ROYAL Dornoch Golf Club were involved in their own Ryder Cup style showdown when players travelled to the United States to take part in a competition.
Royal Dornoch Golf Club pictured taking on the Country Club of North Carolina.
The Sutherland club took on the Country Club of North Carolina (CCNC) at Pinehurst in what is believed to be the only recurring event of its kind between American and Scottish clubs.
Royal Dornoch Golf Club’s relationship with CCNC believes to stretch back around 50 years. The clubs began holding informal matches in the 1970s before formalising annual competitions in 2011.
The event features 12 players per side, including each club’s professional, and is officially listed on Royal Dornoch’s annual competition calendar, where they play for the Roly Bluck Putter, a vintage wooden shafted club named for a late Royal Dornoch captain who helped establish the series.
This year, the Americans proved too good for Royal Dornoch as they cruised to an 18.5-6.5 victory to claim the putter.
However, Royal Dornoch did take five points in the last day’s singles as they tied for their best point total when visiting North Carolina.
Captains present Roly Bluck to Ziggy Zalzneck.
Despite the defeat, Royal Dornoch club captain Gary Bethune says it is a fantastic tournament to be involved with and highlights the great friendship between the two clubs.
Speaking about the competition, he said: “It just gets better and better. The camaraderie amongst the guys is lovely.”
Comparing the competition to the Ryder Cup, he said: “It’s far worse, the shenanigans.
“No, it is played in the most friendly manner you could imagine. There’s a lot of banter. There’s some alcohol involved which can fuel the banter.”
Speaking about the competition taking place at Royal Dornoch in 2026, he said: “They haven’t a chance. They have a chance, a small chance.”
Royal Dornoch team member Hamish McRae spoke of his pride of being on the team. He said: “To be part of this team is an absolute honour.
“We have the Donald Ross connections of course, but to be invited to come over here is an absolute pleasure. It means an awful lot to meet all the guys here and the hospitality that is shown to us is outstanding and we try our very best to reciprocate when they come to our side of the pond. A lot of friendships have been cultivated over the period.”
Players on the first tee on Day One.
Royal Dornoch general manager Neil Hampton said: “It is such an amazing thing to have such a relationship with a club in the United States. Dornoch is a very small town in the north of Scotland but we are very close to each other. That fact that the relationship started with CCNC in the 60s and 70s is very important to the town of Dornoch itself.”
CCNC Captain Ralph Ronalter was delighted to maintain their club’s undefeated record at home.
“The matches were very close, almost split down the middle. We prevailed and we have the putter for a year — the Roly Bluck Putter.”
“It is very hard to win away. The style of golf. The courses. The winds, everything. It is very hard.
“When it tightens up it gets competitive.”
“We’ve never lost on home soil and they’ve only lost one time on home soil, so it’s very important for us to defend.”
Speaking about what he thinks the competition means to Royal Dornoch members, Ronalter said: “The expression of the players, the joy on their faces when they jump on the plane is amazing.
“The number of friends that they’ve made and the relationships have grown from this. For a wee town in the north of Scotland, the reach that we have now and the global effect the players feel is absolutely marvelous.”
CCNC General Manager Jim Sutton added: “This is an important tradition that goes back to the vision of the founders of the club.
The connection that Pinehrurst and the area and CCNC has to Donald Ross and Dornoch Scotland means a lot. What’s fun each year isn’t just the cameraderie. It’s really just all about golf. It’s been great to host these guys.
“The connection with Donald Ross having been born in Dornoch and then coming here to the States to work doing a lot of his best work in Pinehurst. Ellis Maples who designed the Dogwood course here, his father (Frank) worked on the crew with Donald Ross and was a protege of Donald Ross.
“There’s a fraternal connection even though we are separated by a lot of distance, the spirit of the game is alive in both destinations. It is all about golf but we also get to showcase some great hospitality with some great talent and give them a great experience and make them feel welcome.”
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