Men's Golf - Barbados '09

Below, Simon Brewer, one of the Barbados golf team members tells all about his golf experience in Barbados.

The golf was played in fantastic spirit, on a good course, in lovely weather and it was clear the first match was going to be tough when I birdied the first hole for a half!

Unfortunately, Roy (my fellow team member) and I lost this match but the Bajan pair we played against did have a better ball score of 4 under gross when we worked it out! That's fantastic golf! We tried clinging on and both Roy and I played some good golf at times but we were always struggling against a pair very much on form - usually birdies for us were halves!

The second match was a completely different affair. Captain Trudy (who is now considering applying for the Solheim cup captaincy!) talked to me about a mixing up of the pairings which I thought was a great idea - rather than the low handicappers together, split them up with the higher handicappers. This proved to be a master stroke as Sam and I set about dismantling the Bajan pair. Sam was on fire and we gelled as a pair very nicely. The holes Sam didn't play well on, I managed to back him up, and we won comfortably. Captain Trudy was whizzing round on her buggy, Sam Torrance style checking on our progress and, after the match was won, Trudy wore a rather satisfied grin and deservedly so. Sam really was the man and played some awesome golf and it was a pleasure to be his partner and strike up a good friendship. Again, the Bajans proved great sports in defeat as they had been in victory in the previous match. This showed their true great nature.

Overall, it was a draw. However, getting a draw away from home in unfamiliar conditions and on very different style courses was very credible. But, overall, great companionship as well as good golf made it a great experience.

Simon Brewer