The Final Round of the 2022 Men’s Pennant season was played on Sunday with mixed results for the two Nedlands Teams.
Before getting on to the results a special mention must be made of the sponsors of this year’s pennant teams – COOPER and LOURIE and ERTECH.
Thankyou to Aiden Cooper from Cooper and Lourie and John Vennner from Ertech for their continued support of the club. It is appreciated by all.
DIVISION TWO
Nedlands went south this week to Royal Perth knowing that a loss would see them relegated to Division 3. And to make life more difficult they were pitted against the top team – Royal Perth who were undefeated.
It is noted that Royal Perth had six players with GA Handicaps of +1 or better and their highest handicapped player was on scratch. Nedlands had one player on a plus handicap and the rest ranged from 1 to 6. It was going to be a tough ask but Match Play is a different game to stroke and handicaps mean nothing.
The selectors brought in Ajay Dhadli (back from holidays) to replace Aiden Cooper. Ajay was no match for young gun Corley McLernon.
Andrew Ogilvie was 5 down after 9 holes which was too much of a start and he went down 4/3.
Callum White was 3 down after 9 and needed a special back nine to overcome his opponent. This was not to be and he eventually ran out of holes losing 4/3.
Matt Dumble and team captain, Ben Cullinan turned for home square and David Rees was one down at the turn.
So, there was some chance but it needed them all to win and Anthony Joseph to overcome a 2 hole deficit after 9 holes.
Matt’s opponent was simply too strong in the closing holes and Matt went down 3/2.
David Rees was still one down after 15 and in with a chance but lost the next 2 holes – going down 3/1.
Ben Cullinan playing in the no 2 position fought back after losing the 13th and 14th and squared the match at the 15th. A birdie at the par 5 18th gave him his 4th win of the season – an excellent effort.
Anthony Joseph at number 1 needed to have early wins on the back nine but that was not to be and unfortunately, he saw the game slip away over the first 5 holes, bogeying 4 of them. A loss 6/4, against a very talented player who was in fact the 2019 Nedlands Junior Masters Champion.
Final result – a disappointing loss 6/1 and relegation to Division 3 for 2023.
Refer scores and Pennant Table after Final Round below.
Roving reporter’s comment – It has been a disappointing 2 years with the team close to relegation in 2021 and then losing 4 of its top 5 players to other clubs made it difficult to maintain Division 2 statu.s Losing at home in the second last round led to the team’s ultimate downfall. It is going to be tough getting back to Division 2.
Well done to Ben Cullinan for leading the team and also for a stellar season – winning 4 matches.
DIVISION FIVE
The final round of Division 5 was hosted by Lake Karrinyup and apart from winning, Nedlands had to hope that WA Golf Club lost or halved for the team to progress to the final.
Coming into the team this week were Dave Southam and Rehan Alikhan replacing Reegan Cake and Dylan Morgan.
Rehan Alikhan and Rob Pluske got the team off to a flyer, both winning 4/3.
Gus Elliot turned 1 down but won three of the next 5 holes and secured victory at the 17th – 2/1.
John Samuels decided to go back to normal and went the full distance – falling just short when his putt at the final hole for a half stopped 6 inches short. So he lost 1 down.
After last week, team Captain Scott Van Heurck came back from a 3-hole deficit after 6 holes. He won the next 4 and went on to record a convincing 3/2 victory.
Damon Watkins could not get into the match and was 3 down at the turn. A further loss at the 11th really sealed his fate and whilst a win at the next saw a glimmer of hope his opponent finished steadily and Damon went down 4/3.
Fresh back from his stint in Division 2, Dave Southam never gave his opponent a sniff – 6 up after 9, 7up after 10 and 8 up after 12 – an 8/6 thumping.
Final result – a convincing 5-2 win.
So now what was the WA Golf Club doing? After an early surge by their opponents, they turned things around and ended up running out easy winners, 4.5/2.5. So, WA Golf Club go through to the final – bad luck boys.
Refer scores and Final Pennant Table below.
Roving reporter’s comment – It is a game of “if’s and buts”. But at the end of the day the final result is what counts. I am sure that victory will come in the near future.
Well done Scott van Heurck. It is not an easy job at the top.
From Greg Fitzhardinge on behalf of the team captains.
