The “shot heard around the world” was coined at the start of the American revolutionary war against the British in 1775. It was later used when Bobby Thomson hit a walk off home run in the 1951 National League pennant at the Polo Grounds in New York.

It is a phrase that has come to be synonymous with monumental moments in history and in 2023 it’s use was further elevated in the echelons on of history when Stephen Hedges hit the “shots that were heard around the world.”

EuroDov Reporter covered the events of the entire tournament and the nail-biting end to the ninth playing of the RyDov Cup but the From the Locker Room team want to take you back over the final 3 holes of the day and the monumental battle the raged on for the sake of the RyDov Cup.

We join the action on the 15th green Team Brannan’s pairing of Alan Duncan and Stuart Harwood have seen their lead of 4 holes slowly diminish and they sit only 1Up with 4 holes to play. Team Love’s pairing Stephen Hedges and Graeme Rose have found trouble down the right side of the hole and lie for 4 short of the green.

Duncan’s approach to the green has found itself in the right hand rough but with a fairly simple chip. Up and down is all they need to win the hole. Harwood’s chip leaves Duncan a 12-foot uphill putt and he duly sinks it to take them 2UP and 3 to play.

By this time Team Love player David McColgan has arrived on scene to watch the proceedings and we take a minute to chat to him.

“[Andy] Love and I struggled at the end and lost our match 2&1, the board is not looking good, I’ve just spoken to Anderson/Lynch who are 2 down playing 17 and saw Connor/McNeill who are all square on 16, we need points in these last matches or it’s all over.”

There’s a slight wait on the 16th tee and Hedges/Rose are discussing with McColgan what is going on up a head.

Alan Duncan took to the tee first and sent his tee shot towards the green and found the rough short and right. Harwood followed him and a slight over correction saw his ball come to rest back left of the green, just over a small bank in the green.

Staying calm and keeping their order, Hedges heads to the tee and sends his ball towards the green, falling short right – a common leave today.

Rose next up, changes his club at the last minute and sends his ball right down the neck of the flag. His ball comes to rest 25 feet from the pin, but on the green.

Advantage to Team Love.

As Duncan/Harwood discussed what ball to play Stephen Hedges was like a prowling lion, stalking the 25 feet between the hole and the ball, watching, sensing everything around him.

Harwood played the chip on to the green, easily the more straightforward of the chips they faced and left the ball 8 feet short of the pin.

Having a full 360 view of the putt and an air of confidence around him, Hedges steadied himself over the ball and rolled it dead centre, dead wait straight into the hole for a 2 and the hole.

He would say later of that moment that, “we gradually started to claw back the holes putts started to drop & when the I sunk the 25ft putt on the 16th, what a great feeling!”

The 17th hole on the Bruce Course at Kinross is one of those holes that twists and turns and is enveloped by trees and gorse, creating a claustrophobic atmosphere that can squeeze the fluidity out of the best golfer’s swing.

The players arrived at the 17th tee with the match poised at 1Up. Keeping their order, Hedges and Rose went off in corresponding order and both sent their drives perfectly down the middle.

Harwood responded with a hybrid to the centre of the fairway and Alan Duncan’s slightly leaked to the right had rough, but all four balls were playable.

Stephen Hedges said, “When we reached our balls, we knew that Alan Duncan would be playing his second first.

We looked at my tee shot and Graeme’s and although Graeme’s was just in the rough it had the clearer line to the green.”

As Hedges and Rose stood over their ball, joined by teammate McColgan they watched Alan Duncan’s second shot.

Getting the tee shot in the middle of the fairway is only half the battle on the 17th hole, you’ve navigated the tunnel of trees off the first and avoided the left shot, which is disaster in any Foursomes match. Your next shot is a downhill short wedge, often not a full shot, into a green that slopes away from you and thick, thick, rough on the left-hand side and back of the green.

Alan Duncan was 105 yards to the pin, playing off the middle of the fairway and as he made contact it was clear from the off it was thinned and was travelling at great speed. The ball flew the green and hit the rough behind the green like an Exocet missile.

Over to Stephen Hedges to continue the story of the hole.

“As Alan’s ball raced through the green and nestled in the rough, it was clearly advantage us. I settled myself again and took my trusty 7 iron & aiming to the high side of the green hit a lovely pitch n run which landed nicely and ran out on to the green.”

