Tournaments

The 2008 St.Sofia Club Matchplay Knockout competition was contested by 32 of the strongest teams. Played over a series of knockout rounds, off handicap, the eventual winners were hard to pick. Matchplay is the oldest form of competition and usually brings out the best in golfers. This event was no exception.

The eight teams that competed for the title set forth into battle.

In the first round, Krassi Guergov and David Hampson took on the young pairing of Michal Kanev and Petar Kaloyanov and first blood went to the youngsters.

Georgi Kolchakov and Kalina Markova had a shock win over the pair of Ivan Trassiev and Alex Evtimov. MartinPetrov and Koscio Ikonomov held Tom Coreno and Alan Rogut to a draw before losing in a sudden death decider over extra holes.

Radoslav Rashev and Iordan Boshnakov proved too strong for Seth Underwood and Mark Vanderlooy on the day while Valio Arizanov and Stoyan Dimitrov beat Georgi Manchorov and Nikola Kiurkchiev. In another surprise, Tom Nelson and Mike Hennessy dispatched Jivko Tenev and Emil Markov. Stefan Kralchev and Roumen Anastassov narrowly beat Clive Leach and Albena Toneva.

Round two and the tough guys came out to play. Rashev and Boshnakov continued their good form beating Markova and Kolchakov. Youth showed its teeth as Kanev and Kaloyanov advanced into the quarter-finals beating Arizanov and Dimitrov. Iliana Dimitrova and Bojana kept the family business going by beating Coreno and Rogut. Giant killers Nelson and Hennessy took out the strong pairing of Anastassov and Kralchev.

In the semi-finals, Rashev and Boshnakov fell to Kaloyanov and Kanev while Nelson and Hennessy took no prisoners beating the all-woman team of Dimitrova’s. 

The stage was set for the final show-down, but unfortunately Petar Kaloyanov and Mike Kanev were forced to give Tom Nelson and Mike Hennessy a walk-over in the finals and the 2008 Club Match-play Champions were - Tom Nelson and Mike Hennessy who received the trophy and the prizes of a free golfing weekend to Porto Carras sponsored by Bulgarian Golf Tours owners Bobby Borissov and Christina Borissova.