Blue Team Retains CSKA Ryder Cup

The second annual CSKA Ryder Cup took place this past weekend with Blue Team securing a 13-4 victory over Red Team at the Blackwood Golf Club.

On a beautiful sunny day, that provided ideal conditions for golf, the two sides went toe-to-toe with the Blue Team aiming to retain the trophy they had won last year at the St Mary's Hotel and Golf Club in Bridgend.

Both Blue and Red had personnel changes from the first Ryder Cup. Blue came into this competition with Alex Skinner as team captain with team mates Rich Hamlett and Paul Jarvis. Red were once again captained by James Joyce with team mates Cai Mckenzie and Owen Lewis.

This year's format would take the structure of three games of Texas Scramble with three pairs of matchplay being played throughout the day. Holes 1-6 would see a Texas Scramble of Joyce and Lewis versus Skinner and Hamlett with the singles game of Mckenzie versus Jarvis.

Holes 7-12 would then consist of a Texas Scramble of Joyce and Mckenzie versus Skinner and Jarvis. A singles match between Lewis and Hamlett would then also be played.

Finally, holes 13-18 would see the Texas Scramble match-up of Mckenzie and Lewis versus Hamlett and Jarvis with the team captains of Joyce and Skinner going head-to-head in the singles matchplay.

It was a day that started positively for Blue Team as they sealed a 2&1 win in the Texas Scramble. Red Team rued a couple of near misses on the greens of holes 4 and 5 that allowed Blue Team to take advantage. Skinner playing his way nicely out of a potentially disastrous situation in a ravine to help secure the victory. Jarvis then earned the first singles win over Mckenzie.

A fascinating second Texas Scramble saw Red Team get their first points on the board. Red Team went 1 up on hole 7 with a birdie from Joyce before Blue Team pulled it all square on the 9th. Red Team managed to sneak 1 ahead again on the 10th hole and were able to hold that lead for the remaining holes. In the singles match, Lewis took an early lead on the 8th hole before Hamlett hit back winning three holes in a row to secure a 2&1 win. This ensured that Blue Team had earned enough points to at least retain the Ryder Cup trophy.

In the final 6 holes, there was still points and pride to play for with Red Team determined to make sure that Blue Team could not win on the day. The trophy might have been retained but Red Team were still able to salvage a draw.

The highlight of the day was the matchplay between the two team captains Joyce and Skinner. A rollercoaster ride saw the tie swing back and forth but it was a stunning 25-yard double breaker putt that helped Skinner to draw with Joyce and ensure that Blue Team secured a second Ryder Cup win in a row. Further points were added when Jarvis putted for the Blue Team win on the final hole after a topsy turvy Texas Scramble.

All in all, it was a brilliant social occasion for those involved. Both teams played some superb golf and it showed just how much competition there is on the golfing front in the CSKA team.

Skinner celebrated the Blue Team win by proclaiming "It is better to live one day as a lion than 100 years as a sheep and we had a team of hungry lions for this victory!"

Joyce stated "It was the first time we had run with the new format and it made it more enjoyable for everyone. It didn't matter if you hit a wonky one, you can just get it back into play with your partner.

"This has a lot of potentially to be really successful as a staple in the CSKA social calendar. Hopefully, this can be the fun one and the more people we get playing the better gauge of abilities meaning we can introduce a fair handicap. This would mean more tournaments and more socials afterwards."