THE HEMISPHERE CUP
Founded 2000
12th
Hemisphere Cup – Woodhall Spa, England
May 19th/20st, 2011
After travelling a
long way to South Africa in 2009, then taking nearly as long to drive to Machrihanish in 2010, it was something of a relief to have the
event within England in 2011. This
was the 4th time for England (after Royal Lytham & St Annes, Saunton & Silloth) and Woodhall Spa proved
to be another great venue.....
Balancing the Numbers?
2011 saw a large discrepancy between the number of players mustered by the North and the South. Whilst the North turned up with a couple of good golfers and eight other hackers (I’ll leave that open to interpretation), the South turned up with only five in total. This did not seem fair and was looking a bit like Rorke’s drift so we decided to even up the numbers by adopting a loan system (Looking back on the result maybe it was fair in the first place...).
Ahead of each round two players were selected out of a hat to play for the South. This meant a total of 6 players from the North represented the South at some stage. It does not take a great mathematician to work out that this ends up with 11 players who played for the South versus 10 for the North, and a clear numerical advantage to the South....No wonder they won.
Too embarrassed to show some of their faces here is a picture of the victorious Southern team.
The true North team who were not asked to cross the divide.
Twitter Time
For the first time updates from the match were broadcast live on Twitter to an audience of at least one or two. Not sure it will catch on but Graham was able to provide regular updates on his latest “Jackie McNight”. You can follow it all at @gcalderf.
Singing is Back
We have barely had a note from the massed Hemisphere Cup ranks since The Machrie (Sarge’s singing in Tenby does not count as it was way out of tune). It was therefore a bit of a surprise when late evening singing returned in the bar of the Dower House Hotel in Woodhall Spa. Sarge kicked us off with some classic Tom Jones and then we were all at it. Biggest surprise of the night was Barry’s amazing memory and knowledge of both Rolf Harris and Benny Hill tunes. Not sure what to make of that.
Delights of the A1
Having not driven the A1 for a long time, it was of great interest, and no little wonder to many of us, as to how many Adult Pit Stop shops there were on the road. Having been away from our loved ones for a couple of nights, some of us took the opportunity to pick up a suitable gift on the way home. Always a surprise to see your fourball partner in the Lingerie section....
The Match Summary
Round 1 – Fourballs (Thursday PM) – Hotchkin Course
With only five players on the Southern team, the first and most important event before selecting the pairings was for the South to select two random players to play for them. First up to make the walk of shame were Mike and Ollie. This still left 8 (north) v 7 (south) so the first match was again a two versus one match. The points were shared two each as Sean & Alex and Graham and Dave B won for the North, whilst David & Brandon and Paul and Mike brought the bacon home for the South.
Round 2 – Fourballs? (Friday AM) – Bracken Course
Next to take the walk of shame was Sean and Barry. Graham & Charles and Ian & Alex proved too strong for the North, whilst Paul & Brandon and David (on his own) kept things ticking along for the South.
The scores were level at 4 points each heading into the singles.
Round 3 – Singles (Friday PM) – Hotchkin Course
Finally, Graham and Alex were asked to walk the plank in the final round to drop into the murky waters of the Southern team.
Wins for Brandon, Andy, David and Graham (!!!!!!) were enough to give the South a narrow win. Despite posting wins; Sean, Mike and Ian could not help the North to enough points.
So in the end it was 8 points to the South and 7 to the North.
Special Mentions
Brandon (2nd year in a row), David (2nd year in a row) and Graham all went un-defeated.
Pete and Barry were a disgrace to the North losing by a collective 16 holes.
David is now the competitions highest points scorer with 22.5 points.
The Captains Cup
The Captains Cup was not played for or awarded in 2011 as Paul Marais has still not returned the trophy.....
Photographs
Photographs of the 12th Hemisphere Cup
Detailed Results