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After a fantastic weekend on the golf course Europe emerged victors in the 2019 Burstwick Cup. Captain Tony Howard led his team to victory on Sunday afternoon after a very tight first day of fourballs.

Scores were tied on Saturday at 4-4 which meant that it was all to play for come Sunday morning on the first tee. The individual fixtures promised some big grudge matches, with not only a Burstwick Cup medal at stake for the players but pride and bragging rights in the clubhouse.

Noteable matches included Tom Peyman vs Joe Harrison, Alan Key vs Rob Draper, Andy Giles vs Mike Huzzard, and of course the Captains; Tony Howard (Europe) vs Dave Smith (USA) who were out first.

As Tony and Dave whizzed round the course in a buggy, Tony started playing some of his best golf and quickly got ahead - and stayed there. At 9:30am they were already finished and enjoying a glass of port in the bar after Tony beat Dave 6&5, a real message sent to the USA team that the Europeans meant business.

After the first few matches came in it was still very tight, but into the latter half of the field a sea of blue started to show on the leaderboard.

In the end a strong finish came from team Europe and it was already over with a couple of matches still to come in; the blues ended up taking the individual matches 10-6, making the overall score 14-10. Captain Tony Howard made history by being the first Captain to retain the cup after winning it in his Vice-Captain’s year in 2018, a fantastic feat!

Thank you to all that played, it was as always a very enjoyable event (and slightly messy one in the bar by the end), and some fantastic golf was played from both teams!