The annual Hamilton Cup took place this year in the beautiful city of Biarritz, in south west France. The venue changes each year, with a different member club taking its turn to host. The participating clubs, Biarritz, Pau, Kennemer, Kirby Muxloe, Tenby and San Sebastián, compete for the cup while also enjoying three days of golf and socialising.
Biarritz, under the leadership of Club President Emmanuel Daum, laid out a course that provided a good test of golf, as well as offering outstanding hospitality throughout the event.
This year, the build up wasn’t exactly plain sailing. Everyone was disappointed that Hamilton Cup Captain and driving force Linda Tordoff Evans, along with founder member Steve Evans, were unable to travel. There was another setback when, on arrival, Dinah and Richard Reed discovered that the team hotel had gone into liquidation two weeks earlier. After several frantic phone calls, accommodation was thankfully found for everyone for the week. Not the best of starts!
The practice day was played in glorious weather, but an overnight storm on Thursday flooded the greens, causing the fourball betterball matches to be delayed and eventually reduced to nine holes.
Despite the conditions, Tenby produced some sparkling golf. Rhian Walters and Rob Morgan led the way with 25 points, with the highlights including a fine birdie from Rhian on the hardest hole and a closing birdie from Rob on the 18th.
Their score was matched by Hamilton Cup newcomers Angela and Jon Large. What an introduction to the event! The third pairing of Club Vice Captain Wyndham Collins and Ian Duke came in with a solid 21 points, giving Tenby a 10 point lead after the opening round.
On Wednesday evening, the host club traditionally puts on a reception where local delicacies are enjoyed and the local wine sampled. Tenby’s acting team captain Brian ordered everyone to have just one glass of wine and get to bed early. Surprisingly, they ignored this advice and were the last to leave the reception.
It seems they knew best, because on Friday the team once again produced some outstanding scores.
As is tradition, the captains were first out. Brian, after losing a ball on the opening hole when it failed to reappear after hitting a tree, still managed a creditable 35 points.
Rob, who never seems to fail in this event, produced a brilliant 40 points, but not to be outdone, Angela followed him in with the same score. What a debut!
The next few scores for Tenby really began to put the pressure on the other teams, with Ian scoring 36, Jon 35 and Rhian 34. Those six scores were the ones that counted towards the final total.
However, the winning team is never announced until the end of the Friday night dinner, so a hopeful Tenby team settled down to enjoy a three course meal and the ever flowing wine!
As the evening drew to a close, it was time for Emmanuel to announce the winners. The Steve Evans Medal, awarded for the best individual score on Friday, went to Jenny Vincent of Kirby Muxloe with an outstanding 42 points.
As with all top quality events, the team results were announced in reverse order and, winning by a fantastic 20 points and retaining the trophy, were Tenby GC.
A huge thank you to Biarritz GC for putting on such a fantastic event, to Wyndham and Ann Collins for delivering the trophy, the Tenby GC flag and my golf clubs to the venue, and to all the Tenby members who played. I hope you all enjoyed it.
Tenby will host the competition next year, and the planning has already started!
Report by Brian Jones
