JAMBEROO’S  Pennant squads had a good weekend with the B’s defeating St Georges Basin 3 – 2, the White Horse Cup team spanking arch rivals Kiama 4.5 – 1.5 and C Pennant having a hard fought draw also against St Georges Basin.

Reports below: (NOW UPDATED WITH B PENNANT REPORT)

White Horse Cup Round 3

Report by Dave Ransom

White Horse Cup vs Kiama played at St George’s Basin 22/2/15

Jamberoo 4.5 def Kiama 1.5

The Latte set at Kiama Golf club were surprised by the tenacity of their Jamberoo neighbours and suffered a big defeat at our hands on the beautiful St George’s Basin Country Club.

Playing number 1 Scott Hainsworth won an entertaining match on the 17th green 3 and 1. Similarly Mark Cassal played an excellent match to also win the 17th hole to take out his match 3 and 1 at number 2.

Steve Jackson led for most of his match at number 3 but the awkward 18th forced a poor first tee shot and his match ended all square.  Reports were that Steve played some excellent golf for tap-ins from the fairway on several holes and was unfortunate not to win.

Col Booth set the course on fire winning his match 6 and 5 at number 4. The Saint led 3 up after the front nine and then fired 3 birdies in a row to close out his match on the 13th.

The hard luck story of the day was for Chris Goodwin at number 5 who lost 3 and 2. Chris played an excellent match breaking his handicap on the day. Unfortunately his opponent was having a blinder and shot only 8 over par for the 16 holes they played off his 18 handicap.

Fresh from his sojourn in NZ, Dave Ransom was able to outlast his crafty Kiama opponent 4 and 3 despite having to give his opponent 4 shots. Dave was supported in his endeavours by Shane Townsend who acted as his caddie. Shane was late in his arrival at the course despite spending the night in the area. He explained that due to the Huskisson triathlon somebody had parked his car in and then he was held up by the police for a breath test. Some of us are now calling Shane ‘Prince’ after his excuses for the late arrival. Despite this Dave could not have made the distance walking around the course and he is very appreciative of Shane’s assistance.

Next week is our last match and we will need a good result if we are to qualify for the semi-finals. With Brian O’Hare again available this should be possible!!

C Pennant Round 3

Report by Chris Leckey

Jamberoo V St Georges Basin @ Port Kembla

The Superoos hang on for a squared match 2.5 each!!

Results:

Arthur Bosanquet  W 5/4

Tim Young W 5/3

Tom Zimmermann all square

Anthony Smith L 2 Dn

Chris Leckey L 6/5

Arthur has continued to show his class as our No.1 and cruised to a fine win, making it look easy as he held off his opponent’s challenges.

Tim had a great game today to shut down The Basin’s skipper. Tim’s form has been rocks or diamonds lately and he certainly had an 18 carat performance today!

Anthony’s game was decided on the 18th. Over the last 6 holes the lead changed a few times and it came down to a fantastic 12 ft putt under pressure on the 17th to keep in the match. A close match but going to The Basin.

Chris had great hopes of winning today but just found his opponent too good and was behind from the 2nd hole.

Tom’s match was the crucial game in the end as we needed him to win the 18th to square the match. It was looking grim until his opponent put his third shot in the drink near the green and then missed a short put to give Tom the hole and a shared result with St Georges Basin.

This result and the news of Port Kembla being disqualified in Round 2 sits us on top of our division to this stage.

Round 4 at Jamberoo is our next challenge where we welcome back Pete Francis and Wayne Griffiths.

Thanks again to Boyd, Bob and Peter for the caddying on the day.

B Grade Pennants

Report by Ray Orr

22nd February V St Georges Basin at “The Fortress”

The result was a 3 to 2 win for Jamberoo.

Your correspondent will attempt to be brief this week in reporting last weeks match. This partly due to the sledging that he received over last weeks eloquent offering. Some comments that were overheard ranged from “long winded”, “verbose” and even “verbal diarrhoea”.

Playing No. 5 for Jamberoo was Tony Panecasio who got off to a flying start and was 2 up early. In a hard fought tussle Tony’s opponent got back to even late in the back nine and went on to win 2 and 1. A couple of lost balls in the treacherous deep rough cost Tony dearly at the end.

Playing No. 4 this week was Matt Bell. This was Matt’s first match of the 2015 pennant season. Matt’s  3 and 2 win was all the more commendable as he had been a late call to replace Tom Perrson. Tom had been laid low with a dose of the “Swedish Flu”, no doubt contracted whilst entertaining his guests of 2 weeks ago.

