Rob Paul will spearhead Europe’s bid to retain the Fightmaster Cup against the United States when the 2018 match, again featuring 24 of the world’s best one-armed golfers, gets under way at Walmer & Kingsdown GC on Thursday (September 20).
Although the team selections and draw for the opening fourballs won’t be made until Wednesday evening, Europe team captain Jerry Woodley confirmed that Paul, a long-time member of Walmer & Kingsdown, is “guaranteed” to be named among the eight European players who will contest the initial series of fourball matches on Thursday morning.
And that’s no surprise in view of the 36-year-old’s impressive past record in the Fightmaster Cup which, like this month’s Ryder Cup, takes place every two years between Europe and the USA. Six-handicapper Paul, who hits the ball using only his left hand after being born with cerebral palsy, has played in all five previous Fightmaster Cup matches, accumulating 16 points out of a possible 24 in the process, and is a former winner of the One-Armed Golfers’ World Championship.
Now Paul, who lives in Granville Road in Kingsdown, is hoping to use his local knowledge to help the Europe team maintain their grip on the Fightmaster trophy after their 15-13 victory in California two years ago. He said: “It would be fantastic to win it again here at Walmer & Kingsdown and I hope I can feed off the home crowd. I want it to be more of an advantage than an added pressure.”
Another Walmer & Kingsdown member, Neil Branston, is vice-captain of the Europe team and he said: “Staging the Fightmaster Cup is a huge honour for this club and it will be a proud moment for Rob when he represents Europe on his home course.”
Deal mayor Nicholas Tomaszewski and W&K club president Des Ladd will head the dignitaries at Wednesday evening’s opening ceremony, and W&K club patron Lord Boyce, the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, will present the Fightmaster trophy to the winning team during a private dinner for the teams and officials in the clubhouse on Saturday evening (Sept 22).
The W&K club are welcoming spectators to the three-day contest and have arranged extra parking areas. The full timetable of matches is as follows – Thursday: fourballs from 7.30-8.58am, foursomes from 1.30-2:50pm; Friday: fourballs from 7.30-8.58am, foursomes from 1.30-2:50pm; Saturday: singles from 10.58am-12.58pm.
The full line-up of the teams is – EUROPE: Terry Adnams, David Bailey, Keith Dewhurst, Darren Masters, Rob Paul, Dave Waterhouse (all England); Stuart Griffin (Scotland); Cian Arthurs, Andy Fagan, Michael O’Grady (all Ireland)); David Schutsander (Sweden);Petri Takkunen (Finland).
USA: Jason Aken, Vince Biser, Jeff Dawley, Steve Day, Steven Ford, Alan Gentry, Ryan Mathews, Carson Novins, Steve Shipuleski, Pat Schroeder, Johnathon Snyder.