As the EuroDov Tour season ends it is always fitting that the Tour returns to its spiritual home, Kinross Golf Courses. Born on the 7th September 2013, the first RyDov Cup featured 12 players who set-out unknowingly that 9 years on 24 players would be fighting the same battle, over the same course.

Kevin Brannan and Stuart Allan led their teams onto the Bruce Course for the morning singles matches. 12 matches worth 1 point a piece, a chance to help your team get their hands on the hallowed Cup and write your name into the history books forever.

The morning started off with the first ever call off in RyDov Cup history, the call off propelled Brannan from the role of Vice Captain to Captain and immediate decision to be made about the line-up. Brannan took the decision to compete against Stephen and John Hedges taking responsibility for 2 points in the morning matches.

Team Brannan had selected 8-time RyDov Cupper, and 9-time Major winner, David McColgan to hit the opening shot and lead Team Brannan out for the day. McColgan’s drive was sent straight down the middle of the fairway and the RyDov Cup was underway.

The 2 opening matches featured veteran RyDov Cup players, David McColgan and Stephen Green, represent Team Brannan against two RyDov Cup rookies, Graeme Rose and Stuart Harwood, represent Team Allan.

McColgan pieced together an excellent first hole with a drive down the middle and a wedge to a foot to collect birdie and the first hole of the day. Green, who found the bunker on his approach played an excellent shot out of the bunker and down for an excellent par and the hole.

The rookie pairing of Rose and Harwood would hit straight back on the 2nd hole to square the matches as they walked on to the 3rd hole.

Behind them Hedges Snr. and Hedges Jnr. headed out against Kevin Brannan. Brannan halved the first hole with Hedges Jr. and lost to Stephen Hedges a further half on the 2nd with Jr. and a win over Snr. sent him to the 3rd hole all square in both matches.

The 3rd hole is a tricky par 3 with danger lurking all around, Brannan sent his shot straight down the pin and watched as the ball pitched 4 feet from the pin and release to a foot past the hole. He’d move 1Up in both matches.

Match 5 headed out as Barry Cunningham took on his father-in-law, Andy McGregor. After two holes, McGregor, had seized the upper hand winning the first two holes, but Cunningham would hit back winning holes 3 and 4 to square the match.

Andy Love would take the middle match for Team Allan and faced Alan Duncan. Love would come out the traps fast and leave Duncan in his wake winning the first 4 holes.

Stuart Allan, Captain of Team Allan, played in match 7 against Allan Kinnear. It was finely poised match with holes 1 and 3 halved, Kinnear would win 4 but wins on holes 2 and 4 would give Team Allan captain the lead.

Richard Mair, making his RyDov Cup debut, played alongside his Captain and against Daniel Peck. After halving the first match Mair would run of 3 straight wins with a Peck response not coming till the 5th by which time he was already 2Dn.

Denis Duncan and Graeme Connor renewed old rivalries but wins on the first two holes seemed to be pointing to a different outcome from their previous match. Duncan stemmed the tide with a win on the third, but Connor won again on 4 to take him back to 2Up.

Callum McNeill making his debut in the RyDov faced off against Jim Robertson. Neither player took control of the match through the early exchanges with 2 halves and a win each through 4 holes.

The final pairings out were Stevie Orr against Stuart Sutherland and Kieran Lynch versus Paul Gowens.

Orr and Sutherland match nicely with two halves and a win apiece through 4 but Lynch took more control of his match. After losing the first he’d win 2 and 3 and halve the next two.

As the matches made it to the 5th hole the match was poised at 6.5 – 5.5 in favour of Team Brannan.

By the turn the lead for Team Brannan had stretched to 7.5 – 4.5. McColgan and Green had both strung together successive holes through holes 5-8 and held leads of 3.

Andy Love held on to his lead albeit it the 4-hole lead had been reduced to just 1 by the ninth. His teammate, Richard Mair, in match 8 was up by 4 and seemingly cruising. Team Allan was also up in match 9, overturning a poor start to win holes 5 thru 7 to hold a 1-hole lead at the turn.

The final two matches were split with both teams leading in 1 each.

No sooner was the back nine underway before the points started to come in. Stephen Green and Richard Mair put the first points on the board for their teams winning 5&4 and 7&6 respectively. Next up was Kevin Brannan winning 5&4 and 4&3 over Hedges Jr. and Hedges Snr. respectively.