Mr Reliable, Pat Paris was again at No.3 and played a strong and consistent game to be in control from the start. His poor opponent was last seen ringing a counsellor after his 7 and 6 loss. Pat has now gone international with his game and has headed off to NZ for a couple of weeks.

Paul Hazeltine again went out at No.2 and like Pat in control for most of the day.

2 up early, solid through the front nine and came home with a wet sail to win comfortably 4 and 3. A great win for Paul who had withstood the pressure of Tom Perrson’s sledging during the week.

“The Rock”, Adrian Bell unfortunately has now experienced the feelings associated with a match play defeat. Adrian informed that he had struggled with his swing all day and that his opponent had played very well. The final result was 4 and 3 loss.

So all in all it was a very good win with Jamberoo again giving away handicap in most matches. Our next match is at Nowra against Russel Vale on the 1^st March

15^th February V Nowra at Gerringong

The result was a 3 to 2 win for Jamberoo.

Report by Ray Orr, Manager

OH how straightforward that last line looks. Little does it reflect the drama, the emotion or the heart stopping moments that can be B Grade Pennants. All members of the team had made the effort to play a game at the difficult and at times downright confusing Gerringong course over the last week. This recent experience certainly helped in such a tight affair.

Playing No. 5 for Jamberoo was again “the man in the hat” Pete Munro. This was drama filled affair right until the end. As Pete said himself, he played some of the best and not so best (bloody horrid) golf in recent memory. He obviously played more good than bad as he was 2 up leaving the 17^th tee. After his opponents incredible up and down out of a cavernous greenside bunker he walked to the 18^th tee now only one up. The Nowra No. 5 then promptly hit a pure shot on the long uphill par 3 to the back of the green. Pete strode to the tee and smacked his hybrid straight at the flag, oh please be good, just caught the edge of the elevated green and rolled back down. Advantage Nowra. Pete played a very nice chip to about 5 feet and looks good for a par. Nowra fellow then promptly cans his 25ft downhiller straight in for a birdie. Those chickens can never be counted can they! Match halved on the last.

Playing No. 4 this week was Tom Perrson. This was Tom’s first match of the 2015 pennant season as he had been absent entertaining some young Swedish ladies on the day of the first round. This was again a very entertaining and changeable match with results on 14 of the 18 holes and only 4 halved. Tom’s opponent had slowly gained the ascendency over the back 9 and in a reversal of the previous match led by 2 holes on the 17^th tee. The 17^th is a longish par 5 with barely a flat lie to be found but Tom’s finely tuned 2^nd shot drew nicely to end on the only flat area on the entire hole. He made the most of his surgical like precision to fly his 3^rd just right of the green. A tidy up and down won the hole and this match headed to the 18^th.  Both players hit decent tee shots but both fell short of the green. Nowra bloke away, nice chip to makeable range. Now just a brief description of the 18^th green at Gerringong, the back right portion looks like an elephant (butt up) has been buried in the bloody thing. So this is what Tom’s facing, elevated green, huge hump in the way and an opponent that only needs a half to win the match. Tom slowly takes back his sand wedge, hits a gorgeous high shot, one bounce of the left hand cheek of the elephants butt and straight into the hole. Oh what a feeling! Jamberoo have snatched another half.

Mr Reliable, Pat Paris was again at No.3 and played a strong and consistent game to be in control for most of the day. What a display of putting, after 3 putting the 4^th to give away a half on the hole to his opponent, he promptly sunk four 20 footers over the next 4 holes to completely dishearten the poor Nowra chappie. Highlights of the day included a magic, high soft approach to the tricky 10^th that won the hole and a gorgeous 2nd to the long 16^th that sealed the match. The end result was a fine 4 and 2.

Paul Hazeltine again went out at No.2 and was involved in a torrid struggle for most of the day. It was one of those dour matches with no one getting on top at any time. Still tight going up the 17^th when Paul had some of the bad luck that only our game can dish up. He played a nice sensible approach to the widest portion of the green which just ran off the edge and out of view. The ball is still out of view as it ran into some long rough that borders the green and couldn’t be found. The hole was eventually lost and Paul walked yet again to the 18^th one down. Honour to the Nowra bloke who hits a beautiful 5 wood to the front of the green which was good enough for the win. The end result, one up to Nowra. The games now all tied up at 2 all.

