The morning singles are in, and the analysis has been shared, EuroDov Reporter has Team Love leading Team Brannan by the narrowest of margins 7-5 heading into the afternoon round.

In 8 RyDov Cups the team leading in the morning has gone on to win the Cup, but three times the afternoon matches have overturned the result, and none more famously than the 2013 and 206 editions where Team Dov overturned a 4.5 – 1.5 deficit to win 7.5 – 4.5 and a 4-2 deficit to retain the Cup 6-6.

The afternoon matches matter and with such a tight morning session they could be crucial so let’s take a look at each match, and EuroDov Reporter’s insight.

So, let’s get down to match 14.

The second match of the afternoon format has the hallmark of classic. Love is sending out big hitter Stuart Allan with steady, reliable and highly effective Paul Gowens. And Brannan fights fire with fire sending out matchplay supremo Baxter with Stevie Orr.

Love’s partnership of Allan and Gowens combines 6 EuroDov Tour wins and two players who know each other’s games really well. Gowens’ reliable game from the tee will allow Allan to unleash his power to maximum effect that could spell disaster for his opponents.

Gowens debut saw him win alongside another power hitter in Allan Kinnear and his 2023 partner Stuart Allan possesses a 70%-win rate in the format. Love may have just unleashed an unstoppable machine on Team Brannan.

Speaking of Team Brannan, Baxter and Orr are now mean feat themselves. The combination features 3 Tour wins – including a major – and they’ll fancy their chances as much as the next guy.

Baxter’s 63%-win rate in the format is good enough for T8th in the all-time records and he’s twice been the recipient of the Kinross Medal – awarded to the best Greensomes pair in the afternoon. Orr’s debut saw him defeated 3&1 in a match that was tighter than it looked on paper.

The secret for these pair will be dovetailing bad shots but both players have shown great bounce-back ability during their time on Tour and that can become tiresome for opponents.

With little over a month to go there is still time for handicap fluctuations but currently the handicap favour is in of Team Love by 5 strokes. Again, like match 13 it’s not an unsurmountable difference, but it feels just that little bit more in the context of this match.

So, what does this all tell us? Well, it’s clear that this match has four players, that when playing to the top of their potential, could be very explosive. However, it feels like there is potential for the wheels to come off more than just the golf cart in this afternoon match.

If EuroDov Reporter was a betting kind of person they’d probably look for consistency and that falls squarely on the shoulders of Paul Gowens in this match. His game has the ability to be the foundation on which Stuart Allan’s power game thrives and that foundation is what gives them the nod and the win in the eye of EuroDov Reporter.

Team Love 11 – 5 Team Brannan