MEMBERS of Windermere Golf Club exacted revenge against their Spanish counterparts in a Ryder Cup style tournament held in the Lakes.

Last year Windermere visited Alcaidesa, southern Spain, for the inaugural match and lost but were victors when the Spanish team came to English shores earlier this month.

The format was a Ryder Cup style, but with mixed teams. Two days of four ball matches were followed by a day of singles and Windermere came out overall winners by 10 to 7.

And David McDonnell, Captain of the Windermere Team, received the Trophy from Ian McNee, his opposite number in what the Lake District club hopes will be a good omen for the real Ryder Cup, which kicks off at Gleneagles tomorrow.

"The Alcaidesa/Windermere link arose some years ago when I re-met Ian McNee out there while both of us were marshalling at the Volvo Matchplay at Finca Cortesin in Spain," said McDonell. "I have a house in Alcaidesa and Ian McNee lives out there permanently.

"We first met at Brize Norton way back in 1991 during the first Gulf War where I was running Flight Operations and he was the senior engineering officer for the VC10 Squadron. Small world really to re-meet 18 years later.

"It has taken us a couple of years to put it all together and I took a team to Alcaidesa in September last year, where we were soundly thrashed. We extracted retribution this year!"