jager and Matt Giles got the aussie’s on the board with a 2-UP victory over Matt Hill, No. 2 ranked world amateur, and British Columbia Amateur champion Lindsay Renolds.

In the afternoon singles matches, Canadians Nick Taylor (3&2), Matt Hill (6&5), Lindsay Renolds (4&3), Eugene Wong (7&6) and David Markle (2-UP) were all victorious while Darren Wallace squared his match with Australian counterpart Lester Peterson. 

For Taylor, the world’s top ranked amateur, team chemistry played a huge role in the team’s successful showing.

“Canada has only won the event one other time and Australia has pretty much been the team to beat so it feels pretty special to win it,” said Taylor.  “All week, it was just so great to be around the guys; we spent a lot of time together and we were all rooting each other on in our matches so coming together the way we did has just been an awesome experience.”

On the other side of the draw, Japan took two of three morning matches and 4 1⁄2 of six afternoon singles matches against New Zealand to win the point and capture third place honours.

Team Canada won 7 1⁄2 of nine total final round matches against Australia to claim their third and decisive point of the tournament. The Canucks proved to be the dominant team of the championship winning 23 of 27 total matches over the three-day competition.

DAY 3 RESULTS - MORNING FOURSOME MATCHES

CANADA  vs  AUSTRALIA

Eugene Wong & Darren Wallace  vs  Daniel Beckmann & Lester Peterson     CAN 4&3
Matt Hill & Lindsay Renolds  vs  Matt Jager & Matt Giles                                  AUS 2-UP
Nick Taylor & David Markle  vs  Brendan Smith & Jordan Sherratt                   CAN 1-UP

NEW ZEALAND  vs  JAPAN

Scott Johnson& Thomas Spearman-Burn vs Satoshi Kodaira & Tomoharu Otsuki     JPN 2&1 
Daniel Pearce & Peter Spearman-Burn  vs  Shingi Tomimura & Yutaro Kuga             NZ  2&1
Ryan Fox & Ben Wallace vs Yuki Usami & Keisuke Otawa                                        JPN 3&2  

DAY 3 RESULTS - AFTERNOON SINGLES MATCHES

CANADA vs AUSTRALIA

Eugene Wong vs Jordan Sherratt               CAN 7&6
Darren Wallace vs Lester Peterson            ALL SQUARE
Lindsay Renolds vs Brendan Smith            CAN 4&3
Dave Markle vs Daniel Beckmann               CAN 2-UP
Matt Hill vs Matt Jager                                 CAN 6&5
Nick Taylor vs Matt Giles                            CAN 3&2

NEW ZEALAND vs JAPAN

Scott Johnson  vs  Yutaro Kuga                               JPN 1-UP
Thomas Spearman-Burn vs  Shingi Tomimura           NZ 2&1
Daniel Pearce vs Tomoharu Otsuki                            ALL SQUARE
Ryan Fox  vs Satoshi Kodaira                                   JPN 2&1
Peter Spearman-Burn vs  Keisuke Otawa                JPN 5&4
Ben Wallace vs  Yuki Usami                                     JPN 1-UP

TEAM TOTAL SCORING

CANADA                    3 points         (23 of 27 matches won)    
AUSTRALIA               2 points         (13 of 27 matches won)
JAPAN                       1 points         (12 of 27 matches won)
NEW ZEALAND          0 points         (6 of 27 matches won)

(Team total points earned by winning at minimum 5 of 9 daily matches)

For more information on the Four Nations Cup including tournament team rosters and scoring, visit www.rcga.org/fournationscup.

Historically, Australia has won the event all but twice, having been defeated by Japan in 1997 and Canada in 2001.  Team Canada claimed victory at the event in 2001 on home soil at Lambton Golf & Country Club in Toronto.

The three-day, round-robin match play event used a Ryder Cup style format with daily matches against each country consisting of three foursomes (alternate shot) matches in the mornings and six singles matches in the afternoons.

ABOUT THE RCGA NATIONAL TEAM PROGRAM
The RCGA National Team Program incorporates advanced coaching, sport science expertise, training camps and world-class competition. The RCGA allocates over $1 million of its resources annually to the National Team program, encompassing strength and conditioning, sports psychology, nutrition, biomechanics and technique development. Players who are selected to the National Amateur and National Developmental Teams represent Canada at six to 10 internationally-sanctioned golf competitions throughout the year. The intent of this comprehensive program is to aid Canada’s top up-and-coming amateur players in all areas of their development, helping Canada produce the best golfers in the world.

Team Canada, the pinnacle of the RCGA’s High Performance Program, provides access to world class resources including coaching, nutrition, sport science, mental management, equipment, elite competitive opportunities and builds on the support that team members have received in their development years from their family, member clubs, personal coaches, university programs and provincial golf associations.

The RCGA’s High Performance Program and Team Canada are proudly sponsored by Titleist, Foot-Joy and Under Armour.

For more information about Team Canada visit www.rcga.org.