England Duo Round Off Year in Style with victory in Argentina

England's talented young golfers rounded off another triumphant year when Zane Scotland and David Skinns successfully defended the Juan Carlos Tailhade Cup in Argentina.

A 35-foot birdie putt from Scotland on the final green at Los Lagartos Country Club in Buenos Aires saw the English pair edge out Australia by a shot in the four-day stroke play event decided on aggregate over 72 holes.

Victory meant that Scotland and Skinns, both 19, kept the title in England following Nick Dougherty and Gary Wolstenholme's victory over the same course a year ago. The English pair trailed the Australians by seven strokes going into the final day but were the only players to break 70, Scotland finishing with 69 for 280 with Skinns shooting 68 for 282. It left England on 562, with Australia on 563.

"Even when we were seven behind going into the final round we still felt we could win it," said Scotland, whose final hole birdie meant he birdied three of the closing four, also picking up shots at the 15th and 16th.

Retaining the Juan Carlos Tailhade Cup puts the icing on another magnificent golfing year for English golfers both at home and overseas. The year began with Dougherty winning the Lake Macquarie International in Australia, which was followed by Tom Whitehouse coming out on top in the Spanish Amateur Championship, while England triumphed over Spain in the biennial international in Barcelona.

Wolstenholme then won the Sherry Cup in Spain before England's four-man line-up beat South Africa in Johannesburg; while David Dixon went on to lift the South African Amateur Championship. The Somerset man also won the silver medal as leading amateur in the Open Championship at Royal Lytham.

Over the same course, Richard McEvoy took the Lytham Trophy then travelled to Royal Dublin to win the Irish Open Amateur Championship. Richard Walker secured the Brabazon Trophy at Royal Birkdale before helping England regain the Home Internationals at Woodhall Spa.

England also retained the Boys Home Internationals, while England provided five players for the triumphant Walker Cup team. Towards the end of the year, an English team triumphed in the quadrangular match at Costa Ballena in Spain, while Graeme Clark and Wolstenholme won the Simon Bolivar Cup in Venezuela.

Add to those, Daniel Wardrop's victory in the Greek Amateur, and a host of other triumphs at boys, men's mid-amateur and senior levels, and it is easy to see why 2001 has been a wonderful year for English amateurs. Scotland and Skinns success in South America completes the chronicle and along with victories in the Simon Bolivar Cup in Venezuela and the Quadrangular match at Costa Ballena, Spain,provides an impressive start to the newly established World Class Performance Programme, funded by Sport England.