THE HEMISPHERE CUP
Founded 2000
16th
Hemisphere Cup – Cruden Bay, Scotland
May 14th/15th, 2015
The Match heads North for
the North to be taught another lesson by the South
Not since
2005 when the Hemisphere Cup visited Royal Dornoch has the match been held at
such a northerly location ( 57.4181° to be precise). There was much hope within the Northern
team that this return to the North would bring a much needed change in fortune
over the events of 2014 when they lost narrowly to the South 6.5 to 5.5.
Cruden Bay had long been on my list of venues for the Hemisphere Cup, having
played it once before with Hemisphere Cup legend Julian Solecki in 1996 whilst
I was working in Aberdeen. Therefore, it was a delight to return
and the course and location did not disappoint. It was also a delight to see
David Whiteing return for his 16th, unbroken, Hemisphere Cup appearance.
David Burns did not make this year’s tournament claiming some self
inflicted injury from building a zip line in the garden (you would not see Rory
Mcilroy playing football and risking injury ahead of a Major.....now I come to
think of it...........).
The
result, however, was not a delight for the North. The score was identical
to the previous year (6.5 to 5.5) with the opening Fourballs proving the
difference as every other session was shared.
The match
very nearly did not start as the Southern team was slow to arrive due to some
car hire shenanigans at Aberdeen Airport. Some shuffling around with the
starter was negotiated, and despite desperate claims by the North to have
points deducted, the match kicked off about 60 minutes late.
The
Match Summary
Round 1 – Fourballs (Thursday PM)
The draw was made at lunch and it is
not often that golf pairings make you smile. Charles
Bronson did.
The course was in great condition and
Sarge and Alex were first into bat against Andy and Brandon and they never
looked in danger as the North won 5&4. Next up was Ollie and Mike
who lost to Jan and David 2&1. Last out were Charles and Pete who
never got going and were comfortably beaten by Bronson and Magnus 6&5.
At the end of the day it was two points to the South and one point to the
North.
Round 2 – Fourballs (Friday AM)
A
big set of Fourballs was required form the North to get back into contention
and quickly they fell behind in two of the three games. Only Sarge (who
was playing top matchplay golf) and Mike (who was keeping Sarge company) looked
like delivering the result and went on to win 5&4 againt Jan and Andy.
Charles and Ollie were always behind and despite clinging on hard they
eventually went down 4&3 to David and Magnus. Bronson and Brandon
quickly went 4 up against Alex and Pete but could not shake them off.
Alex and Pete fought back hard and were one down playing the 17th when Pete
holed a monster putt (Pete does not chip when he can putt) from miles left of
the green for a four, net birdie. What followed were the most
disgraceful scenes seen on a golf course since Jason Leonard holed a monster
against Jose Maria Olazabal at the 1999 Ryder Cup at Brookline. The
North celebrated wildly and Bronson missed his own putt. The match
went down the 18th all square, Pete drove into the burn on the right (something
he did on every round) but Alex managed to half the hole with Brandon in fours.
One of the great Hemisphere Cup matches had been halved.
The session had been shared
and in the end the South would go into the singles 3.5 points to 2.5 points in
the lead.
Round
3 – Singles (Friday PM)
The wind was picking up
and the weather was looking decidedly rough
when the single games kicked off in the afternoon.
Charles likes to play quick and so he
was sent out to lead the Northern fight back from the front against Andy.
The fight back did not last long and Charles was beaten into
submission 5&4 and he was last seen considering if it was time for his old
trusty 4 wood to be retired from active service.
Alex followed up his morning half by
restoring some pride in the North with a 5&4 victory over Brandon.
However the odds swung heavily back in the direction of the South when
Ollie was seen off 7&5 by Bronson to give the South a 5.5 to 3.5 lead.
Briefly the match was back in the
balance as Sarge and Pete put the match level on 5.5 points each with hard
fought victories over David (2&1) and Magnus (1 up) respectively.
The South though held firm and Jan brought home the cup with a 5&4 victory
over Mike in the battle of the long handled putters.
So it was all over and the South had
won by 6.5 to 5.5.
Special Mentions
David
remains the competitions highest points scorer with 27.5 points. He also
retains the Airmile Award for distance
travelled to attend an event. Mike and Andy have both won 23.5 points.
The
Captains Cup
The
Captains Cup was awarded to Ian Elliott
due to some strange clerical error.
Photographs
Photographs from the 16th Hemisphere Cup
Detailed Results
Detailed Results from the 16th Hemisphere Cup