As the EuroDov Tour media circus took a week off with plans to turn our attention to all those DIY jobs, personal administration and family that we’ve neglected since April, we were deeply misled.

Whilst the EuroDov Tour took a pause from it’s rapid start to the 2024 season, the Carnegie Cup filled the void. We simply stopped filling stories about one group of players and got right down to filling stories about others.

The Carnegie Cup is unique on the EuroDov Tour rota. Firstly, it’s the only co-sanctioned event on the Tour, the event is a collaboration between the SanWedge Tour and the EuroDov Tour that pits Tour v Tour, for the spoils of the Carnegie Cup and the bragging rights for the remainder of the season.

In 2024 there are 7 SanWedge Tour players who also hold EuroDov Tour membership adding to the spice of the event.

The first iteration of the tournament was in 2023 as EuroDov Tour hosted the SanWedge Tour at Burntisland Golf House Club. The EuroDov Tour won out 13.5-10.5 in what was hailed an overwhelmingly successful tournament.

In 2024 it was the SanWedge Tour’s turn to host, and with it the choice of host venue.

It was a new course for us media types on the EuroDov Tour, and a relatively unknown course for the EuroDov Tour players. Cowdenbeath Dora Golf Club is a 6207-yard parkland course that consists of 2 distinct 9 holes.

The first 9 - comprising holes 1 and 2 then 12 thru 18 - present wide-open fairways and generous, flat greens. Holes 3 thru 11 are somewhat tighter and shaped with smaller target greens with some undulation. This made for an interesting dynamic as matches progressed around the course.

In 2024 the teams were captained by Richard Mair (SanWedge) and Kevin Brannan (EuroDov) and both teams set out with the ambition of lifting the trophy at the end of the day.

As we all arrived at the course in the morning it was evident that the 2024 tournament would be one defined by weather as much as golf. There had been heavy morning rain, and the forecast did not look great.

However, the teams gathered at the first tee and Richard Mair led SanWedge out and got the tournament underway with a drive right down the middle of the first fairway.

Teeing off first for the EuroDov Tour was Allan Kinnear – who incidentally sunk the winning putt on the 18th in 2023 – as his drive dissected the middle of the fairway, it was game on.

And game ready was the EuroDov Tour, they’d win 3 of the opening first holes and half another to set the tone for the day.

Match 1 that saw Richard Mair & Joel Morrison take on Allan Kinnear and Andy Love the EuroDov Tour wasted no time getting to 2 Up thru 5 holes.

Match 3 – two holes behind – had also seen Stuart Allan and Paul Gowens get to 2Up thru 5
In fact, by the 6th hole the EuroDov Tour was up in 5 matches and All Square in one.

Match 3 – Callum McNeill & Duncan Tweedie versus Stuart Allan and Paul Gowens wasn’t even close. The EuroDov pairing of Allan/Gowens were 6Up at the turn, with the only blip for them losing the 11th hole before closing the match out 7&5 and putting the first points on the board for the EuroDov Tour.

Close behind them, however, was the last match of Daniel Forrest and Callum McAndrew versus Denis Duncan and David McColgan. The EuroDov pairing of Duncan/McColgan won 6 straight holes before halving the 7th, another half at the 9th extended the match but it was won 8&7 on the 11th.

In match 2 Ally Greenshields and Daniel Peck were the only early hope for the SanWedge Tour as they raced off to 2Up thru 2 before eventually being pulled back to All square through 6 by Kevin Brannan and Stuart Sutherland.

The match would see EuroDov Tour 2Up thru 8 before being pegged back to All square thru 10. It was a relatively tight affair until the SanWedge duo won holes 13 thru 15 and managed a half on 16 to win 3&2 and get SanWedge Tours first points on the board.

Match 1 would conclude next on the 18th hole where Peck and Morrison, despite never leading once in the match, found themselves 1 down with 1 to play and won the hole to square the match.

Match 4 went the way of the EuroDov Tour as Greig Baxter and Alan Duncan, despite losing the first hole, never allowed any red on the board before closing out 4&2.

The final match saw Adam Blyth and Dean Black take on Rory Malloch and Jim Robertson. It looked like that match would be a win for the SanWedge team when they went 3Up with 4 to play bit a run of three holes by the EuroDov Tour pairing took up 18 where thankfully to Captain Richard Mair the SanWedge guys salvaged the win at the last.

At one point in the morning session the EuroDov Tour were leading in every match and it looked like the contest was over before lunch, but as the players dried out and fuelled up the SanWedge Tour had a respectable deficit of 5 points to 7 with 12 full points available in the afternoon.

