Story of the Damage Ryder Cup

The first of three days action at Kiawah started after a traditional South Carolina storm with a rain delay of 3 hours . With everyone keen to get on with it and nerves jangling a gin and tonic on the veranda  was required to settle the butterflies . After agreeing all handicaps and adjusting for slope ratings the pairings were announced . Damages` secretary and treasurer would lead them out and some crafty selection of pairings would lead Team Europe to a sizeable lead after day one . Dean and Murray won the first point with a 1up victory with some doughty play over the closing holes . Samir and Colin out second, gained a magnificent half on the 18th with Samir holing a tricky 12 footer to half the match - something Samir managed to do all week ! John B and Dimitri ( an inspired pairing) won cosily 4+3 securing Greece`s first ever ryder cup point . Steve and Bill , who were 6 up after 6 , held on to win 3and 2 . Ian and Ramon (who was unusually  nervous) kept on Terrier like with Ian holing an unlikely 15 foot put on the last to win the hole and half the match. The final match of day one was a ding dong affair with Hamish and Richard eventually triumphing 1 up to put all blue on the board . Day 1 - (un)Damage(d) Europe 5 - slightly battered USA 1

Day 2 `s golf was on Cougar Point and with some handicap adjustments to Europe  due to some light hearted baiting the night before by team USA , the golf got underway under sunny skies . A fightback by USA was anticipated and it materialised to a degree , however not before the ultra strong pairing of John B and Hamish secured another point for Europe 4 and 2 . Samir`s magnificent putting kept the European team of Samir and an out-of-sorts Murray in it all the way to 18 before losing 1 down . Dean and Ramon also failed to get going though again only lost on the 18th green . Ian and Bill however stopped any potential major USA comeback by demolishing their rivals 4+2 with some exceptional golf from the Ian Penfold commando . Steve and Dimitri produced some comedy golf but managed again to earn a half point on 18 which turned out to be fairly important as Richard and Colin were defeated 3+2 . Day 2  - Europe 2.5 , USA 3.5  . ( 7.5  -  4.5)

Despite a manful effort by team USA and bottles of Jack Daniels to get team Europe slightly the worse for wear the previous evening , all of the damage boys made it to the Ocean course for the singles matches with a 3 point lead . Well , not quite ..... The hero of Day 2 , Ian Penfold Penman decided to try some dry slope skiing with his trolley and putter on the 17th the previous day and unfortunately his ankle ( which swelled up to 3x natural size ) was having none of it . Europe had its non playing captain ! After lengthy discussions with team USA , who , by this stage smelt a chance , decided against offering a half to Ian and instead, Captain Magnifico , the man who has won more Damage events than any other , yes our very own Stephen Ivatt was put up against 2 Americans , to play 2 singles ties simultaneously , cmon yeah , tough huh ....... Nope - lost both .

the singles results were - Hamish won 2 up , Colin Won 4+3 , Steve lost 1dn and lost 3+2 , John won 1 up , murray lost 1dn ( despite holing a 20 yard putt on 18!) , samir halved , Dimitri halved , Bill lost 2+1 , Richard won 3+2 , Dean Won 2+1, Ramon lost 4+3 . Overall singles 6 - 6

Final result Europe 13.5 USA 10.5

A wonderful dinner ensued with a good few drinks , the trophy was presented and decisions made to do it all over again . Brilliant . Bring it on