Tournaments

Bulgaria versus the Rest of the World, the brainchild of Roumen Anastassov entered its third year on Sunday 2nd of November 2008 at St.Sofia Golf Club & Spa.

The format once again was Matchplay - Foursomes, Betterball and Singles played over 27 holes.

The objective of the tournament is to play the cream of the Bulgarian golfers against the best that the Rest of the World has to offer. As it transpired, the Bulgarian fielded a team with lower handicaps than the Rest of the World, and needed to perform to their best if they were to take the title which was won by the Bulgarians in 2006 and shared in 2007.

Captain for the Rest of the World, Tom Coreno was quietly confident that his team would dominate but Roumen Anastassov, captain of the Bulgarian side and a wily campaigner knew that his side would fight to the end. The only lady member of the team, Iliana Dimitrova gamely agreed to play from the men’s markers and off the men’s card which would test her mettle.

On a day, which was clear and crisp as Sofia enjoyed an Indian summer, the two teams did battle. The click of well-struck shots emanated across the course, as the competitors challenged each other. Unbelievably, almost every match went the full 27 holes as neither side would give way.

Iliana Dimitrova and Stoyan Dimitrov fought to a half in the foursomes against Tom Nelson and Mike Hennessy, club matchplay champions for 2008. The two Emils (Kaloyanov and Markov) lost to David Butts and Stefan Ebner. Captain Roumen Anastassov and Oleg Chernev beat Alan Rogut and David Hampson on the 9th hole; Stefan Kralchev and Plamen Hrankov were too strong for Tom Coreno and Philip Welsh while the pairing of Yuh Hyun Koo and Jan Karasek beat Rado Rashev and Zdravko Dachev. The Italian twosome of Hermes Frare and Niccollo Ubertalli went down to Ivan Trassiev and Alex Evtimov in the final match of the foursomes. Result – 3 ½ Bulgaria to 2 ½ ROW.

The Betterball matches got underway, and the ROW team stepped up a gear. Perhaps chastened by their losses in the morning, the teams of David Hampson and Alan Rogut, and Hermes Frare and Niccollo Ubertalli lifted their games to put points on the board for their team. Iliana Dimitrova and Stoyan Dimitrov lost to Tom Nelson and Mike Hennessy as did Tom Coreno and Philip Welsh to Stefan Kralchev and Plamen Hrankov. Emil Kaloyanov and Emil Markov beat David Butts and Stefan while Ebner Yuh Hyun Koo and Jan Krasek beat Rado Rashev and Zdravko Dachev. Result – 4 to 2 for the ROW.

As always the singles matches are the most important. With only one point separating the two teams and twelve matches to go, both teams were capable of lifting the title.

Incredibly, the end result was 5 wins for the ROW and 5 wins for Bulgaria. The remaining two matches were halved to make the singles result – 6 points each.

The Rest of the World had managed to lift the title for 2008 by a slender margin of one point total result 12 ½ ROW to 11 ½ Bulgaria!

Each team received medals to commemorate their participation and congratulated each other on the great spirit in which the event was played.