Shock as Rest of the World Captain Resigns "By Mutual Disagreement"

The latest controversy to dog the Dacoity Cup concerns last year's Rest of the World Captain Mike Dunbar. He has resigned following the leaking of the following email he sent to ODCOC official Paul Cartwright:

Paul,

 

Just to clear a few things up:

 

1.       The money was just “resting” in my Bank Account.
2.       The rumours about the emus are TOTALLY unfounded.
3.       It wasn’t me wot dun it.

 

If you could release that to the world’s press (especially to the ‘Exchange and Mart’ who had three paparazzi following me over the whole golf weekend), then all should be straightened out.

 

Mike

Mike's position as ROW captain has been in doubt since senior team member Alan McDougall was openly critical of Dunbar's methods whilst sat alongside him at the press conference immediately following their defeat at St Pierre last July. The outspoken McDougall's attack on Dunbar was seen as disrespectful of the veteran Scotsman, and shocked the golfing world at the time. Others said that McDougall's comments were not wrong, but were delivered at the wrong time, with his disappointed captain sat just a few feet away.

Following the press conference, the ROW team was awash with criticism of the criticism of the criticism of the criticism. It was generally thought wrong for McDougall to criticise Dunbar for criticising Talbot for criticising Van der Merwe for criticising Brownlee for criticising Dunbar for criticising Maloney.

 

With such division in the team, these latest email revelations were the last straw for Dunbar. It was thought that despite qualifying for the ROW team this year, he might refuse to compete, and that his full set of five irons might be advertised for sale when he walked  away from the game. He has since said he intends to take part, but has refused to captain the team.

Previous captain McDougall “hasn’t ruled out the possibility of being captain again in 2015”. However, negotiations are said to be ongoing between the Official Dacoity Cup Organising Committee and other parties. One insider was reported to have commented on the prospect of McDougall returning as captain by saying "fat chance". It was unclear whether this was cause for optimism on Mac's part or not.

Ives Stripped of Nearest the Pin Prize

Stunning new photo evidence has surfaced which finally settles the controversy over the Nearest the Pin competition at last year's Bandit Trophy!

Derek Ives was eventually awarded the prize after a protracted debate about how the nearest ball in the group in front of him, struck by Paul Cartwright, was marked. Derek somewhat cheekily assumed he had won the prize when his ball landed on the green, because he did not think there was any marker on the green when he arrived. Paul had however left a scorecard pegged into the ground, on the green, which was marked with the words "Nearest the Pin - Dacoity Cup". This in fact marked the position of his ball, though Derek had not realised this, and therefore made no comparison to check whether his ball was closer than the marker.

Previously undiscovered photos have recently arrived at the headquarters of ODCOC which clearly show Derek's ball further away from the hole than the scorecard used as a marker by Paul.


























In a statement, an ODCOC spokesperson said "the evidence is clear. As was thought by many at the time, Paul Cartwright's ball was nearer the pin than Derek's, and it is a travesty that this could not be verified at the time. Unfortunately Derek disregarded what was a traditional Bandit Trophy method of marking the nearest ball to the pin. We can only assume that this was a careless error rather than any sort of foul play but only Derek will ever know the true answer to that."

The official ODCOC ruling is that the Nearest the Pin prize for 2014 should now be retrospectively awarded to Paul Cartwright. Ives has therefore been stripped of his prize.

This has led to speculation over whether Ives should continue as England Captain at this years event. He was not available for comment. ODCOC said that a final decision on this years captaincy in the Dacoity Cup has yet to be made. They refused to say whether this latest controversy will affect the decision.