Men’s Pennants Update – Round 5
Published on 12th July 2023 in Club, Guests News, Members NewsDivision 1
Wayne Murray, Division 1 Manager
My worst nightmare has been realised as I pen this note; we narrowly lost our match on Sunday at Yokine, the Dockers were smashed and our Test team went down screaming at Headingley in England.
It was a typical winter’s day at the WAGC in Yokine, a nice brisk breeze, some mottled sunshine and no sign of rain. Connor, as usual won the toss and we at RFGC again batted first. The golf course was as always, up there, beautifully presented and challenging.
Scott Baker and his mate, lefty Brad White started us off and went hard at it all day, finally squared the match after exchanging the lead seemingly on every other hole. Both players had their chances and jumped on any errors. Anything other than a halved match would have been unfair to either player.
We welcomed Pat Sevilla back into Div One side and he was drawn to play an up and coming Lucas Ferri. Lucas got away to a hot start in spite of his nervousness and was quickly a couple up. This young guy at 22yo is possibly the longest hitter in Div One and today he landed a lot. Pat fought hard through the middle holes but finally succumbed 4/3.
Mandeep Singh, this week playing at number five against the evergreen veteran Paul Patterson had a great tussle throughout with the lead changing several times. It came down to the wire with Paul hanging on to win 1up after holing a two metre par put on eighteen. It was Mandeep’s first loss of the season and he should be very proud of his achievements.
Connor Faulds playing at four had a topsy turvy round against young Edmund Hall. Both players struggled to get an advantage and Ed always seemed to be just ahead. Connor
finally succumbed 3/2.
Rocco Cucchiara, promoted to play at number three against Cottesloe stalwart Grant Lewis had the better of his man for most of the day but a little luck deserted him at crucial times and they headed up eighteen all square and finally halved their match in comfortable pars.
Alex Maxwell playing at number two against Cottesloe’s most consistent performer in Mark Solomons had probably the toughest match of the round and finally prevailed 3/2. Alex was solid throughout and only allowed himself to go one down at any stage. Alex has only lowered his colours once this season to LKCC’s Simon Liddell and it is pretty clear that his time on the Collegiate tour in the US has proven be very beneficial to his game and his appetite for competition.
Zach had the toughest draw this round playing against Michael Hanrahan Smith. Both players have been in excellent form and it was a clash to look forward to. The match see sawed all day with never more than a hole in it until the penultimate hole where Zach finally prevailed to win 2/1.
Sunday’s loss leaves RFGC laying in fifth place, two games and percentage outside a finals spot. A win next week against Joondalup should see us well placed for a tilt at the final two and a crack at the chocolates. Following these young golfers around Royal Perth on a sunny Sunday afternoon is a really nice way to spend the day and support the Club. The team tee off at 11:30am.
Division 4
Brett Roberts, Division 4 Captain
Division Four journeyed down the freeway to take on Royal Perth at a wet Kwinana (seems it was the only pennant venue on Sunday to get rain!).
First out was Kloden Brown and he just did Kloden Brown things as he plotted his way around the course with steady shot after steady shot. This was too much for his opponent and Kloden took the 4/3 win.
Next was Andrew Langdon who was down early but manoeuvred his way to a 2 up lead mid way through the round. Back to square after 15 holes – unfortunately Andrew played the wrong ball on to the 7th green (his 16th hole) and a bogey down the 8th meant a 2/1 lost.
Patrick “Kearnage” Kearney was next off at number 5 taking on a bit of a firebrand. Pat decided fairways off the tee were lava and decided to put his short game to the rest – a test he passed with flying colours. Making some ridiculous up n downs and it was all too much for his opponent – Kearnage wins 4/3
At number 4 was Darren Goss and he just couldn’t get his A game into gear. He fought hard but just couldn’t overcome a deficit and fell 4/2.
Brett Roberts was next out at number 3. Try as he might, just couldn’t get in front of an opponent who took metronomic golf to a new level. A missed putt here and there lead to a 4/3 loss.
In the penultimate match, Stephen Dark was involved in a ding dong battle with neither player getting more than 1up. A nice up n down in the long 6th put Stephen 1up with 3 to go. An untimely 3 putt on the next sent it back to square. Opponent found the trees on the 8th leaving Stephen 1up playing the last. After a nice drive, Stephen’s second clipped a tree and found the bush. Stephen just missed the 7 footer to win his match- all square at the end.
Alan Becker went off at number 1 against Andrew P Brown (also a RFGC member). After being down most of the match, Boris fought back to square with 1 hole to go. After just missing the green, he unfortunately missed his par putt and he came away with a 1 down loss.
So a 2.5/4.5 loss drops us to 3rd in the ladder. Still a chance for another final but need results to go our way
Off to Bunbury this Sunday to take on the 2nd place Hartfield (1) team.
Division 5
Marcus Cronon, Division 5 Captain
Fresh off our third consecutive 4/3 loss we headed out bright and early to Hartfield to take on a luckless Mandurah to try and turn the tables and get back on the winners list.