The EuroDov Tour team knew that 5 points was all that was required to retain the trophy and the hallowed 5.5 to win it and after the captain’s speeches the players were ready to head out on to the course again and do battle in the name of the Carnegie Cup.

Richard Mair led from the front again against Allan Kinnear – it was a tense affair as they sought to get the early point and the afternoon momentum. Kinnear won the first hole, with halves on 2 and 3 keeping the score at just 1Up in favour of the EuroDov Tour.

Mair would win the 4th and 5th but a half on 6th and win for Kinnear on 7 brought it back to square. Kinnear won 9 and it remained 1Up to the EuroDov Tour till Mair won 14 but back-to-back wins for Kinnear got the match to 2Up – the biggest lead of the whole match – and he’d hold out and win the match 2Up on the 18th.

Despite being the first match out, Kinnear was not the first point on the board in the afternoon. That honour went to Paul Gowens in match 5 who closed out his match with an emphatic 8&7. Gowens played a total of 23 holes over the matches, winning 7&5 and 8&7 to register the performance of the day.

As Kinnear was closing out his match to give the EuroDov Tour a 9-5 lead so too was Daniel Peck, who in match 2, had fought back from 3 down thru 7 to take the match down 18 all square and then went on to win the hole and the first points for the SanWedge Tour in the afternoon, closing the gap to 9-6.

However, simultaneously in match 4, Alan Duncan was closing out his match 2&1. His dominance in the match was so great that he never once lost the lead, going 1UP on the first and never going back to square once, 10-6 to EuroDov Tour.

Match 3 was the next to close out and it was tight affair between Greig Baxter and Ally Greenshields. Greenshields got to 2Up after 5 holes but Baxter – ever the master at matchplay got to work and had the match squared by 9. Greenshields would win 10 and lose 11 then 5 halves would be punctuated with a win for Baxter sending up 18 with a guaranteed half point. Greenshields managed to win 18 and the game was tied in what felt like an appropriate result for such a match. 10.5-6.5 to EuroDov Tour.

At 10.5-6.5 it felt like a landslide victory was on the cards for the EuroDov Tour. They needed just 1.5 from the remaining 6 matches on the course and if the win was inevitable, the crushing level of victory felt ominous.

The next point in was crucial and in match 6 Stuart Allan found himself 1Dn after 9 and 2 Dn thru 11. Could there be a glimmer of hope for the SanWedge Tour in the shape of Dan Forrest. After winning 12 and 13 Allan had squared the match, he’d win 14 and 16 to take it to 2Up and then win it 2Up on the 18th to make it 11.5-6.5 for the EuroDov team.

However hot on the heels of these points came the SanWedge fight back. Joel Morrison won 4&2 against Stuart Sutherland, in a match he was never behind in and Duncan Tweedie won 1UP over EuroDov Tour captain Kevin Brannan, in a match he never led once in until the 18th hole.

Suddenly as the literal rain clouds gathered the metaphorical ones were parting bringing hope to the SanWedge Tour as they got it to 11.5-8.5. At this point they were Up in 2 matches, square in 1 and losing 1 so still all to play for.

The next point on the board went to Dean Black who never allowed blue on the board in match 11 and closed his match out 2&1.

In match 10 McColgan had led Dan Woods 5Up thru 9 and seemed destined to register a point. But after a dart of wedge from Woods on 11 that halted McColgan’s charge he went on to win 12 and 13 to keep the match going and put the pressure on the EuroDov Tour.

Woods would also win 16 and win 17 to take the match up the 18th.

Woods found the rough to the right and McColgan the fairway bunker left. After digging his ball out the rough Woods sat on the green for 2. McColgan with 135 to the pin from the bunker clipped a perfect wedge just 6 feet short and 15 feet right of the pin.

As Woods rushed his first putt 9 feet by the hole, McColgan with a putt to win the hole, the match and the Cup sent his putt towards the hole with it burning the right edge and finishing just behind the cup.

Woods’ return putt couldn’t find the hole and with McColgan’s putt conceded, the hole, match and cup went the way of the EuroDov Tour.

Matches 11 and 12 saw the teams split the points with Denis Duncan winning for EuroDov Tour and Craig Miller taking the point for the SanWedge Tour.

After all the golf that had been played, the weather endured, the result of 13.5-10.5 was identical to the 2023 match and the EuroDov Tour team were victorious once more.