![\"Kate](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/KZFJ4S4J22YJWOP5VX2IHFRT7U.jpg\")
Kate Dillon at Woodbrook during the Home International. Photograph: Tom O’Hanlon\/Inpho <\/p>\nThe green Dart hurtled along the railway line as Kate Dillon \u2013 her yardage book sticking out of her back pocket with the words FORKS UP visible to one and all \u2013 pulled out a pitching wedge from her bag to play the par 3 17th hole at Woodbrook Golf Club with her foursomes match slipping away.<\/p>\n
But Dillon\u2019s tee shot had everyone holding their breath, not least her playing partner Katie Poots and those of her English opponents Patience Rhodes and Sophia Fullbrook. When the ball landed, it was so close to being a hole-in-one that those spectators gathered around the green ooohed and aaahed in expectation for a split second.<\/p>\n
The ball didn\u2019t drop into the tin cup, however it settled a matter of inches away and the concession from the English pairing meant the match was all-square which it remained through the 18th for a halved-point apiece in the R&A Home Internationals. It ensured the head-to-head would continue into the afternoon singles with the Hugh C Kelly Trophy and the International Shield the prize up for grabs for the women.<\/p>\n
Kate Dillon at Woodbrook during the Home International. Photograph: Tom O’Hanlon\/Inpho <\/p>\n
That halved point was further augmented by a win for Emma Fleming and Anna Abom so that the two teams finished that alternate shot phase tied at 1\u00bd to 1\u00bd with the six singles to determine the final outcome for the women\u2019s, while \u2013 tantalisingly \u2013 the R&A Trophy, the trophy for the combined women and men\u2019s championship, too remained very much all to play for.<\/p>\n
The staging of the Home Internationals at Woodbrook in the famed Co Wicklow club\u2019s centenary year brought with it a true throwback to golf at its most pure, with spectators following behind players down fairways or on the parched rough where, in the past, Irish golfing legends like Christy O\u2019Connor snr (who won four Carrolls Internationals) and Christy O\u2019Connor jnr (who won the revived Irish Open in 1975) had walked in search of their own glory.<\/p>\n
The evolution of the amateur game was especially evident from those women in the top foursomes match, all of them familiar with each other from collegiate golf in the United States. That FORKS UP saying is a nod to Arizona State\u2019s mascot, Sparky the Sun Devil, where the university\u2019s fans shape their hand to mimic a pitchfork.<\/p>\n
Both Dillon and Rhodes attend University State, while Poots is at Indiana University and Fulbrook is at Florida State. And the mix of colleges applied too those men competing in these Home Internationals where Ireland and England emerged as the main protagonists on the third and final day of competition for the silverware on offer: The R&A Trophy for the combined, the Raymond Trophy for the men and the Hugh C Kelly Trophy and International Shield for the women.<\/p>\n
And as the shadows grew longer in the evening, the destinations of those pieces of silverware \u2013 which had been on display in the clubhouse throughout \u2013 were decided. England took both the men\u2019s and the women\u2019s trophies, but not the main one, the R&A Trophy for the combined championship.<\/p>\n
![\"Gavin](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ROYYKECMFTELCIFCGYXQOBZCY4.jpg\")
Gavin O\u2019Neill and Thomas Higgins at Woodbrook during the Home Internationals. Photograph: Tom O’Hanlon\/Inpho <\/p>\n
That, almost incredibly, went Ireland\u2019s way after a momentum swing on the homeward stretch of holes where Ireland claimed one win after another, like pieces of dominoes falling into place.<\/p>\n
Although Ireland\u2019s women lost out to England by 5\u00bd to 3\u00bd, Ireland \u2013 who last month won the European Men\u2019s Team Championship \u2013 rediscovered the winning feeling down the stretch with a 5\u00bd to 2\u00bd win in the singles against England for an 8-4 overall score in the men\u2019s. It combined with the women\u2019s result to give Ireland an 11\u00bd to 9\u00bd win over England to lift the R&A Trophy (Ireland had beaten Scotland, halved with Wales and beaten England for a total of two-and-a-half match points to England\u2019s two).<\/p>\n
Ireland\u2019s winners in the men\u2019s singles were Thomas Higgins (by 3 and 1 over Max Hopkins), David Howard (by 3 and 2 over Ed Featherstone), Fionn Dobbin (by 3 and 2 over Jenson Bull), Keith Egan (by 3 and 2 over Jamie Van Wyk) and Dylan Keating (by 4 and 3 over Lewy Hayward). John Doyle halved his match with Harley Smith.<\/p>\n
And as one after another of those late matches finished out on the 16th green, the pieces all fell together for Ireland to claim the R&A Trophy in the combined championship; providing a fitting conclusion to a wonderfully staged Home Internationals at Woodbrook.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The green Dart hurtled along the railway line as Kate Dillon \u2013 her yardage book sticking out of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1137126,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4106],"tags":[2826,213902,79,16,15],"class_list":["post-1137125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-golf-ireland","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117057931648042463","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1137125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1137125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1137125\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1137126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1137125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1137125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1137125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}