Tavistock Cup 2012: Team Lake Nona Wins Fourth Straight Title

Though Tiger Woods and his Team Albany were in third place after the first day of the Tavistock Cup, but they were firmly in the hunt, just three strokes back of the leader, Team Isleworth, at 23-under par. The two-round exhibition took a turn for the worst after that, however. Woods shot even-par, the rest of his team combined for 3-under on the day, and Team Albany was left in the dust by the others.

Team Lake Nona, the host club, was in last place after the first day and found itself in second place behind Team Queenwood halfway through Day 2 before eventually storming ahead to clinch victory, led by Retief Goosen and Ross Fisher, who each shot 5-under on the day. No one on Team Lake Nona shot worse than 1-under. That up-and-down quality play gave them the win at an astounding 41-under par.

Team Isleworth leads at the conclusion of Day 1 of the 2012 Tavistock Cup, thanks to a great performance from Bo Van Pelt and Sean O’Hair. The pairing managed a score of 13-under par, far and away the best score from any team on the day. The pairing of Tiger Woods and Justin Rose, representing Team Albany, also had a great day as they shot 9-under par. They were one of four teams to record that score, the second best on the day.

Ben Curtis and Peter Hanson of Team Lake Nona, Bubba Watson and Charles Howell of Team Isleworth and Ross Fisher and Retief Goosen of Team Lake Nona were the other pairs to record scores of 9-under. Team Islesworth’s combined score of 26-under has them in the lead. Team Lake Nona sits at 24-under, Team Albany is 23-under and Team Queenwood is 17-under.

Team Isleworth leads the pack at 23-under on Monday of the 2012 Tavistock Cup, with the first pairings entering the final stretch of Day 1. Team Albany is in second at 22-under, led by the pairing of Tiger Woods and Justin Rose shooting 9-under through 17 holes so far. Playing best ball, the pair have birdied 10 times and bogeyed once going head-to-head in Group 1 with Bubba Watson and Charles Howell III (9-under) of Team Isleworth .

Bo Van Pelt and Sean O’Hair of Team Isleworth lead all pairings at 12-under through 15 holes. The pair recorded an eagle on 15 to give their team a late one-stroke edge. Team Lake Nona sits in third place at 20-under, with the Ben Curtis-Peter Hanson and Ross Fisher-Retief Goosen pairing each shooting 7-under. Team Queenwood trails far behind at 13-under.

The Tavistock Cup kicks off this week, and sadly, you can’t go. The event is shown on television, but no paying spectators are let into the event. Only members of the participating country clubs, residents of Lake Nona Golf & Country Club, invited guests and sponsors will be in attendance. Starting on Monday, professional golfers that are members of four different country clubs get together and play a two-day team tournament at Lake Nona in Orlando to see which country club has the best golfers. The purse is $2.15 million even though there are no ticket sales, thanks to some big time sponsor and TV money.

Here are the teams, representing four different country clubs: Albany is in the Bahamas, Isleworth and Lake Nona are in Florida, and Queenwood is in England. Tiger Woods is scheduled to participate after pulling out of the WGC-Cadillac Championship just over a week ago with an Achilles injury.