Back to the course and with the rest of the players arriving ahead of the first tee off, a nutritious, PGA approved lunch of sandwiches, chips and beer was followed by some last-minute fine tuning on the driving range. Some of the lads battled it out on the pro shop golf simulator in a ‘nearest the yardage’ challenge, with Alex Williamson nailing 135 yards exactly to win.
A quick briefing, collection of goody bags and team photos out on the first tee, and then the action was underway. The competition saw USA battling Europe, 16 Fathers of Football on each side, captained imperiously by James Horobin and Ian Gilbert respectively. The front 9 holes was a team matchplay fourball, with the back 9 matchplay singles with play continuously interrupted by the Captain’s beer and whisky distribution service!
Throw in a 20 minute torrential downpour that saw the unlucky ones hiding under trees and the lucky ones keeping nice and dry in well positioned huts, an impromptu episode of Art Attack in one of the bunkers (see the Photo Gallery below for THAT photo....), recreations of Happy Gilmore and some impressive driving displays (of the buggy, certainly not off the tee!), and eventually the first group staggered in after 5 and a half hours! An hour later, all groups were in and enjoying a well-earned beer as the scores were tallied up.
The quality of golf ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous, with an eagle and birdies balanced off with more lost balls than the average FFF Monday night session! Ultimately, despite a strong start from the USA, Europe’s middle order and tail enders came through, dominating the fourballs, to seal a comfortable 15 points to 9 victory, clearly indicating that the USA players were far more honest with their handicaps!
In the individual awards, two players finished with an impressive 37 points, with Marcus Hernon edging Dan ‘el Bandito’ Eldret to take the title of FFF Champion Golfer courtesy of a lower handicap. Having only completed 3 holes on the scorecard, Luke Page took the Wooden Spoon prize, which was quite literally a Wooden Spoon engraved with a helpful motivational message of 'You are shit at golf'....
The day was capped off with plenty of beers at The Vic, impromptu games of golf ball keepy uppys and a well-deserved curry at Paprika.
A great day was had by all, and when the charity golf fines were added to the P&L, FFF had raised a fantastic £400 for Feed Up, Warm Up. This was converted into food, drink and toiletries that some of the lads delivered in person on the 25th September, where they also got to meet some of the volunteers and hear about the amazing work they do to support the homeless in and around the Hitchin area.
Thankyou to all the members who took part and contributed to the day, and Chesfield Downs Golf Club for hosting us. Special thanks also to HOLLIS, the leading independent real estate consultants who very kindly sponsored all the team shirts. Thanks Team Hollis!
MASSIVE thanks to Luke Molyneux and Andy Steddy for organising such a great event and we all look forward to battling it out again next year for the FFF Ryder Cup 2020.
Interested in playing in 2020?
If you are interested in playing in the 2020 FFF Ryder Cup tournament drop us an email at info@footballforfathers.co.uk
Many thanks to our 2022 sponsors...
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