Men’s Pennant Update – Round 3
Published on 28th June 2023 in Club, Guests News, Members NewsSupport our teams this Sunday, 2 July 2023, for the Men’s Division 1 vs WAGC (12:20pm) and Division 4 vs Hartfield (2) (8:20am) Round 4 playing at Royal Fremantle!
Men’s Division 1
Final result was a win to Bunbury GC 4 matches to 3
It was a cold and wet winter’s day that greeted the travellers to the Bunbury Golf Club on Sunday morning. The weather looked a little threatening and so it proved to be with the first showers starting moments after Alan Becker hit off on the par three first hole.
The Bunbury golf course was well presented in spite of the obvious heavy rains over the past week. The greens were true in play and the home team obviously knew the conditions well and ground out a good win in spite of spirited opposition from our boys. It is a very fine line between winning and losing and we could have seen it go either way.
Alan Becker playing his first Div 1 match of the season finally overcame the wily Michael Stirk 2/1 after a really tough see sawing match. Michael was beaten by Braedon Law last week playing at No 4 and dropped back to No 7 this week making Al Becker’s win even more meritorious.
Also stepping up was Pat Sevilla playing at No 6 against Aron Jones in another really tight match; with never more than two holes in it all day. Unfortunately, Pat finally succumbed on the last to lose 1 down. Both players played the full range of recovery shots with Aron having “the rub of the green” overall and his home course knowledge finally prevailed. It was a great match and a pity there could not have been a joint result.
Mandeep continued his winning ways and remains our only undefeated player in this his debut season. He started brilliantly on the first, draining a ten metre birdie putt for a two to start him on his merry way. His mate, Steve Gibbs made up for it on the second; chipping in for a birdie to quickly equalise. The match seemed to go like that all day with both players ahead at various times. Mandeep bravely held on in the end finishing a steady “par par” to emerge victorious 1 up.
Mandeep also enhanced his reputation as he was promoted from No 7 to No 5 for this weeks match in Bunbury.
Rocco playing at No 4 for the first time in his Div 1 career played evergreen Danny Ennor in the most interesting tussle of the day, Rocco finally went down 3/2 but the margin really didn’t reflect the way the match was played. A couple of errant tee shots, mixed with some mighty “bombs”, amazing recoveries, putting that was a mixture of unlucky and brilliant told the story of Rocco’s match. In the end, it was Aron’s steadiness that got him over the line.
Hatchy’s unavailability this week forced Connor to promote himself up the order to No 3 where he copped a double whammy; playing Tim Gilotti who dropped down from No 1 last week. Tim started hot and this continued through the first three holes when Connor stopped the rot when his putter came in from the cold. He fought back in the middle holes before again being out steadied and going down 4/2.
It should be an interesting matchup next week at home against WAGC if Connor goes back to No 4 and draws young Braedon Law, currently playing No 4 in their team.
Alex Maxwell, cemented the No 2 spot as his own with a resounding 6/5 win over Bunbury’s evergreen Greg Golinski. Alex was away to a good start and was never headed; even after
spinning one back off the ninth green into the deep green side trap and, with his “mate” safely on the green and close, Alex crafted a difficult bunker shot to tap in distance a halved the hole. He will be a good watch next week at home and hopefully his great form will continue.
Playing No 1 in any team means that you cop the best the other mob has to offer and this was no more exemplified than with Zach on Sunday. He played a very hot Bailey Hampson, who coming off a 5/3 win last week continued his form throughout this tussle. However, Zach never to be overwhelmed fought strongly to stay equal with Bailey for most of the match. There were some opportunities for both players with Zach missing out on the chocolates in the end. A halved Par three sixteen ended the tussle losing 3/2. Great home form should see a turn around for Zach next Sunday against WAGC at home.
Next week RFGC will be tested by WAGC at our home track, teeing off at 12:20pm. Jason will certainly produce a true test and our course will again be on show to all in the golfing community.
We look forward to seeing some club members out and about supporting the boys in this crucial fixture.
Thanks again to Pat and Boris for stepping up and taking us to the wire in Round three.