After the conclusion of four matches Team Brannan were 3-1 up. The next point to come in was David McColgan in the lead group. After a commanding lead at the turn, he’d drop 5 holes on the back nine to come up the 18th 1Up. Both McColgan and Graeme found themselves on the green in 2 and putts for birdie meant the veteran, McColgan, had defeated rookie Graeme Rose.

The points would start to come thick and fast, Cunningham, who was 3 Down at the turn won holes 11 thru 15 – in the most dominate stretch all day – to take his match to 1Up with 3 to play. After losing the 17th he went up 18 All square but managed to win the hole and the match to deliver Team Allan’s second point.

After winning holes 1 thru 4 at the start of his match Love didn’t really look like losing his match and after winning the 17th hole won 3&1 to add another point for Team Allan.

Team Allan’s leader, Stuart Allan, would be in the next match to finish. With 9 halved holes throughout the round, it was a tightly contested affair, but he’d eventually lose 2&1 to Allan Kinnear.

After 8 matches it was tight on the leader board with Team Brannan leading 5-3. The last 4 matches would set the tone for lunch and the rest of the afternoon. Every single match went the full 18 holes, but it would be Team Brannan celebrating over lunch.

After losing the 9th hole Graeme Connor found himself 1 Down to Denis Duncan. However, he’d go on to win 10, 12 and 14 to take a 2-hole lead. He’d lose the 17th but a half on the 18th was enough to send the points to Team Brannan.

Match 10 was all square at the turn with McNeill and Robertson trading blows and no getting any advantage in the first 9. McNeill was the first player to record back-to-back holes but was pulled straight back by Robertson who won 11 and 12 then went on to win 14. He’d find himself 2 Up thru 14 and very much in the driving seat until McNeill won 15 thru 17 and found himself 1Up with 1 to play but a match that had been back and forth for 17 holes wasn’t going to go away quietly and a win on 18 for Robertson made saw the first halved match of the day.

Match 11 was another tight affair between rookie Stevie Orr and ever-present Stuart Sutherland.

Sutherland was 2 Up at the turn but wins on 10 and 11 for Orr soon pulled that back. Sutherland would win 12 and 13 but Orr would come back fighting on 15 and 16 and win on 17 for Sutherland sent him up the 18th 1Up and 1 to play and a halved hole was enough for Team Brannan to claim another point.

The final match between Lynch and Gowens would also go up the 18th but after going 2 Down with 5 to go Gowens run off three consecutive holes to lead 1Up and 1 to play and another 18th hole putt from Gowens was enough to win the final point of the morning.

Team Brannan claiming 3.5 points from the last 4 matches giving them a decisive 8.5-3.5 lead going into the afternoon.

As the afternoon matches prepared to head out, Team Brannan knew 2 wins, or 4 halves was enough to lift the Cup and they got to work early. Team Brannan would win all but 1 of the first holes in the 6 matches and would win 2 or more holes to open 3 of the matches.

The first points of the afternoon were delivered by Love/Cunningham. The pair had won their singles matches over Duncan and McGregor respectively and would find themselves 3Up thru 9. They go to 4 Up thru 12 and a win on 14 put the match to bed 5&4. Team Allan was now down 8.5 – 5.5.

The next point on the board however went to Team Brannan, leaving them just one win short of the Cup.

Peck/Robertson faced off against rookie team Harwood/Rose. After going 3Up thru 3 Peck/Robertson dropped 2 holes to slide back to 1Up, they’d get to 3 Up again but lost three straight holes around the turn to be back at 1Up. They pairs would exchange hole until halves on 16 and 17 saw Team Brannan win 2&1.

The next points in were for Team Allan. The match concluded on the 15th hole and saw the scores go to 10.5 – 7.5. Stuart Allan and Richard Mair formed a deadly pair getting to the 10th 4Up. It was only a matter of time and a win on 14 and 15 finished it 5&3.

Any joy for Team Allan was soon eradicated however as up in front on the 17th the partnership of Gowens/Kinnear finished off the father and son pairing of Hedges/Hedges delivering the 2 points and the 12.5 points needed for Team Brannan to win the Cup.

The last two matches saw Brannan/Connor and McColgan – playing solo due to player withdrawal – get to 5Up at the turn and both teams held on to win 4&3 and 3&1 respectively and take Team Brannan’s score to 16.5.

The final score was 16.5 – 7.5 in favour of Team Brannan and represents the largest winning margin in the 24-player era of the RyDov Cup.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this review of the 2022 RyDov Cup and make sure you check out the interviews from the day over at EuroDovTour.com