Hedges’ shot was sublime under the pressure, facing a tricky downhill sliding shot is hard at the best of times but when you’ve just watched someone thin one with the match on the line it requires nerves of steel to deliver what Hedges did.

After some time deliberating about their shot Harwood tried to extricate the ball from the rough, but impeded by the boundary wall and the ferociousness of the weeds the ball moved nowhere and the hole was conceded.

To add insult to injury Rose rolled his 8 foot putt dead centre for what would have been their second birdie in a row.

The match was now all square and the enormity of the situation was being felt throughout the course as the crowds gathered at the final hole of the day to watch this epic battle come to a close.

As it stood on the 18th tee Team Love would win the RyDov Cup 13-11 but a win on the 18th hole for Team Brannan would see them get to the hallowed 12 points to retain the trophy.

With the honour Stephen Hedges and Graeme Rose kept their trusty order and as Stephen Hedges remarked afterwards, “I hit a good drive down the middle & Graeme smashed his landing not far from the green nestled in the rough under the trees. Everyone had gathered round the back of the green, no pressure then, we needed at least a half to win the trophy.”

With Team Love in play, Alan Duncan followed Hedges to the middle of the fairway and Harwood opted to send his left over the trees and up the 1st fairway lying only 60 yards from the green.

It seemed to the onlooker it would all rest on the chips of Hedges and Duncan, but as Hedges/Rose settled on playing Rose’s tee shot a debate ensued between Duncan and Harwood.

Duncan, cleared spooked by his wedge shot on 17, was concerned about playing over the greenside bunker and was advocating for Harwood to go back 100 yards and play in from there. After much toing and froing Harwood made the walk back to the ball and prepared to hit it.

Whilst his distance was spot on, he leaked the shot to the right and found the greenside bunker.

Enter Stephen Hedges, he’d only rolled in a 25 footer to win the 16th, his 7 iron chipped secured the win on 17 and now on 18 for the match. Over to him.

“After deciding to use Graeme’s drive & I looked at the options, 7iron pitch n run or 60deg lob wedge, I had to contend with some low hanging branches and the fairway bunker, but as we assessed the situation it was clear Duncan/Harwood were undecided which drive to use.

So I took my time and I had a few swings with the lob wedge & stood back, I could hear the chatter from the crowd, settled myself and took another couple of practice swings, no hurry, take your time I said to myself, just get it over the bunker.

Graeme & I talked through the options, we knew it was our opponents turn to play first, the longer this went on the pressure continued to build. After what seemed an age Alan wasn’t comfortable playing over the bunker, Harwood went back up the fairway & hit Alan’s ball down towards the green, it finished in the right hand bunker, a few cheers & sighs from the crowd, pressure back on me...a few more practice swings, I addressed the ball, one last look I swung the club, great contact, the ball bounced onto the green & stopped less than 6ft from the pin.”

It was his third shot under duress and the third time he’d produced the goods, speaking today he said, “I can still hear the cheers from the crowd!”

Sitting 6 feet from the pin in 2, the pressure was back on Alan Duncan, who moments ago opted not to play the shot, had no option but to hole out from the bunker.

As the crowd silenced and Duncan entered the bunker you could cut the tension with a knife. Duncan drew the club back and as it hit the sand the ball lifted off the deck and caught the lip of the bunker, as it rolled back to his feet, the hopes and dreams of a Team Brannan fight back fell with it.

Duncan lifted his ball, conceded the hole and the match was decided 14-10 for Team Love.

Speaking after the match Graeme Rose said, “I knew that Captain Love was sending us out with a job to do, and that we could be required to seal that winning point down the stretch, and we were glad to do it for the boys. This game’s all about momentum and when it was with us, I was confident we could get the match back to square, even when we were 4 down with 7 to go.

Stephen has a superb short game, and we’d spoken before the game about giving him the right opportunities from 50 yards and in, so I was very confident as he stood over that final chip. Final word goes to Alan and Stuart, who played a superb match and unfortunately for them it just broke our way in the end.”

It was a truly remarkable end to a wonderful day of golf. 24 players, 18 matches, all coming down to the final group and the final green.

It’ll be a while before we see scenes like this again the RyDov Cup, but the tournament is all the richer for them and for a stalwart like Stephen Hedges to be in the middle of it makes it all the more special.