PEEBLES golfer Craig Howie helped Scotland to a second successive European Amateur Team Championship success with a superb display for his country in France last weekend.

The Scots made it two wins in a row in the event for the first time since the 1970s with a fantastic 5-2 win in the final at Golf de Chantilly, with Craig and his partner Connor Syme securing a vital foursomes win at the 21st hole in the morning to turn the match around for the defending champions, before halving his afternoon singles match.

Indeed Craig was undefeated throughout the match play stages in six games at both foursomes and singles, as Scotland defeated Italy by the same 5-2 margin in the semi-finals with the Peebles man taking two wins from two, having eased past Spain 5.5-1.5 in the quarter-finals.

It was Craig’s first European championship at men’s level having represented Scotland’s equivalent six-player team in the European Boys Team Championship a few years ago, and it was a debut to remember as Scotland’s leading amateur golfers qualified for the final stages top of the stroke play alongside host nation France.

His latest success has seen him rise to number 75 in the world amateur golf rankings and he now looks forward to next week’s Scottish Amateur Championship at Royal Aberdeen before heading further north to represent Scotland in the Fairstone Home Internationals at Nairn in August.

Younger brother Darren was also in Scotland action, playing for the national boys side in Austria at the European Boys Team Championship.

The young Scots finished fourth in qualifying, but lost out to Denmark in the quarter-finals, eventually finishing in seventh place.