Disabled golf teams from around the world have just concluded an inaugural 72-hole, World Team Cup
at the Westerwood Golf Resort in Cumbernauld. Just prior to the Cup was a 54-hole Scottish open event at the nearby Dullatur Golf Club.
The Scottish Championship gross and net events were won by Scot's!! Alisdair Berry of Ayrshire and Colin Brock of Fife took the titles after battling it out with almost 40 other golfers from countries including Eire, Germany, Canada and the Home Nations at the prestigious Dullatur Golf Club.
Stevie Cunningham, the Vice Chairman of Scottish Disability Golf, the event organisers, said, "No
other disabled group has organised such an intensive or comprehensive package of golf. We didn't give the players any practice rounds, just launched them into the mix and got them playing competitively. Dullatur Golf Club were wonderful hosts and looked after us very well. We were introduced to the club by one of our new members Ian White, who plays there regularly and he and the club officials and staff gave us a real treat of golf. We even had a day's golf at Balmoral Estate a few days earlier and that was a fantastic experience".
The World Team Cup consisted of 4 teams made up of 12 golfers + coaches on each team and was played over the Westerwood Course. The teams were Scotland, Celtic, England and a World squad and they played a Ryder Cup format over 72 holes, finishing off with singles, based on a stableford scoring system.
England took an early lead after the first couple of days and managed to maintain that into the early session matches of the final day. Scotland rallied however, taking most of the points available and it went down to the last match of the last day to decide the winning team. England deservedly won that match with Scotland coming a very close second, followed by the World and Celtic squads. A replica trophy was presented to Tony Lloyd the English Captain and the World Cup will remain on display at the Westerwood Resort.
Steve Bramwell the SDGP's Secretary said, "We have received some fantastic support from Trusts and
Foundations from across the UK and the assistance from Scottish businesses which, in these difficult
times, is very welcome. North Lanarkshire Council and their Provost Tom Curley have provided huge support, not only through financial grants for the event, but the Provost hosted a Civic Reception at the world Cup. Additionally, over 50 MSP and MP's gave support to the event, some through a Parliamentary Motion".
Fiona McKellan, the Event Manager at the Westerwood Hotel in Cumbernauld, has kindly agreed to
represent the SDGP as Honorary Captain for 2011. Fiona has been helping to organise disabled golf
events at Westerwood for almost ten years and said, "It's always good to meet up with the guys from
the SDGP again and we hope that we can assist in promoting disabled golf more."
The SDGP now moves on to a 2-day event in Fife and are finalising details for August's events, which
will include games at Dalmahoy in Edinburgh and the Kittocks in St Andrews.
Full details on all the SDGP fixtures, can be found at www.sdgp.co.uk or by email at info@sdgp.co.uk
