Pennant finals finish in style
Posted on: 3 September
Pennant finishes in style
The finals of the Goulburn Murray District Pennant were played at Hill Top Tatura on Sunday (3 September) on a very well-presented course, according to the players comments. Huge thank you to Hill Top club for hosting the event and to all the staff for their service and hospitality.
In Division Five Cobram-Barooga played Shepparton, which saw a three matches to two win to Cobram-Barooga. Just one match the other way and the victory celebrations could have been at the other club, and this is further emphasised by the closeness of the individual matches with three of the five matches going to the eighteenth, one of which to the nineteenth in which Greg Brooks defeated Col Basham to seal the team win for the “north of the Murray” team. Greg Day, and Dan Ellis were the other two winners for Cob-Bar and Richard Lancaster and Vinnie Chan the winners for Shepparton.
Happy Cobram-Barooga team of Dan Ellis, Rick Lavery, Greg Day, Greg Brooks and Dave Wilson
Tocumwal and Mooroopna faced off in Division Four and again close individual matches were the call. However, it was the Tocumwal boys who finished in the plus side of the contests. Lachlan McDonald overcome Danny Ralph on the eighteenth. Noddy Ireland just pipped Nick Sidebottom on seventeenth. Murray Chapman defeated Jeremey Lewis and Rod Smith was too good for Wayne Mahar. With four wins to Tocumwal the match between Kevin Crilly and Nick Breslin was declared a draw as it could have no bearing on the result. Congratulations Tocumwal.
Tocumwal Winners Rod Smith, Lachlan McDonald, Noddy Ireland, Kevin Crilly and Murray Chapman
Division Three was played last week in an early final in which Shepparton overcame the consistent Valley View team to register a team win and halt the “all in a row” wins for Valley View. Again, a close contest with Shepparton getting home three matches to two.
In the first of the scratch contests Division Two (no handicaps involved like the previous Divisions), Numurkah played Cobram-Barooga. Ash Simmons got Numurkah off to a great start with a two up one to play win over Steve Carr. Paul Collins (the Numurkah players with the highest handicap) with great team spirit took on Cobram-Barooga and District Champion Chris Tomlinson, but Chris was far too good and registered a big win for the Cob-Bar boys. Rob Koers (C-B) and Sam Robertson (Num) played a neck and neck tussle with Koers winning on the eighteenth. Col McMinn (Num) played Nick Giles the great C-B Captain and registered a 3/2 win. The scene was set with teams at two all. Numurkah Captain Glenn Thompson and Mark Corridan were all square after seventeen. Corridan had a very tough shot over the bunker on eighteen and Thompson played very calculated percentage golf to win the hole and therefore secure the team win for Numurkah.
Ready to celebrate Numurkah Boys Ash Simmons, Colin McMinn, Glenn Thompson, Sam Robertson and Paul Collins
There is no doubt that the Division One contest saw some of the best golfers of the District come together in the challenging match between Shepparton and Numurkah. At either end of the field Shepparton registered two big wins with Mark Jones defeating Andrew Nichols and Luke Dixon overpowering Brett Wildes. Two individual wins to start the Shepparton progress. Nick Ludington then produced a win for Numurkah over Tristan Zito and neck and neck to the eighteenth Numurkah Captain Andrew Storer overcame Jeremey Rath on their last hole. Two each. Daniel Adem from Shepparton and Mitch Grandell Numurkah were all square after seventeen. Grandell got his drive too far left on eighteen and his second shot found the right-hand bunker, while Adem put his second only centimetres off the green left of the pin and played percentage to par the hole and take the win. There was only a shot or two either way in the team contests and that is what we all expect at this level of golf. Congratulations Shepparton to make it five in a row.
As Queen would sing: We are the champions; Luke Dixon, Mark Jones, Daniel Adem, Jeremey Rath and Triston Zito.
The other big plus in all Divisions was the spirit in which the games were played and the gratitude that all players registered for the organisation of the season, amongst several hiccups, and the appreciation expressed to the Hill Top club for hosting the finals. Several of the opponents in the finals will now join as a team to represent the Goulburn Murray District against the other State Districts in Gippsland at the end of the month.