THE 34th Hamilton Cup, a golf team competition for some of the oldest golf clubs in Western Europe, was held at Kirby Muxloe GC Leicestershire from 3-5 September, with teams from Biarritz, Pau, France; Kennemer, Holland; Tenby, and Kirby Muxloe, England, taking part.

Wednesday was a practice round, with all players finding how difficult this tree lined course is.

Tenby players had two problems to negotiate, the trees, and the well-watered approaches to the greens. Putting from well off the greens, a Tenby go to shot, was a definite no!

Thursday saw the the four ball betterball Stableford part of the event, and with course adjustments made, Tenby finished the day in first place with 110 points closely followed by Biarritz, 109 points.

The leading pair for Tenby were Rhian Walters and Rob Morgan with a very impressive 38 points, in conditions that were less than favourable, strong winds and heavy downpours saw most pairs finding it difficult to play to their handicaps.

Friday single Stableford was going to decide who took the trophy.

The weather had improved but the scoring hadn’t.

The gusting wind, and damp ground from heavy overnight rain, made club selection a lottery.

Each team fielded eight player, and the best six scores per team, made up the final total.

The opening nine was the scoring nine, but most players ran out of steam on the back nine and many hopes of a high score were dashed, with numerous hard luck stories being told in the bar at the close of play.

Tenby players seemed to cope better than most and nearly everyone scored over 30 points, a score that was envied by the other teams.

Leading the way were Rhian and Rob, with Linda Tordoff Evans, Ann Collins , Ian Duke and Brian Jones providing good support.

Rhian’s score of 38 won her the medal for best Stableford score on the day.

This competition is about enjoying golf with old friends and making memories with new friends, but winning is also a good feeling!

Tenby will be trying to defend the title next year when the competition is held in the beautiful city of Biarritz.

Special thanks were handed to Linda Tordoff Evans for organising the Tenby team, and to Steve Evans, one of the original organisers, when the event started in 1990, Dinah and Richard Reed, Ian Duke, Ann and Wyndham Collins, Rhian Walters, Rob Morgan, and Brian Jones for giving up their time to represent Tenby GC.

The final standings were: Tenby 316 points Kirby Muxloe 302 points Biarritz 286 points Kennemer 274 points Pau 261 points