Over the 3 days we saw some excellent golf played in Four ball, Foursomes & Singles on the opening day 22 out of 24 players hit the Par 3 first hole over water, hitting the first shot on opening day of a prestigious event is no mean feat but the standard was set for the week. For all the good golf played from both teams USA took an early lead in all the matches and managed to keep their noses in front despite Europe fighting back hard, day 1 result 6 – 0 to USA did not reflect how close the matches were, team Europe were still confident of a comeback on day 2 in the foursomes.
The foursomes were the day when the golf really came to life, 5 out of 6 games went to the 18th and the other match finished on the 17th. Team Europe came out of the traps flying and at one stage looked like getting 5 games on the board, but USA wouldn’t give in and fought back. The last few holes in all the matches could have gone either way, it was an excellent watch as both teams used some great tactics to gain an advantage, it was a shame that someone had to lose, 6 halved matches would have been a far result but somehow USA managed to win the second day 4.5 to 1.5 making it an almost impossible task for Europe on Day 3 as USA lead 10.5 to 1.5.
On the last day it didn’t take USA long to show their dominance despite another good days golf from both teams, USA managed to putt better the Europe and this showed with another convincing win 10.5 to 1.5 despite the overall result looking like a whitewash at 21 – 3 however, the biggest winner was The Cairns Cup showing that people with varying disabilities can compete at the highest level regardless of their playing handicap. Seeing scratch golfers playing alongside high handicap golfers and working as a team was wonderful thing to see, all players, sponsors and spectators agreed that the 2022 event was a massive success and its future will be bright with headline sponsors throwing their support behind the 2024 event to be played in Michigan USA.
