ST. MAARTEN GOLF ASSOCIATION

 

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The annual event of the Concordia Cup Golf Tournament was held over the weekend of November 9th and 10th . Started in 2005, this tournament is based on golf’s “Ryder Cup“ format and pits the Dutch side St. Maarten Golf Association ( SMGA ) players and French side Saint Martin ( Les Tamarins ) players. The event is held over two days with 18 players per team. Scoring is 1 point for a win, ½ point for a draw, 0 point for a loss.

On Saturday morning 36 golfers started playing at the Mullet Bay Course in teams of “2 against 2“for 9 holes.

This is termed as “Best Ball”- the lowest score of the 2 being the one that counts against the opponent’s lowest score. The SMGA players’ team managed to go ahead with a point’s score of 5 vs 4 to the Les Tamarind team.
Following on, all players went straight on to play the remainder of the course with a different format. In teams of 2, the players had to hit the same ball alternately until the end of the hole. This time the French players fought back gaining 5 points vs 4 points scored by the SMGA players. As a result, after the first day, the competition remained tied with 9 points each.

 

Sunday morning the format was 18 individual matches. SMGA players had to win 10 out of the 18 matches to win back the cup. A daunting task and one that sadly did not come to fruition, with Les Tamarins gaining a successful 10.5 points against 7.5 for the SMGA team. Thus, Les Tamarins golfers retained the Concordia Cup 2024 with a 19.5-to-16.5 point win.
 

This much anticipated competition has been a part of the golfing calendar since 2005 making 2024, the 20th annual Concordia Cup tournament. Presently the Dutch side has won 10 and the French side 10.
 

Keith Graham ( President SMGA) thanked Jan Peter Holtland and Fred Boureau for their work on the scoring
and organization, and then with a small tear in his eyes handed over the Concordia Cup to Fred Boureau ( President Les Tamarins ) to the very loud cheer from the well-played French players.
 

The Concordia Cup tournament, although very competitive, is played based on friendship and in
good spirits and all players look forward to continuing this prestigious tournament for many more years.