The first ever Snyder Cup took place at the world famous Belfry golf centre in Birmingham, England.  The Belfry had been home to the Ryder Cup four times and still holds the record of hosting more Ryder Cup matches than any other golf course in the world.  Little did the Belfry owners know at the time that it would also host more Snyder Cup matches than any other course in the world.

 

The backdrop to the first ever Snyder Cup was as a stag weekend for the original Spitfires Captain Sefton Owens.  He devised the idea of getting a group of his friends from Sussex (where he had lived for the past 20 years) against a group of his friends from Surrey / Hampshire (where he'd spent the first 20 years of his life). 

 

The Sussex players formed a team known as the Sussex Spitfires whilst the others became the Rest of the World Rebels.  The Rest of the World moniker was used as despite growing up in Surrey and Hampshire most of the players had moved and lived far and wide.  From Bermuda to Chester to Spain to Somerset.  After the first year the Rest of the World dropped the Rebels moniker for All-Stars and are to this day known as the Rest of the World All-Stars.

 

The original 8 players who competed in the first Snyder Cup were:

 

Sussex Spitfires                Rest of the World Rebels

Sefton Owens                             Nick Hancock

Ashley Williams                         Jason Trimmer

Joseph Oates                              Anthony Startup

Daniel Lawes                              Paul Coates 

 

The matches were originally loosely based on the Ryder Cup which were fought between between Europe and the USA.  However, the first two events were only based over two days and consisted of 1 match of fourballs and a singles match. (The Ryder Cup also included Foursomes).  Each team scored a set number of points for winning their matches.  However, there were also a number of extra points that could be gained for.  The scoring format in the first year was as follows:

 

Day 1 - Format and Scoring

Teams will play in pairs against each other. The best stableford score of the pair will count for each hole. Each match win will be worth 5 points.

 

There will also be an additional 4 points for the team with the best three combined stableford scores.

Each individual player can also earn their team additional points during the round for scoring NET birdies and

Eagles. 1 point is awarded for a NET birdie and 2 points for a NET Eagle or better.

 

Day 2 – Format & Scoring

Singles - The Captains will announce their playing order prior to the tee off. Each match win will result in 5 points. There will also be 4 points for the team who wins the most holes. Therefore, all matches will need to be played through to 18 holes. It will be the combined winning totals of each match, i.e. if someone wins by 5 then the total added to the team score will be 5.

 

This did cause quite a lot of confusion and no one was quite sure who had won until all the scorecards were in.  You could also win your match but get less points than your defeated opponent if they hit a couple of net birdies or won the longest drive and nearest the pin points.

 

The event was such a success that it was agreed it should be an inaugural event.

 

The format was reviewed slightly in 2015, unfortunately, it was more complicated with more points to play for.  2015 also saw the teams increase from 4 man teams to 6 man teams which increased the scoring opportunities further. It was chaotic and confusion reigned as to the actual points scored.  Thankfully it had never been close enough to make any difference to the outcome.

 

However, it was decided that going forward the scoring system should be much simpler and mirror the actual Ryder Cup scoring format.  To enable this to work the competition was extended to 3 days with the addition of foursomes to the original fourball and singles format.  This would allow a greater number of points to be played for

 

2016 will see the first use of the new scoring system.  There will no additional points to be won, just 1 point for winning a match and a 1/2 point for a tie.  2016 will also see an increase in team sizes from 6 to 8.  Meaning they'll be 16 golfers descending on Fota Island to fight it out.