Enteractive Cup Day 1 Review

At the end of a cracking first day of action Team ROW ran into a 3 1/2 to 2 1/2  lead from the first round of Fourball matches. It was always going to be a tense, tight affair with many great pairings. With 5 of the 6 matches going to at least the 17th hole, it showed just how evenly balanced both teams are.

Scottish Contingent Looking for Compensation

The first match up of the day was always going to be a tight affair and it was exactly that. The EU Captain Alex Hillblom sent himself off first with Henrik Fagerlund in a top class pairing. Team ROW however had their own superhero’s in Gernot Schmid and Andy Featherstone. A half point each was always going to be a fair outcome for both sides.

Match two, unfortunately for Team ROW and their Scottish pairing of Martin Collins and Ryan Kerr didn’t fair so well. Up against a very strong pairing in Tore Lindtveit and Toni Westerholm, they were behind from the first shot. Being 3 down after three, the ROW team could never get into the match and the EU pairing eventually ran out 7&6 winners.

Honours Shared

The next two matches were shared between the two sides. Simpson and Foster overcoming the EU pairing of Finnighan and Baltzis, running out 2&1 victors. Whilst in the other match Ekmark and Veinonen ground down the gallant ROW veterans Waterhouse and Dodd to claim a 2&1 win.

Parkhill Shows his Leaderboard Class

In a classic matchplay encounter one of the Team ROW most gutsy players, Ross Parkhill, partnered by James Kinsey, managed to pull this match out of the fire. Coming from 1 down with two holes to play against EU pairing of Bergin and Andersson, this proved to be the decisive match of the day.

Taking this match 1up meant Team ROW turned a probable first day deficit into a narrow lead heading in to Day 2.

Rearguard Give Team ROW Slender Advantage

In the final match of the day a strong EU pairing of ‘Pro’ Andy Borg and Harri Lehtiniemi came up against the ROW English rearguard in Gary Baines and Peter Cotton. In another very tight affair with Borg giving lots of shots away, Baines and Cotton took full advantage. A net ‘HOLE in ONE’ helped the ROW side get to the turn 2up and they managed to hold on despite team EU best efforts on the back nine to run out 2&1 winners.

Saturday Pairings Announced

After the dust had settled and everyone had grabbed a well earned beer the Captains set about selecting their teams for Day 2.

With Team ROW sticking with trusted pairings and giving Collins and Kerr a chance of retribution there was just one change with Dave Robertson coming in for James Kinsey.

Team EU decided to mix it up a little bit in their top order and their last three pairings are looking ominously strong. Looking to redress the deficit before the Singles match ups on Sunday, Team EU will accept nothing less than a victory in the Saturday Fourballs.

It promises to be another great day of Golfing action and look out for the Singles Draw later on Saturday night.

It’s all to play for, both teams feeling confident that come Sunday they will be lifting the coveted Enteractive Cup.

Your Roving Reporter