Team USA, Blayne Barber Win Thursday Morning Four Ball At Palmer Cup - AuburnTigers.com

Team USA, Blayne Barber Win Thursday Morning Four Ball At Palmer Cup Team USA Leads Team Europe, 3-1, after opening round play.

Blayne Barber

June 9, 2011

Be sure to follow Auburn men's golf on Facebook and Twitter for complete coverage!

GREENWICH, Conn. - Rising Auburn junior Blayne Barber and former Georgia golfer Russell Henley defeated the European pair of Henrik Norlander and Pontus Widegren, 3 and 2, Thursday morning at the 2011 Palmer Cup at the Stanwich Club in Greenwich, Conn.

Barber is the first Auburn golfer to earn a place in the annual, Ryder Cup-style competition.

Barber and Henley trailed the Europeans heading into five before carding a birdie to bring the match back to even. Although Norlander responded with a birdie on six to retake the lead, the Americans were not to be denied after dropping birds on nine and 10 and taking the lead. The Americans sealed the deal, winning holes 15 and 16 to close the match.

Team USA exited the opening round of the Palmer Cup with a, 3-1, advantage over Team Europe with an additional pair of American wins. The American duo of Florida's Bank Vongvanij and Stanford's Andrew Yun defeated the European side of Arkansas' Sebastian Cappellan and Texas A&M's Ignacio "Nacho" Elvira, 2 and 1.

Oregon's Daniel Miernicki and Washingon's Chris Williams gave the U.S. a third win, defeating Team Europe's Robert Karlsson of Liberty and Nick MacAndrew from the University of Aberdeen, 4 and 3.

Europe was first on the board when Texas Tech's Oscar Floren and Kennessaw State's Jeff Karlsson downed UCLA's Patrick Cantlay and Abilene Christian's Alex Carpenter, 4 and 2.

Second-round foursomes matches were suspended due to weather. Play will resume at 7:30 am EST Friday with third-round singles matches to commence 30 minutes after conclusion of the second round.

Additional information and live scoring can be accessed via www.PalmerCup.org.