THE HEMISPHERE CUP
Founded 2000

15^th Hemisphere Cup – St Enedoc, Cornwall, England

June 6^th/7^th, 2014

A Good Year for the South

So it was time to head west and Cornwall was our destination. Would we encounter the Beast of Bodmin or the Ghosts of Padstow? Who from the ranks of the Hemisphere Cuppers would join the likes of Jack the Giant Killer and forever be written into the local legends and myths that make Cornwall the popular destination that it is?

First up though was getting to Cornwall and St Enodoc and our planning application had not taken into account that the Royal Cornwall Show was taking place at the same time. Situated neatly between our accommodation and the golf course in Wadebridge (pronounced Wey-Dee-Bridge if you are Sarge) it had locals shaking their heads at the time we would need to get anywhere. As it turned out it was not such a great problem and it was not long before the real action could get going.

St Enodoc was a great course, in a great setting, and perfect for the Hemisphere Cup and any lover of links golf. It was also great to see once again Alex Ferguson (David) turning up once again to cast a shadow over his successor as captain who had failed in his first year to land the cup in the Isle of Man.

With no new recruits and one walking wounded (see Captains Cup below) there was no need for formal pleasantries and it was straight down to business……….

The Match Summary

Round 1 – Fourballs (Thursday PM)

Possibly the latest tee off in Hemisphere Cup history. To take advantage of the twilight rates, matches did not start till after 4pm. This was nearly Mike’s bed time so already the North was at a huge disadvantage. However, the North started strong and was never behind in all matches. Charles (back after a few years absence because it was a local fixture) and Sarge won a very close and exciting match with David and Jan. Dave and Mike then halved with Brandon and Andy.

Highlight of the day though goes to the comeback/choke (delete as applicable) in the match between Pete/Ollie vs Magnus/Bronson. In the last match, with much Swedish swearing taking place early on, the North found themselves four up with four to play playing the 15^th. Both Pete and Ollie found the green with their tee shots at the par three and both had two putts to halve the hole and win the match. What followed were four bad putts, followed by six bad tee shots and the North lost every hole coming in to halve the match. It was like the Saturday night at Medinah and maybe this was the inspiration and turning point that the South were looking for as they closed the day at 2-1 down when it looked much worse at one stage.

Round 2 – Foursomes (Friday AM)

The south didn’t need to wait long for fortunes to change with the first ever appearance of foursomes in the Hemisphere Cup’s long history. No one was quite sure how this would work out but it was a great success and hopefully we will see it as a more regular occurrence. There was certainly lots of apologising going around on the Northern Team with plenty of four putts and lost balls. It all ended with the South not losing a match and heading into the singles 3.5-2.5 up.

Round 3 – Singles (Friday PM)

With the scores tight there was plenty to play for and it was a case of three landslides and three very close games. Dave B and Charles both won 5&4 to get two points for the North whilst Bronson annihilated Mike 8&7 to take a point for the South. With the scores then tied at 4.5 each it was going to go to the last three games.

Ollie had a ding dong match with Brandon that ended when Brandon striped one down the last to win one up.

Pete then hung on to beat Andy, but no one is quite sure how. After being dormie 2, Pete was one up playing the last with Andy hitting a majestic drive down the middle. Pete hit his first drive out of bounds on the right and nearly did the same thing with his next ball. Pete then had to find his ball (many helpers out by this stage) and once found could only hit sideways out of the rough and was level with Andy in the fairway already lying three shots adrift. Some think what happened next was akin to Jacklin and Nicklaus at the 1969 Ryder Cup at Royal Birkdale as Andy somehow managed to halve the hole with net 7s. Very generous.

So it was down to Sarge and Magnus. Magnus had gone four up after 4 and Sarge had been nibbling back since then but was fighting his own swing and Magnus’s swearing. Sarge got back level on the back to one down but could never get level and it all ended a bit tamely at the last with Sarge slapping his ball all over the place and Magnus walked off with the hole, the match and the cup

So in the end it was 6.5 points to the South and 5.5 to the North.

Special Mentions

David remains the competitions highest points scorer with 25.5 points. Mike and Andy have both won 23.5 points.

The Captains Cup

The Captains Cup was awarded to Alex Langlands for being the ultimate Hemisphere Cup tourist by attending the event even though he could not play. Alex walked with the marquee match on the first day and indulged in some much needed putting coaching on the second morning. Hopefully we will see Alex back fighting fit to engage in battle next year.

Photographs

Photographs from the 15^th Hemisphere Cup

Detailed Results

Detailed Results from the 15^th Hemisphere Cup