Andy DevaneyEngland Golf’s Disability Squad has won the European Team Championship for Golfers with Disability for the first time, completing a remarkable double at Golf Club Genova Sant’Anna in Italy after also taking the Nations Cup.
There are victories, and then there are trips home that place unusual demands on the overhead luggage compartment. England will return with two gold medals, a first European team crown and the satisfying knowledge that both were secured through final-day golf of considerable nerve.
A decisive eagle changes the championship
Heather Gilks and Oliver Hirst-Greenham combined for a final-round 73, two over par, with an eagle at the 13th providing the day’s most emphatic contribution.
Lee York and Chris Foster added a 74, three over par, as England finished the three-day competition on 21 over.
That was enough to defeat the Netherlands by four shots and secure England’s first title in the European Team Championship for Golfers with Disability.
Four strokes may look reasonably comfortable when preserved in a results table. On a final day, with a European title waiting and every poor bounce suddenly taking on diplomatic importance, it is rather less relaxing.
England nevertheless managed the arithmetic and the occasion. The eagle from Gilks and Hirst-Greenham supplied the flourish, while York and Foster ensured the team retained the control required to finish the job.
Nations Cup comeback completes the double
The European team title was only half of England’s work in Italy.
The Nations Cup required a comeback on the closing day, with England eventually finishing level with Ireland on overall points. The title was decided on countback, where the strength of England’s final round proved decisive.
Aimi Bullock and John Eakin collected 44 points as a pair, finishing with consecutive birdies at the 17th and 18th. It was an admirably direct way to improve England’s position: no calculators, no whispered speculation, just two birdies when two birdies were particularly useful.
Ken Powell and Andy Gardiner contributed another crucial 39 points, giving England the final-day advantage needed to take the Nations Cup title.
The double underlined the squad’s ability to succeed across different competitive formats. One title was won by four shots; the other required a countback. Neither offered much room for loose thinking.
One ambition becomes two gold medals
The scale of the achievement was sharpened by the relative youth of England’s current disability programme.
England Disability Coach Adam Keogh revealed that the squad had established its central ambition only 15 months earlier, during a meeting at Woodhall Spa.
“We started this programme 15 months ago and when we first met the players in the autumn of 2025, we sat in the team room at Woodhall Spa and looked at the Champions Wall. We had one shared ambition which was to win a gold medal at the European Team Championship.
“To be coming home with two gold medals is unbelievable. The team spirit and commitment from the players in challenging formats and gruelling weather conditions has been phenomenal. The players deserve all the success they get.
“A special mention must also go to the support staff, the team of Steve Burnett, Nick & Sue Over, Doug Coote and Tom Dobson. The players appreciate all of their efforts.”
Keogh’s account gives the result its proper scale. The squad did not gather around the Champions Wall with an airy hope of becoming generally better at golf. The target was explicit: win European gold.
Fifteen months later, England achieved that ambition and added another title before leaving Italy.
A result built across the squad
The temptation after any close championship is to search for one defining performer. England’s success resists such a simple conclusion.
Gilks and Hirst-Greenham delivered the final-round eagle. York and Foster supplied another counting score. Bullock and Eakin closed with consecutive birdies. Powell and Gardiner produced the points that kept England firmly in the Nations Cup contest.
Behind them stood the coaching and support group identified by Keogh. Tournament victories are often presented as moments of individual inspiration, but team championships are less forgiving of passengers. England’s double was assembled through contributions across both squads and both formats.
It is also a result that gives the programme an immediate historical reference point. Future England disability squads looking at the Champions Wall will no longer be discussing only the success they hope to create. This team has given them something tangible to follow.
Europe has its new champions, and England needed two gold medals to make the point.
