THE HEMISPHERE CUP
Founded 2000

23^rd Hemisphere Cup – Princes Golf Club, England

May 11^th-13^th, 2023

 

 

 

Records are made to be Broken

With the return of Portrush to the Open roster in 2019, it left only one course to have hosted The Open only once.   In 1932 The Open visited Prince’s for what would prove to be the first and only time as Gene Sarazen set a new scoring record for the Championship of 283 using the newly invented sand wedge. 

 

Some 91 years later, the Hemisphere Cup landed on the Kent coast to add to this course's illustrious history.   Whilst Gene Sarazen completed his career grand slam at the venue, the Hemisphere Cup created an even greater landmark for James Whiteing in 2023 as he became not only the third Whiteing to play in the competition (a record on its own), but by far the youngest player ever to participate.   At 18 years, 9 months and 16 days he is by a long distance the freshest to take part and be invited into the GOAT club by Sarge.  Hopefully a sign of future re-generation amongst the ranks as he competed with vigor both on and off the course.

 

At the other end of the spectrum we had medical challenges aplenty.   Charles pulled out the week of the match with a buggered back (substitute Frank C proved a more than able replacement lasting all three rounds and is welcome back any time).  That is more than John  and Sean managed with both pulling out midway through their final rounds with varying ailments.  Maybe 18 holes a day is too much and a review of 12 hole matches is required for our ageing cohort.

 

We did play golf, lest we ever forget why we were at Princes, and it proved a great venue despite brutal conditions on the Friday morning.

The Match Summary

Round 1 – Fourballs (Thursday) – Shore & Dunes

 

12 veteran Hemisphere Cup participants with collectively over 600 matches behind them lined up for the opening Fourball matches with two newcomers  James Whiteing for the South, and Frank Clark for the North.

 

As befits a Hemisphere Cup legend, Mike hit the opening drive to get things started.   It went all of 20 yards! However, it wasn’t the shortest drive of the day (that was probably between Jan and Pete).

 

In the marquee group, a strong pairing of Mike and Alex tied there match with Bronson and Graham (batting for the other side).

 

Ollie and Frank eventually saw off debutant James Whiteing playing with his dad 1up (the 18th would be played every day by David).

 

Sarge and Pete came back late to secure a tie with Sean and Brandon, but there were early signs that Sean was carrying an injury.

 

In the final match Dave B and John saw off Andrew and Jan 4&2. 

 

So whilst three matches went down the 18th, the North held a 3 to 1 lead.

 

Round 2 – Fourballs (Friday) – Himalayas & Shore

 

Following a glorious evening of sunshine on Thursday, the forecast for Friday was for wind and rain.  And they were not wrong.   The wind was also out of the North making it cold and miserable for all.   If it wasn't for Prince's legendary sausage rolls (All sausage and little roll!) after 9 holes things could have been even worse.

 

Four matches were completed.

 

In the first of the fourballs, Ollie and Mike ran out 5&4 winners over Bronson and Jan.

 

Pete and Alex eventually took the point against Sean and Dave on the last 1 up.

 

Andy picked his playing partner from the North, Dave B, wisely and ran out 6 & 4 winners over John and Frank.

 

In the final match, Graham nearly decapitated his playing partner Sarge from 10 feet. “He went down like he’d been shot”, “looked like a footballer”, “good shot Graham” were some of the quotes from witnesses.  It was a close tussle though and Graham and Sarge eventually ran out 1 up winners over Brandon and James.

 

So again whilst two matches went down the 18th again, the North took the session 3 to 1 and held a 6 to 2 lead heading into the last day.

 

Round 3 – Singles (Saturday) – Dunes & Himalayas

After a night out in Margate on Friday it was back to the first tee on the Dunes course for the final singles matches..  Something of milestone was made as xxxxx made their 60th appearances.

 

Match 1: Dave B completed a strong week (he has been playing golf lots!) by beating James 6&4.

 

Match 2: John retired hurt whilst 5 down (wrist or pride damaged we are not sure which) to   Bronson in the first of the day's injury hit matches.

 

Match 3: In a close match that saw Ollie playing for the South, Alex proved just too strong coming out a 2&1 winner.

 

Match 4: Dave went down the last again against Mike, but persevered to win his match 2 up.

 

Match 5: Brandon and Frank had a great game before Bradon made it a full house of one win, one draw, one loss with his victory 2 up.

 

Match 6:  Graham and Andy met in a battle of the smooth swingers (Specialist website for those interested).   Graham winning 5 & 4.

 

Match 7: Sarge sent Jan packing with a comfortable 6&5 victory, never really being challenged as Jan struggled for long periods with his tee shots.

 

Match 8: Sean pulled up at the turn with his back f*&@ed.   Pete only really had to not lose his ball to compete, but still managed that on a couple of holes “Sean, you have seven for the hole”.  The score was 5 up when the match was abandoned.

 

The North had taken the singles 5 – 3 and had indeed been crowned at Princes.

 

Final Score: 11 – 5 to the North

 

The Captains Cup

 

Despite having no cup to give, the cup was awarded to Brandon, for a strong performance, his good humour, and with much less swearing!

 

Photographs

 

Photographs from the 23^rd Hemisphere Cup

 

Detailed Results

 

Detailed Results from the 23^rd Hemisphere Cup