Charley Hull off to hot start at Sunningdale Foursomes as Gareth Bale suffers early exit

The 91st edition of the Sunningdale Foursomes began in thrilling fashion across the venue’s famous Old and New courses with a plethora of leading names including Charley Hull and Gareth Bale teeing it up on Tuesday. 

With a total of 128 ‘pairs’ teams, this year’s event has been hailed as one of the most competitive in its history, with a number of headline acts mixing with club members and elite amateurs who were lucky enough to have claimed their places in the tournament.

Due to the size of the field, a large number of first-round winners will return to Sunningdale on Wednesday to begin their second round matches, although a handful who managed to play 36 holes have already advanced through to the last 32.

Solheim Cup duo and playing partners Charley Hull and Georgia Hall - followed by huge crowds across the Old - were two of the marquee names who booked their place in the second round after registering a 1-up victory over Ella and Daniel Butteriss.

Elsewhere, former Tottenham Hotspur and Real Madrid great Gareth Bale - who was playing in his first Sunningdale Foursomes event - was paired with Matthew Wylie and although they recovered from a bad start to take their match against Louis Cohen Boyer and Hugo Rouillon down the last, a final-hole defeat resulted in an early exit.

The field is littered with DP World Tour regulars and winners, most notably Oliver Fisher - who famously shot the first 59 on the European Tour in 2018 during the second round of the Portugal Masters. Paired with Mark Roberts across Sunningdale’s Old Course, they overcame Sam De’Ath and Corey Sheppard 2 & 1.

However, another former DP World Tour winner, Robert Rock, did not fare so well alongside Benn Barham. Playing the New Course, the pair suffered defeat at the hands of Monty Holcombe and Oscar Lent, who claimed a 1-up victory.

Alex Fitzpatrick, younger brother of 2022 US Open winner Matt Fitzpatrick, secured a 2-up victory alongside playing partner Will Hawksworth against Martin and Robin Young.

Popular broadcaster Iona Stephen, partnering James Bunch, lost 5 & 4 to Terry Nicholls and Alex Keefe, while leading amateur Kris Kim - playing with Sam Bairstow - beat brothers Mark and Tony Hilton 3 & 2.

Meanwhile, it was business as usual for last year’s Foursomes winners, Dylan Shaw Radford and Harley Smith, with the youngsters overcoming Lewy Hayward and Ashley Millington 1-up before beating James Ruebotham and Rob Watson 4 & 3 to advance to a third-round match against Meg Rossouw and Alex Jacobs.

A full list of updated results and scores from the Sunningdale Foursome can be found here