A special thanks to our RFGC members for giving up the entire course next Sunday for Golf WA Round Four Pennants. We certainly hope to reward that with a resounding win.
Wayne Murray
Div 1 Team Manager
Men’s Division 4
Division Four took our talents to the other Royal Club in WA in a top of the table clash with Bunbury on a nice cool sunny day.
Off at number 7 was Brett Roberts and once he determined that making pars was a good idea, he was able to join the Dockers back in the winning list with a 3/2 victory.
At number 6 was Andrew Langdon and, after he warmed up after being 2 down after 2, he started to hit green after green in regulation. This was too much for his opponent and Andrew walked away with a 7/6 win.
Back in Division Four for the first time this year was Patrick “Kearnage” Kearney at number 5. He found himself up against a big hitter. Some good golf mixed with some not so good golf left Kearnage 1 down with 2 to go. A birdie, par finish was not enough to overturn the deficit and he fell 2 down.
Off at number 4 was Darren Goss up against former WA cricketer in Dave Bandy. Even with starting with a birdie and playing some good golf, Darren found himself 4 down after 10. Cue the magic – working back to 2 down, Darren hit a 3 wood on the 5th hole that cleared the bunker and hit the flag to stop 3 feet away – Birdie and back to 1 down. Par 3 6th – another birdie from 25 feet – back to square. 7th – par putt sat on the lip and said yes it will drop! All square playing the 8th and the birdie putt just missed. A great comeback and a squared match.
Off at number 3 and making his pennants debut for the Club was Shaun MacBean. His opponent worked on the theory that at RP, the wider the better!! This resulted in some good escapes and Shaun being under the pump. Shaun applied pressure but his opponent responded with 4 birdies in the last 8 holes to take Shaun down 6/5.
At number 2 was Stephen Dark in a close match most of the day and after 12 holes he was 1 down. His opponent then made 3 amazing up n downs and Stephen was not able to respond resulting in a 4/3 loss.
And, at number 1 was young Kloden Brown. Kloden drove the ball great but alas his seconds shots weren’t doing the right thing. Luckily, Kloden possesses a great short game and he nailed some important 3-4 footers. This was too much for his opponent and Kloden took the win 3/2.
So a fitting 3.5 – 3.5 result.
We now found ourselves in 3rd spot on the ladder, on games, with 4 teams all tied on 5 points.
Next up is a home game up against Hartfield (2), at 8:20am.
Brett Roberts
Men’s Division 4 Captain
Men’s Division 5
Round 3 vs Meadow Springs
After a loss in round 2, we looked to steady the ship this week heading out to Gosnells to tackle Meadow springs, who on paper were a lot more evenly matched. Following beautiful weather and seriously speedy greens in Bunbury, we were treated to a damp, muddy and slow course at Gosnells.
Off at 7, we welcomed Rob Murrell fresh off a European holiday with the toughest match up giving 3 shots. Rob looked as though he hadn’t missed a beat bombing one off the 10th to kick us off. Rob was in control through out the match and never looked back making light work of his mate 4&3.
Dan Waters followed off at 6. Dan was in front the entire day and couldn’t wipe the smile off his face. I’m not sure if this was because he was 2 or 3 up, or because he was driving his mother-in-laws Tesla with dockers plates after they took care of his bombers… Much like his bombers, Dan went cold late with 12 putts in the last 3 holes seeing him give up his lead to lose the match 1 down on the last. A though finish!
Last years MVP, Michael Ruggiero was off at 5. A wayward tee shot nearly OOB on 10 was not the start Ruggers was after. However, pennants has a funny knack of changing things, quickly. A chip out from the houses left him 120m in. What should happen next but a hole out birdie and a conceded hole. Golf. Unfortunately this was about all the luck Rugg had today, succumbing to his first loss (3&2) in 3 seasons, a mighty effort to be undefeated for so long!
Chris Davenport was next and keen to turn some of his close finishes his way and get on the board. A snap hook start off 10 was less than ideal. Unfortunately, Davo’s driver was the weak link today with plenty a snap hooks around a very unforgiving Gosnells. A 5&4 loss and a booking for a new driver sorted this week. Watch out fairways!
