Fine & Country and The Guild of Property Professionals have put their sister-company relationship firmly to one side this week as they go head-to-head in the inaugural Agency Challenge Cup at Celtic Manor.
What began as an idea for a friendly round of golf has developed into a three-day contest involving 28 golfers, three championship courses, team uniforms, live scoring, walk-on music, captains, vice-captains and even a disciplinary committee. There is also a trophy to be won.
The competition teed off yesterday, with three different formats across Celtic Manor.
Fourball Better Ball on The Montgomerie opened proceedings, and will be followed by today’s singles matches on The Twenty Ten – the course that hosted the 2010 Ryder Cup – before Saturday’s deciding Pairs Texas Scramble on Roman Road.
Leading Fine & Country into battle is Jonathan Handford, director of Fine & Country Midlands, while Ian Crampton, sales director at Ferndown Estates, captains The Guild team.
For three days at least, corporate camaraderie is being replaced by handicaps, matchplay and bragging rights – with the losing team presumably facing a long journey home and an even longer wait for the inevitable office WhatsApp messages.
The only question now is whether the inaugural Agency Challenge Cup proves to be the start of a friendly annual tradition – or a perfectly good way of ruining relations between two sister companies.
Jonathan Handford, captain of the Fine & Country team, said: “There’s a lot of friendly banter flying around at the moment, but make no mistake, we’re there to win. The fact that Fine & Country and The Guild are sister companies makes this even more fun, because we know each other well enough to enjoy the rivalry and give each other plenty of stick. We’ve got a strong team, we’ve got the kit, we’ve got the walk-on music and now we just need to deliver on the golf course. The cup is coming home with Fine & Country.”
Ian Crampton, captain of The Guild team, said: “I think Jonathan has confused confidence with wishful thinking! We’re looking forward to getting out there and putting The Guild name on the trophy. It’s a brilliant opportunity to bring people together from across the property industry, but once we’re on the course there will be no favours. We’ll have plenty of laughs, but we’re absolutely going for the win, and we intend to have the bragging rights for the next 12 months.”
Iain McKenzie, CEO of The Guild of Property Professionals, added: “What I love about the Agency Challenge Cup is that it captures the spirit of what we want our industry to be about. Yes, there’s a trophy and everyone will want to win, but the bigger picture is bringing good people together, building relationships and creating a bit of fun along the way. Fine & Country and The Guild may be sister companies, but I suspect that relationship will be tested over the next three days. I’m looking forward to seeing some great golf, plenty of competitive spirit and, inevitably, a few questionable decisions from the disciplinary committee.”
