2025 Britain's Cup Recap: Team USA Retains Cup, Team Europe Gains Ground

As competition in the 2025 Britain's Cup wrapped up on Sunday afternoon at the iFord Golf Centre in Bournemouth, UK two things were quite evident: the Americans are a dominant force in FlingGolf, but the Europeans are closing the gap.  When all matches were concluded the leaderboard showed Team USA with a 16-4 victory over Team Europe but it does not do justice to the level of competition exhibited by both teams.

The week kicked off with several days of preliminary activities all aimed at exposing the sport of FlingGolf to a wider UK audience.  First, there was a tour of London by Team USA and play at two courses outside of London in Stockley Park and Uxbridge.  After a Media Day and practice rounds on Wednesday,  the two teams engaged in a Pro-Am with members of the local Bournemouth community on Thursday after hosting schoolchildren and teachers from Longfleet Primary School for a series of clinics. 

Day 1 - Fourball Matches  

On Friday, the 2025 Britain's Cup officially began in earnest.  Team USA and Team Europe split the two morning matches, with a high level of competition throughout.  The two top-ranked Women FlingGolf players, Britt "Reggie Queen" Hammond and Amy "Full Range" Lewis from Team USA, were able to gain a point from Europe's "The Rage" Annabelle Ray and Katie "Frizzy" Dawkins.  The match was a tight affair early, but after Team Europe won the 6th hole to put themselves only one down, brilliant play by Team USA allowed them to rattle off the next 6 holes and close out the Europeans 7&5.  The other match was extremely dramatic.  After Team Europe's Captain "Bulldog" Paul Barran and Byron Hutcheson found themselves down two after 13 holes, they birdied the next 2 holes to tie the match through 15.  It was still all-square heading into the 18th hole when Byron Hutcheson sank a dramatic 35-foot putt to win the match for Team Europe.

In the three afternoon matches, the Americans exhibited their prowess in the sport by taking all three of the matches.  World #1 Men's player Austin "Showtime" Ebersole and Tim "Theory" Durr were down early to Team Europe's Gary Watts and Connor Sharp. but stormed back to win their match 4&3.   Similarly, in the only co-ed match of the day, "Scantron" Sam Scannell and "SommerFling" Christina Sommerfield caught fire early and never trailed, closing out Team Europe's Theo Hall and Molly Nice, 6&4.    The final Friday match likely ended up being the match of the day. 

Jamie "Silverback" Kinvig competing for Team Europe

With Team Europe's Jamie "Sliverback" Kinvig and Rodney "The Rookie" Watts battling against Zac "The Mountaineer" Mulvey and Obediah "Backflip Birdie" Harter.  Trailing early, Kinvig and Watts turned things around to lead by 1 at the turn after Watts holed out a sidecar from off the green.  After halving the next 6 holes due to a lot of clutch putting on both sides, the Americans were able to tie the match on the Par 4 16th hole, when Obediah Harter placed his approach shot within 8 feet and knocked in the birdie putt.    Heading into the Par 3 18th hole all-square, Zac Mulvey won the match with a perfect shot that nearly resulted in a hole-in-one and left the ball 18 inches from the cup with the crowd cheering.  Kinvig nearly holed out his sidecar from the fringe to tie the match, which might have resulted in at least a half point for the Europeans were it not for Mulvey's heroics.  Heading into Day 2, Team USA led the overall match 4-1.    

Day 2 - Foursomes Matches 

On Saturday, there were five more team matches, but the format was alternate shot rather than best ball.  As this format has been used in all Doubles Tournaments on the New Swarm Tour, it was evident that the Americans significant experience with this format would give them a decided advantage over the Europeans.  In addition, Team USA captain Austin Ebersole wisely created pairings that largely consisted of teammates that had previously played together in tournament competitions. 

As a result the pairings of Zac Mulvey and "The Hootman" Jacob Hooter, Christina Sommerfield and Amy Lewis and the "Mo-Bros" Titus and Obediah Harter were able to put the pressure on Team Europe early and all built up commanding leads heading into the back nine and all three of these matches ended midway through the back nine.   

There was another familiar pairing that drew a lot of interest.  Ebersole and Scannell, the WLF's #1 and #2 ranked Men's players, reconstituted Apex FlingCrew for the Britain's Cup and re-united for team play.  The pair had not competed together since the end of 2023 when WLF Team Play became regionalized.  The 4x Doubles Champions when playing together were pitted against two of Europe's top players in Byron Hutcheson and Jamie Kinvig.  The two Americans picked up where they left off and left no doubt why they were such a dominant pair when playing together.  Although, Hutcheson and Kinvig battled all day, Ebersole and Scannell were able to close them out 4&3.   