Dave Pollock went in at number 3 and I don’t have a lot to say about this match as it finished early. Very early. Dave got the job done beautifully with a HUGE 8&7 win before cracking an early wild turkey and politely showing his mate around the course. Dave finished the round in 1 over par 71. In the wise words of Stewart Jarvis, Dave is solid.
I went off at number 2. An easy par and win up 10 was a good start. Losing 6 of the next 7 holes to be 5 down was not. Luckily for me, golf happened, and I took a strangle hold of the match clawing back into it with birdies up 18 and 2 to get me back to 2 down. Some errant putting from my mate and all of a sudden I was 1 up with 4 to go. A bogey on my conceding shot hole on 8 (our 17th) saw us square going up the last. A solid tee shot from my mate and a missed green and a fluffy chip wasn’t getting it done for me falling 1 down on the last for the second week in a row.
Mark Merlino anchored the team at number 1 again. Some wayward golf early from both players including marks mate going out of bounds on the par 3 14th. A few tight holes here and there eventually saw mark get to 2 down with holes running out. Mark is as cool as a cucumber and was never flustered winning the 5th, 6th and 7th to swing match from 2 down to 1 up. A shot hole on the 8th couldn’t ruin marks momentum closing out for a solid win 2&1.
Unfortunately it is back to back losses for Div 5 with us falling 4&3 again. Golf happened today and some tight matches finishing on 18 sadly falling Meadow Springs way. We pick ourselves up and head out the the other Royal course in Royal Perth to tackle the host club this week. Well done to the other grades this week.
Marcus Cronan
Div 5 Captain
Men’s Division 6
Wet, muddy and cold… Sunday morning at Gosnells GC for our third-round fixture against Secret Harbour. This courses greens usually handle rain well, and it had recovered from the previous days down pour and played well enough given the circumstances. We all struggled a bit to adjust to the soft greens, but the rain stayed away and the day got better.
The Secret Harbour team was strong on paper, these are the boys that normally play in division five, and their top three players were off 2, 4 and 4, so a strong lineup. I can report that our team rose to the occasion and scored a solid 4.5/2.5 win over them to bring us to third on the table.
We welcomed Alex Hall to the team, and in his first pennants match for RFGC rose magnificently to the occasion, winning 2/1. Alex said he was nervous, but driving the green on the first hole was a handy start! With his brother on the bag, he steadied his nerves and played a great round, giving us our first win, 2/1.
Kane gave us our second win, following his great form last week with another solid round against the Secret’s Captain. It was pretty even around the front nine, but he put his foot down on the back nine. When I caught up on the 15th he was already three up and closed the deal for a great 3/2 win.
I was the third win in and was happy with my performance. I played a solid low marker and we were well matched until he showed his class and had me three down at the turn. He then bogied the next eight holes in a row. I slotted some good putts and birdied two holes to nail him 2/1.
Following behind me was Stuart in our number two slot. I saw some great shots from them both, but Stu hung in and he was all square with two holes to go. His second just missed the 17th green, but he chipped it to tap in, which completely rattled his opponent. One up going down the last, he played three smart shots whilst his opponent fell apart and he was home, 2up.
Elijah reckons that tee to green he would have won, 9/8, but putting -18 down. He lost 2/1 and has been told to get a putting lesson, new putter, or both.
Michael Ingram has been very solid as our number seven, but was “schooled” 5/4 this week. After the round he admitted he was the last to leave the birthday party on Saturday night, where drinks were forced upon him…
The last man in, as always was Pete. He just loves playing 18 holes and against the Secret’s two marker, he was finally getting shots for a change. A thrilling battle ensued and Pete managed to be 1up with one to play. Both players had the famous tricky pitch to the 18th green for their third shots. The Secrets player hit it to the far left of the green, leaving a tough putt to follow. Pete hit a magnificent fat shot twenty metres down the fairway. He followed up with a great pitch to 2 metres. The Secrets player hit a terrible first putt, but nailed the three meter slider to win the hole and square the match.
We play Royal Perth, the table leaders next week at Hartfield. A 7.30am start will be freezing cold and test the mettle of all players.
Stewart Jarvis
Men’s Div 6 Captain