The hotel and course at Owston Hall

The months have flown by again and the 2009 renewal of the Ryder Cup will soon be upon us. The southerners in fact held a warm-up weekend as long ago as last November, when in admittedly somewhat chilly but nonetheless playable conditions some of the core team members covered 18 holes at Thorpeness on the beautiful Suffolk coast.

This year it is the turn of the North to play host to the challenge event and, as they seek to retain the trophy for a third successive time, they have picked out Owston Hall as the match venue, a place and set-up with which some of their players at least are familiar. Lying a few miles north of Doncaster, the parkland course – which runs to a par 72 6,937 yards – is described as challenging but enjoyable and with hotel accommodation within yards of the 18th green has all the hallmarks of the typical Ryder Cup Challenge venue.

Team news ahead of the event, scheduled for the 15 & 16th May – a little earlier than usual, is now available and there are changes on both sides from 2007. North captain David “Jack” Horner has announced that Sam Wilkinson and Mark Wallis will come in for Jimmy Curley and Phil Lister “Batley”, both of whom were unable to make themselves available for selection. Sam is not new to the unique challenges of the match having acquitted himself fairly well, albeit on the losing side, at the inaugural event in 2003. Mark will be a familiar face to players on both sides from the annual Calco Cup (where incidentally he ‘moosed’ last Autumn) and indeed a familiar name to everyone given that he shares it with South’s 2007 debutant – hopefully this circumstance will not cause too much confusion!

South team at Thorpeness, November 2008

Simon Hordern will lead the southerners’ assault this time around and has three new players in the team following the surprise withdrawals of Bob Batch and Dave Hubbard (citing financial constraints), Simon Harris being the other 2007 player who is not on this year’s roster. Coming in then, and all as Ryder Cup debutants, are Kevin Fernandez (a southerner who actually lives in Yorkshire), west-country favourite (and 2008 Calco Cup winner) Gavin Whitworth and Robert Avis, an unknown quantity who is essentially the captain’s own pick.

These changes have raised a few eyebrows – not least the fact that South bring in the Calco winner whereas North select the Calco ‘moose’ – so perhaps we will see a match every bit as close as the 2007 8-8 tie which saw North retain the trophy by the narrowest possible margin, rather than the 12½-3½ mauling of the last North home event. Neutral fans will certainly be hoping so …