The second Dacoity Cup was held from July 25-27 at St Pierre Chepstow in Wales between enlarged (don't worry Mac that's not a reference to you) six man teams from England and the Rest of The World. With teams being six men instead of 4, there were 3 fourballs and 6 singles matches totalling 9 points, on each day, making a total of 27 points available and 14 needed to win the Dacoity Cup. As the holders, England would retain the trophy if they reached 13.5 points.
Day 1: Old Course
Tension mounted prior to tee off time on Friday as the 12 players prepared to take on the Old Course, a European Tour venue, but the opening day turned out to be one sided with England dominating as they had on the first day last year.
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| Old Course 18th Hole (Courtesy of Maloney Images Ltd) |
On a scorching hot afternoon, England skipper Derek Ives sent out 2 rookies, Ken Hicks and Pete Coupe, as his first pair, against Rest of the World skipper Mike Dunbar (Scotland) attempting to lead from the front alongside rookie Alan Maloney (Ireland). Paul Cartwright and Alec Hone then took on Alan McDougall (Scotland) and Johann Van der Merwe (South Africa), before Derek, with Stuart Hay, went up against Vidal Brownlee (Spain) and Dave Talbot (Ireland).
The singles match ups, as usual, remained unknown until all matches were completed with each captain submitting his singles order to the Official Dacoity Cup Organising Committee (ODCOC) in secret, to be revealed after play. All fourballs matches are settled by combined Stableford points totals.
Fourball Results:
Hicks & Coupe 55pts beat Dunbar & Maloney 44pts
Cartwright & Hone 52pts beat McDougall & Van der Merwe 44pts
Ives & Hay 52pts beat Brownlee & Talbot 50
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| Old Course 15th Hole |
So England swept the fourballs to take a 3-0 lead despite having 4 rookies in their side. The new boys got straight into the spirit and showed the pride in their country needed to perform in the Dacoity Cup. For the RoW, a pretend Irishman, a pretend Scotsman and a pretend Spaniard didn't get into their stride quite as quickly. Mac and Johann suffered a second straight opening day defeat together.
Singles Results:
Hay 22 lost to Brownlee 26
Cartwright 30 beat Van der Merwe 24
Hicks 19 lost to McDougall 20
Ives 30 beat Talbot 24
Coupe 36 beat Dunbar 22
Hone 22 halved with Maloney 22
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| The empty glasses tell the story |
England won the singles by just 3.5 to 2.5, with ROW suggesting they could make the contest closer than last year. In particular, Mac was delighted to find that his abysmal 20 points was still good enough to gain a point over poor Ken. The final half from Alan the Ballyclare Kid, along with the encouragement from seeing Dave Talbot actually complete all 18 holes, seemed to raise their spirits and give them hope they could take the lead on Saturday. Were England showing signs of complacency? This photograph appears to show captain Derek Ives celebrating the first day success with six pints of Smirnoff Ice. Was he being premature? Was it suitable preparation for the next two days? Was the pressure starting to get to him?
Score after Day 1: England 6.5 Rest of World 2.5
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