Europe Take Back Burstwick Cup in a Tense Finish!
Mother Nature was very kind to the golfers at Burstwick over the weekend, after what looked like a bleak outlook for the Burstwick Cup, turned out to be absolutely fine, if not rather nice!
The rivalry between the European and USA team for the 2015 Burstwick Cup was one of the most fierce we have seen, and the banter began well before a ball was teed up, with Facebook and Twitter awash with jibes and jokes about who might come out victorious.
Team captain's Andy Wilson and Alan Mackinnon were raring to go on Saturday, and their intentions were made obvious with chants and barracking on the first tee, with the teams joining in the camaraderie!
Conditions were a little blowy on the Saturday but fortunate the rain had been and gone during the night, and although it was a cool start the weather warmed up nicely in from mid-morning onwards.
The scores at the end of the first day fourballs were 4.5 to 3.5 in favour of Europe, with it all to play for in the final day singles matches.
Sunday morning arrived and the weather was absolutely stunning; a still and warm summers morning meant that the course was going to be very scoreable and play for some great golf in the singles.
The team captains went out first again and the 15 matches followed in succession, with some tense pairings with scores that wanted settling. Notable matches included the Robbins brothers against each other, ex-captains Dave Harris versus Martin Oliver, and Alan Key matched up against Ashley Heidstra.
With some very close matches including four halves the Burstwick Cup really could have gone either way, and with just 3 matches to come in the scores were 11.5-9.5 to the USA (with 12.5 needed to claim victory).
In the end it was Shaun McGeachy delivered the final blow by beating Dave Smith 3&1, despite the final two matches going the way of the Europeans. The end result was a nail-biting 12.5-11.5 to the USA, a fantastic end to a great weekend!
