SA duo fail to progress to GolfSixes quarters

Cape Town - South Africa's Brandon Stone and George Coetzee have failed to progress to the knockout stages of GolfSixes Cascais, as the innovative event teed off with a bang in Portugal.

Thonghchai Jaidee sank a hole-in-one in front of a swimming pool to close out Team Thailand's closing victory over defending champions Team Ireland.

It was an engrossing start to the six-hole tournament at Oitavos Dunes, where the in-form Spanish duo of Jorge Campillo and Nacho Elvira were the best performers with two wins and a draw - a total of seven points meaning they topped Group D in the round-robin stage.

England men - featuring reigning Portugal Masters champion Tom Lewis and another 2018 European Tour winner Paul Waring - and France's Victor Perez and Romain Wattel topped their respective groups to join Thailand and Spain as top seeds for the second and final day.

Two former Ryder Cup winners will also play in the knockout stages, with Stephen Gallacher making it through alongside fellow Scot David Law while Italian Edoardo Molinari qualified alongside his team-mate Lorenzo Gagli. Sweden and Australia were the two other group runners-up to progress.

While an ace from the eight-time European Tour winner Jaidee was one of the many highlights for the fans surrounding the sixth and final tee - located in a bar and lounge area overlooking a swimming pool - the crowds were also witness to an exciting and rare play-off scenario between Australia and Germany Women.

The two teams faced each other in a play-off on the sixth hole after tying on points at the conclusion of all three group matches and, after they could not determine a winner on the first time of trying, they returned to the tee for a closest-to-the-hole decider.

Scott Hend's tee shot was just less that two feet closer to the hole than Laura Fuenfstueck's strike and Australia qualified for the final day.