THE HEMISPHERE CUP
Founded 2000

Big Results

A sort of precursor to the Hemisphere Cup, the 'Big' competition was first played in 1995.  In 1994 after losing a game at Coulsden Court to Pete and Ollie, Ian and Julian felt that the result was unjust and vowed to play the match again for 'Big Stakes'.   This seemed a good idea and the match was arranged for the following year with the format being the best of three matches. 

Ian and Julian won the first ever game at Silvermere, but lost the next game at Gatton Manor having been four up!  Oldthorns hosted the last match where Pete and Ollie won the first ever 'Big Steaks' (NB note the spelling change).  That night much was drunk and Big Steaks were bought for the winners by the losers.  It was at this night out that the early tradition was implemented of laying down the gauntlet for the next year and to come up with next years name,  the only rule being that it had to have 'Big' in the title.  Something to do with our beer tankards (or was it the waitress?) resulted in Big Jugs being the chosen name for the following year.  This was won in convincing style by Ian and Jules.  It is also traditional that the losers every year have to buy the winners something vaguely to do with the competition name for that year.

And so the matches have rolled on with the losers from the previous year selecting the courses for following year. This 'course selection' has increasingly played a key part in mounting a successful campaign and reached a low point in 2002 when Ian and Jules were driven blindfolded to Pycombe so they would not know in advance where they were playing.

Over the years the format has varied a little, but form 1998 the decision was taken to host the matches at courses where no one had played before if possible.  Also, in recent years it has been the preferred approach to go horse racing following a match where the tried and tested 'Four way betting system' has proved more than successful apart from when opposing Frankie at Kempton.

Detailed Results

			First Match			Second Match			Third Match
Year	Name	Winners	Course	Result	Score	Course	Result	Score	Course	Result	Score
1995	Big Steaks	Pete & Ol	Silvermere	IJ	1 Up	Gatton Manor	PO	1 up	Oldthorns	PO	1 up
1996	Big Jugs	Ian & Jules	Silvermere	IJ	3&2	Stockley Park	IJ	4&3
1997	Big Dog	Postponed*
1998	Big Udders	Ian & Jules	Duke's Dene	PO	5&4	Pyrford	IJ	1 up	Effingham	IJ	3&2
1999	Big Chicken	Pete & Ol	Champ de Bataille	PO	3&2	Le Vaudreuil	PO	4&3	Saint Saens	PO	2 up
2000	Big Cheese	Pete & Ol	Wentworth	PO	2&1	Chart Hills	PO	3&2
2001	Big Picture	Ian & Jules	Kingswood	IJ	1 Up	Burhill	PO	4&3	Royal Cinq Ports	IJ	1 Up
2002	Big Mystery *	Draw	Tyrells Wood	PO	1up	Farleaigh Court	Drawn	level	Pycombe	IJ	1 up
2003	Big Thai	Pete & Ol	Clandon Regis	PO	6&4	Camberley Heath	IJ	1 up	The Drift	PO	1 up
2004	Big Debate	Ian & Jules	Hampton Court	IJ	4&3	New Zeland	IJ	4&3	Foxhills - Longcross	PO	1 up
2005	Big Jam	Ian & Jules	West Hill	IJ	2&1	Puttenham	PO	1 up	Dale Hill - Woosnam	IJ	2&1
2006	Big Craic	Ian & Jules	Blackmoor	IJ	3&2	West Surey	IJ	3&2
2007	Big Paws	????	Hayling Island	PO	4&2	Farnham	IJ	2&1	To Be Scheduled
2008	Big Whatever	Ian & Jules	Bearwood Lakes	IJ	1 up	The Addington	IJ	2&1	Chipstead	Drawn	level
2009	Big Crunch		Sand Martins	PO	4&3	Parkwood	Drawn	level	Merrist Wood	PO	3&1
2010	Big ??		Redhill & Reigate	IJ	3&1
2011

* In 1997 the Big Dog never took place for some reason (I did get married that year!).  A warm up match, The Little Chuhuahua, was held at Skegness and Belton Woods and was won by Ian and Jules.  I still consider the match postponed (Not cancelled) and one day we must get round to playing it.

** In 1999 the second match was a greensomes match and the third match two sets of singles where Pete beat Ian and Ollie beat Jules.

*** In 2002 a third match was originally played at Hindhead that was declared abandoned after 16 holes due to fading light ( Jules had the opportunity to win the match at the 16th with 140 yards to go he needed to get down in four, but his 8 iron was never seen again!).