Thursday 2nd October saw the annual pilgrimage of 12 members from Redbourn Golf Club arrive to the resort to compete against 12 members of Desert Springs Golf Club in this, the third Desert Springs Ryder Cup!
The tournament commenced on Friday 3rd with 6 matches played in Fourball better-ball format and concluded on Saturday 4th with 12 singles matches. A total of 18 points were available and a score of 9 points was required to ensure that the trophy stayed at Desert springs with Redbourn requiring 9 1/2 points to claim overall victory.
As has proven to be customary, when both teams met on Thursday evening, the Redbourn team members were full of confidence that they would win this year’s event. However, their confidence took a turn for the worse when come Friday afternoon, the team scores reflected 5 points to Desert Springs and 1 point to Redbourn!
That evening saw one team congratulating itself whilst the other was commiserating at the Crocodile Club.
In a strategic move, team Captain of Redbourn Golf Club, James Busby loaded the end of his field in the following days singles with his lowest handicappers in the hope of securing a victory, a decision reminiscent of that of Nick Faldo at this year’s Ryder Cup against the USA.
Desert Springs only needed 4 points to retain the cup, and 4 1⁄2 points for the overall win.
After the first five matches of singles had been completed Desert Springs had achieved 4 wins and 1 half, which ensured that the trophy would proudly be staying on display in the Clubhouse. The remaining six matches saw both teams share the honors resulting in a final score of 13 points to 5 in favor of Desert Springs.
Whilst the local victory over Redbourn seems to be very emphatic, this year’s matches were very close, with many matches coming down to the last two holes of the course.
Saturday evening saw the players from both teams attend the Gala Dinner at El Torrente Restaurant where Desert Springs Golf Club Vice-Captain Barry Carver was presented with the Ryder Cup from Desert Springs Director of Golf, Simon Coaker.
For further information contact: Alfonso Castineíra
E-mail: acm@almanzora.com
Telephone: +34 670 613 900
