Club Golfers Play on Golf’s Greatest Stage at Carnoustie

42 competed in the second playing of The R&A's 9 Hole Championship Final

1999 Champion Golfer Paul Lawrie with the finalists of The R&A 9-Hole Championship
1999 Champion Golfer Paul Lawrie with the finalists of The R&A 9-Hole Championship
(Image credit: R&A, Getty Images)

Forty-two club golfers competed in the second playing of The R&A's 9 Hole Championship Final at Carnoustie yesterday.

Club Golfers Play on Golf’s Greatest Stage at Carnoustie

The Final was contested over the first four and last five holes of the Championship Course at the famous Angus links before The 147th Open Championship to be held this week.

Christopher Cudahy and Andrew Sabin of Tadmarton Heath in Banbury, England were the overall winners of the Stableford competition. The pair returned a winning nett aggregate score of 41 to be crowned champions.

Christopher Cudahy and Andrew Sabin of Tadmarton Heath

Christopher Cudahy and Andrew Sabin of Tadmarton Heath

Dunblane New in Scotland, represented by Gary Aitken and Richard McLuckie, finished runners-up, ahead of 10-year-old Evan Taylor and Andy Drees from Foxhills, England.

Champion Golfer Paul Lawrie, together with Bruce Mitchell, Captain of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, presented the prizes to the leading teams.

“To play Carnoustie in its best condition just before The Open was a real privilege and it was exciting, thrilling golf”, said Cudahy. “It feels brilliant to have won the Final and it was a great experience.

“We were playing just ahead of Adam Scott and Rory McIlroy, who were practising on the course, so we felt like we were really part of The Open. The R&A have done a great job and I am sure the nine hole event will go from strength to strength.”

Sabin added, “When you stand on the 1st tee and they call your name out, with all the grandstands around you, it raises the hairs on the back of your neck. It’s a nerve-wracking but fantastic experience. I will remember it for years to come.”

Over 15,000 golfers entered nine hole qualifying events held at clubs throughout Great Britain and Ireland; more than double the number who played in 2017.

The R&A 9 Hole Championship is central to the organisation’s drive to promote this form of golf as an ideal way to enjoy playing the sport in less time, either recreationally or competitively for handicap purposes.

Duncan Weir, Executive Director – Golf Development at The R&A said, “The finalists have had a great experience today and they revelled in the challenge of playing one of the world’s most famous courses.

"We are already looking forward to repeating this exercise at Royal Portrush in 2019."

Please visit www.randa.org/9HoleChampionship for more information.

Fergus Bisset
Contributing Editor

Fergus is Golf Monthly's resident expert on the history of the game and has written extensively on that subject. He is a golf obsessive and 1-handicapper. Growing up in the North East of Scotland, golf runs through his veins and his passion for the sport was bolstered during his time at St Andrews university studying history. He went on to earn a post graduate diploma from the London School of Journalism. Fergus has worked for Golf Monthly since 2004 and has written two books on the game; "Great Golf Debates" together with Jezz Ellwood of Golf Monthly and the history section of "The Ultimate Golf Book" together with Neil Tappin , also of Golf Monthly. 

Fergus once shanked a ball from just over Granny Clark's Wynd on the 18th of the Old Course that struck the St Andrews Golf Club and rebounded into the Valley of Sin, from where he saved par. Who says there's no golfing god?