Byron "Buzz" Hutcheson putts for Team Europe while Team USA Sam "Scantron" Scannell looks on

The lone bright spot of the day for Team Europe was in the co-ed Foursomes match, where Paul Barran and Annabelle Ray played against Tim Durr and Britt Hammond.  Hammond and Durr got out to an early lead, but Team Europe stayed focused and won 5 holes during the middle of the match to open up a 4 hole lead.  Highlights included superb sidecars by Ray and Barran knocking in a heavily breaking 25 foot putt on Hole 9 to put the Europeans up by 3 at the turn.  Although the American took a few holes on the back nine, this lead proved to be insurmountable and Team Europe closed them out 4&2 to leave the overall match 8-2 after 2 days.

Day 3 - Individual Matches 

The final day of the Britain's Cup was on Sunday which featured 10 individual matches and ultimately decided the cup.  Heading into Sunday, the Americans only needed to win 2 of the individual matches (a total of 10 points) to retain the Britain's Cup for another year.  With the depth of the American team that featured the Top 3 ranked Women's players in the world and all seven of the Men's players being drawn from the Top 10 Men's players, it was going to be a tall task indeed for Team Europe to win the 8 1/2 points they needed to take back the Britain's Cup.  Predictably, the Americans were able to win several matches in dominating fashion, jumping out to an early lead and closing out their opponents early in the back nine.

But several of the matches were close affairs that demonstrated how much progress the Europeans have made when compared to their American counterparts.  Rodney Watts had the unenviable task of going up against World #1 Ranked Men's player Austin Ebersole and despite falling behind early, managed to halve several holes to prolong the match and then managed to win a few holes on the back nine.  Watts was ultimately closed out by Ebersole 4&3 on the 15th hole but the young player from Bournemouth gained a valuable learning experience by competing shot for shot with the World's top player, which is ultimately what the Britain's Cup is all about. 

Austin "Showtime" Ebersole of Team USA sinks a short putt 

In another close match, Katie Dawkins found herself down 3 after 11 holes against Amy Lewis, but then gradually chipped away at her lead and was only 1 down heading into the 18th and final hole.   After making par, Dawkins forced Lewis to sink her par putt to win the match 1-Up.  Similarly, one of Europe's top players, Byron Hutcheson was pitted against the Men's #2 ranked player in Sam Scannell.  Scannell won two of the first three holes but then Hutcheson settled in and went back and forth with Scannell over the next 8 holes, and was only one down after 11 holes.  Although Scannell's tremendous play consistently put himself in a position to put away Hutcheson, Hutcheson refused to go down and while playing through the pain of an aggravated groin injury he consistently was able to get up and down or make clutch putts to stay in the match, including matching Scannell's birdie on Hole 14. 

After halving 6 holes in a row, Scannell still maintained a one hole advantage heading into the Par 3 Hole 18.   After Scannell put his tee shot within 5 feet and was able to make par, Hutcheson needed to make birdie to tie the match and came up just short.  But this match highlighted how far Team Europe has come, as one of their best players was able to go toe-to-toe with one of the top-ranked American players. 

However, it was not a complete sweep for the Americans and Team Europe was able to secure several points on Sunday.  In an early match, Jamie Kinvig jumped out to an early lead against Zac Mulvey and went three up after 6 holes.  Mulvey, however, refused to go down easy and battled to within one several times, including on Hole 12 where he holed out a difficult sidecar.  But Kinvig, who has experienced several close Britain's Cup matches over the last two years, stayed the course and after a birdie on Hole 17 was able to close out Mulvey 3&1.   

Paul "Bulldog" Barran of FlingGolf UK and Team Europe with teammate Annabelle "Rage" Ray discuss the day's play with World League FlingGolf Commissioner John Pruellage

Meanwhile, Team Europe Captain Paul Barran engaged in a very entertaining match with Tim Durr.  Barran put the pressure on early, winning 2 of the first 3 holes and was 4 up through 10 holes.  But Durr refused to go quietly and made birdies on Holes 11 and 14 to gradually whittle away Barran's lead to 2 holes.  On both the 16th and 17th holes, Durr dialed up the excitement by executing flawless approach shots that landed well within Barran's and threatened birdie.  However, Barran was able to make his pars and when neither of Durr's birdie attempts fell, Barran and Team Europe closed out the match 2&1.     

At this point the two teams gathered together for the presentation of the Britain's Cup to Team USA and then settled in with a traditional Sunday roast dinner.  As an indication of the strength of the international community the two teams continued to socialize well through the afternoon and discussions were already underway about the 2026 Britain's Cup. 

As the week long FlingGolf showcase and competition concluded, it is clear that the future looks bright for the international growth of the sport.  Paul Barran's iFord Golf Centre and other courses in the UK are serving as models for how to grow the game to Europe and beyond.