USA take the Burstwick Cup with ease
Last weekend we hosted our coveted annual Burstwick Cup where Europe take on USA in a battle of skill, determination and nerve!
Team Captains were Nigel Colley (Europe) and John Ward (USA), and with Nigel winning last year’s Cup, John was looking to take the crown away from him and make America great again!
Teams consisted of 24 players each side and the format is a 2 day event, with pairs betterball matchplay on the Saturday and individual matchplay on the Sunday. A total of 36 points were to play for with the winning team needing 18.5 to claim the cup.
The Saturday fourball matches got off to a first start for team USA, as they set the tone with a flurry of wins in the early slots, and unfortunately for team blue this continue right the way until Europe managed to scrape two half points in two out of the last three matches, with USA almost completing the first ever Burstwick Cup first day whitewash! 11-1 after half way, Europe had a mountain to climb,
After a rousing speech by Nigel on day 2 (something along the lines of “you better all bloody win!!”) team blue shot out the gates and the Captain himself lead from the front with a great 4&3 win over John in the first game. Back to 11-2 and the mountain looked just that little bit smaller. As the rest of the matches came in it looked nip and tuck all around the golf course, but needing 17.5 points from 24, it looked like it would be impossible for Europe to come back.
“Miracle at Burstwick!” could be heard around the course
Sadly for the Europeans it wasn’t to be. Captain John Ward and his American team were ruthless and didn’t let off the gas on the way to picking up the trophy, in the end winning 14 of the final day’s 24 available points, extending their lead even further on the route to victory.
Well done to John and the team on their fantastic win, the biggest margin we have seen Burstwick Cup history, and thank you to all the players that took part in the event. There were a few members who went onto celebrate into the evening, resulting in some sore heads in the morning!