Duke golf’s Boutier on winning Europe team

Despite a valiant comeback from Duke sophomore Leona Maguire and the Great Britain and Ireland squad, Blue Devils senior Celine Boutier and the Europe team retained the Vagliano Trophy by a 12.5-11.5 ledger Saturday at the Malone Golf Club in Belfast, Ireland.

Leading 6 1/2 to 5 1/2 after day one, Europe needed that one point as the squads split the morning foursomes and afternoon singles, 6-6, to close the Vagliano Trophy. Great Britain and Ireland trailed 9-7 heading into the afternoon session and evened the score 9-9 early on in singles action.

Maguire, the No. 1 ranked amateur in the world, defeated Luna Sobron, 4&2, after halving her morning foursome match along with Olivia Mehaffey against Noemi Jimenez and Sobron.

Boutier teamed with Justine Dreher for the second straight day and defeated Meghan MacLaren and Alice Hewson, 4&3, in the morning. Boutier netted a 1-up victory in the afternoon against Mehaffey. Maguire finished 2-0 in singles action and 1-0-1 in foursomes, while Boutier was 1-1 in singles and 1-1 in foursomes.

Since 1959, the Vagliano match has been a biennial one between teams from the Continent of Europe and Great Britain and Ireland. The Vagliano Trophy was first placed in 1931 as a match against France.

This story was originally published June 27, 2015 at 7:41 PM with the headline "Duke golf’s Boutier on winning Europe team."