Off at 7 was Elijah Turriff-Smith who arrived in the dance kit from the last nights party ready to shake a move on his opponent. Despite some concerns about what club to hit on the 1st, Turry eventually picked driver in a statement of applying pressure. Unfortunately, the pressure was on Turry after he shanked his driver in front of both teams. Needless to say, pennants happened and he some how won the hole. Turry also kept on dancing through 17 holes to knock up a timely 2&1 win!
Off at 6 was Rob Murrell against one of the Junior Bandits off 13 (seriously…). Giving up 4 shots was a big ask and made harder by the fact Rob’s mate was hitting 2 yard draws with every club in the bag that resembled the shot shaping of a low marker. Some gutsy golf saw Rob hang in until the dying stages before falling 2&1.
At 5 was Dan Waters who was pretty keen to bounce back and have a big win. Playing against a bloke that every single golf gadget, all the top-of-the-line gear and a motor mouth, Dan let his golf do the talking. Hitting fairways and greens like a clinic Dan dispatched his mate quickly for a 6&5 win and a moment of peace and quiet before finding the rest of the troops.
At 4 Michael Ruggiero followed against another youngster from Mandurah. Some wild and very unsocial golf from both players saw them exploring some of the picturesque bushland lining both sides of the Hartfield fairways. As the golf improved and time ran out, the young lad from Mandurah eventually pulled away to a 4&3 win.
Dave Pollock went out at 3 and was keen to replicate his last outing from Gosnells which saw him land a big win. And, didn’t Dave come close again, this time putting his mate away early 5&4 and settled in for a quiet jacks and coke before heading off to waste an afternoon supporting the Dockers.
At number 1 again, we had Mark Merlino anchoring the side. Mark was up and about for a good showing and the golf was good from both players early. Not too many fairways missed and steady irons to the greens all day. A dual on the greens would follow and unfortunately Mark fell victim to a hot putter to go down 3&2.
At this stage, the match was 3 games a piece and for the third time this year seemed to hinge on my pairing. With demons in my mind of losing both other pivotal games on the 18th I wasn’t letting this be the third. 1 down with 4 holes to go with both landed some punches including a big 5m putt from me on 16 to halve the hole after been in trouble off the tee. A lucky ruling my way on 17, again saw us halve 17. 1 down going into the par 5 18th… here we go again. A big drive and an attack at the green saw me up there for 2. My mate was in trouble. 5 would be enough for me. After a tricky chip over the bunker to middle green I just needed 2 putts to win the hole. I was in for 5, thanks to the great support from all the other boys we were able to get across the line and sneak a half!
A solid fighting effort again from us saw us take a half. Unfortunately, we are only games won off the bottom of the table so some solid golf in the final 2 rounds is required! We move on to Meadow Springs this week to take on the table toppers Bunbury! Good luck to all teams.
Division 6
Stewart Jarvis, Division 6 Captain
We had great weather for our round five match at Royal Perth this week. We had been warned that the greens were “not great”, but they were cut and rolled and no real problem. The team managed to get a great 4/3 win against Rockingham, who were second on the ladder.
Alex Hall was in Bali this week for a wedding, so we called upon our junior player Judd Ingleton to join us in his first game of men’s pennants. He played well, and really enjoyed the whole experience. In a tight match, he was ahead by a few and then gave them back to his experienced opponent. Eventually he managed to fight out a half and a valuable result for the team.
Michael Ingram founds some nice form after a tough week last week. Playing his opponent “off the stick”, he putted well and secured an important 3/1 victory.
Ryan Hudson had to give three shots this week, and that proved to be the difference in their match. He was well up after the first five holes, but his opponent fought back and then put the squeeze on him. A few wayward drives cost him at the end, going down 2up on the last hole.
I was also giving three shots this week. I was two up after two, and then misread the card without my glasses on, conceding a hole that wasn’t won…idiot. Anyway, I played my best round in two years, was 3 under par and won 7/6.
Kane Litterick played another very solid round and was dormy three with his opponent all but ready to throw in the towel. But….golf is a funny game. A stiffed shot on the par three rattled him a bit, and it was dormy two. Then a race to see who could make double bogey first brought it back to dormy one. His opponent played first on the short par four eighteenth, and was on in two. Kane duffed his next and when his putt for par lipped out it was a halved match. Great pressure experience for him to put away for the future.
Stu Wade had another really solid day out, and putted well also. Giving two shots didn’t bother him and he stormed home with a 5/4 win. Given he had called RPGC home for fifteen years didn’t hurt one bit…;-)
Our number one, one eyed Pete didn’t have a great result, but enjoyed the walk. He was four down but fought back to square. He then went down to a birdie blitz 3/2.
Royal Perth put on some lovely afters food and drinks, and it was a real pleasure to sit together and relive the days events there. Next week we roll on the Royal Rockingham, which I always enjoy playing.