After a delay caused by the global pandemic, the title of quattro Cup World Champions all came down to a single playoff hole at the stunning Marco Simone Golf Club in Rome.

It was a dream come true for the Australian duo of Joe Taylor and Jason Abbott, and the fact that it was played right down to the wire made the victory all the sweeter.

The Queensland pair had, in their own words, ‘taken their eye off the ball’ when it dawned on them with just a few holes left to play that they had a chance of winning the tournament.

“With only three holes left to play we were leading by a few shots, and it felt then like we could win," says Joe Taylor of the closing stages of the tournament. 

"That turned out to be our downfall as the final three holes were probably the worst we played for the entire competition."

“The team from Switzerland had a higher team handicap than us. That gave them an extra shot for each of the remaining holes which added to the pressure.”

On the final hole of regular play, the Swiss pair levelled the score, forcing the result to go to a playoff. It was nail-biting stuff, particularly given the long delay between winning the Australian quattro Cup final in 2020 and having to wait for international boarders to open up and allow the chance to play a World Final.

“We managed to pull it together for the playoff hole and came away with the win!” says Joe. “It was obviously meant to be in Rome for us.”

For the pair from Audi Centre Gold Coast, it was ‘the trip of a lifetime’ which centred around two passions – ‘Audi cars and golf’.

“For us it was about the experience,” says Joe, adding, “It certainly felt like a long time between drinks [from winning in Australia in 2020], however we were grateful that Audi still held our spot in the World final for when the international travel bans were lifted.”

The pair now join an elite group from around the globe who have played in and won an Audi quattro Cup World Final.

The world’s largest and most celebrated amateur golf tournament, the Audi quattro Cup has attracted the cream of amateur golfing talent since its inception in 1991 with more than 1.3 players taking part in that time. Staged as a series of domestic tournaments held in individual markets around the globe, the national winners from each competition face off each year for the prestigious title of International quarto Cup Champions. A hotly contested tournament played on some of the world’s finest golf courses, the title had not found its way Down Under since Jason Rubenstein and Giore Friede beat the world’s best at the Arabella Golf Club in Western Cape, South Africa in 2012.

This year’s World Final saw the best players from 35 countries head to Rome to play for the coveted title, including the winners from the 2019 national tournaments as well as this year’s national winners, making this the biggest World Final yet.

The venue, the beautiful Marco Simone Golf Club was a fitting venue for such an important tournament, joining a veritable ‘top courses of the world’ line-up from the past 31 played finals everywhere in the past from Ireland to Dubai, China to Sardinia.

“Amazing, beautiful and challenging,” was the verdict on the course according to Joe and Jason.

“The rough was so thick, the fairways manicured to perfection and the greens as smooth as glass,” Joe says of the course which will host the Ryder Cup next year.

The win is an outstanding result for the pair who try to play every week or two depending on other commitments. They are both members of the Coolangatta/Tween Heads Golf Club which boasts two 18 hole course and provides plenty of challenge for Joe (off 17) and Jason (off 20).

Back home on Australian soil, the result and the experience is still sinking in, but it will be one that ranks as a highlight in a playing career that spans 20 years and counting.

Congratulations to Joe and to Jason for an outstanding performance and to all who took part in the quattro Cup World Final. For keen golfers around the country and indeed around the globe, the next challenge awaits when the next Audi quattro Cup season commences again in February 2023.