“The Rock”, Adrian Bell now needs to stand up as his match has become crucial. Reports from the course had been positive all day with Adrian being 2 up, 3 up at various points of the match. It eventuated that at one time he was actually 4 up and mentally had put the slippers on and was contemplating that glass of red. A rude awakening awaited when his low marker opponent suddenly went beresk and pulled 3 holes back. Now only 1 up and in dire need of a calming influence. This was provided by his capable caddy and son Matty. Bloody hell dad, what are you playing at, pull your finger out and comments of a similar ilk did the trick. Stabilised by the 17^th tee to be 2 up, Adrian promptly birdied the hole to win 3 and 1.

So all in all it was a very good win with Jamberoo again giving away handicap in most matches. Our next match is at home against St Georges Basin on the 22^nd Feb. Anyone interested in coming out for a look will be rewarded with an amusing day out.

(C Pennant and the White Horse Cup squad had a bye)

JAMBEROO’S pennant squads didn’t exactly set in the world on fire in their second round matches but are mostly still in the hunt to progress further in their competitions.

The White Horse Cup squad were disappointed to finish even with St Georges Basin at Bowral but are still in with a chance if they remain unbeaten.

C Pennant went down against a strong Port Kembla outfit but also still have a finals chance following their strong opening win. The B’s had a bye.

White Horse Cup

By Chis Goodwin

This week we squared off against St Georges Basin at Bowral and when we arrived at the course we were met by the Bowral locals with a breakfast of bacon and egg sandwiches.  Being on a diet, I decided not to partake. The course was a bit of a mystery to some of us who hadn’t played it before, but on first take, it appeared to look a little similar to Jamberoo with tree lined fairways and a creek cutting across the first fairway, although it was close to the green and well out of range.

Brian O’Hare led us off and after a close front nine he made the turn leading 1 up and with a great approach on the big dogleg par 5 on the 10th made a birdie to go 2 up. That inspired two consecutive hole wins to be 4 up with 6 to play. Brian dropped 13 & 14 before bouncing back winning another two straight holes, featuring another good approach on 16 to par and win the match 4 and 2.

Shane Townsend was next to tee off and quickly asserted his dominance by taking an early lead which he never relinquished. Shane managed to adapt to the local conditions better than his opponent and held him off to score a very creditable win 5 and 3.

I was next to follow, but struggled on the greens all day. The lead swapped a couple of times until we teed off all square on the 17^th where my opponent landed the telling blow by holing his third shot from about 50 meters out of the rough, bouncing it short and then rolling across the green into the hole. I had a chance to square it, but the putt went wide. I had a chance to square it on the 18^th but again my putting let me down. I think it was Confucius who said “Man who has 40 putts not going to win match.” And so it was.

Steve Jackson was next to play and he also struggled with the way the course was playing. Approach shots were difficult with the greens not very receptive, except to well hit high irons. Long irons would often run straight through the green leaving a difficult chip back to the pin. Steve continued to fight and also took the match to the 18^th but was unable to pull back the match and also lost 2 down.

The ever consistent Larry Kent was next on the tee and with his experience, was always going to be very difficult to handle. Larry’s tactics were to leave his driver in the boot of his car and to use his 2 iron off the tee. His opponent commented on the first hole that he was putting himself at a disadvantage with distance, but the cagey Larry said “we’ll see”. And how right was Larry as he crushed his opponent, who incidentally was playing off 10, with a convincing win of 6 and 5.

Our last player of the day was our low handicapper Mark Cassel who was on 11 for the day. It was Mark’s debut match and although he tried hard, he also struggled with chipping where the surrounds and the greens themselves were very firm and difficult to judge. Mark held his opponent until the 13^th but dropped three in a row to eventually lose 3 and 2.

The day started with high expectations that with a win, we would most likely move to the top of the leaderboard, but it ended with a 3 all draw. It was not an ideal finish, but it is not the end for us, provided we win our last two matches against Kiama and Wollongong. If we can win those two matches, it is highly likely we will still top the group and qualify for the semi finals.

 C Pennant

Rd 2 V Port Kembla

Jamberoo 1 Port Kembla 4

By Chris Leckey

That’s golf, after our fine 1st round win we were brought back to earth by the strong Port outfit.

Boyd Sylvester was promoted from the bench and found himself teeing off 1st at short notice. His effort should be commended as after being 5 down early he rallied to have the lead but his opponent had the final word as Boyd went down 2/1.

Chris Leckey was eager to go after his week off, the wide open spaces @ the Gong suited his driver and he actually sunk a few telling putts  to win 3/2.

Sorry Tom, my last report praised your unbeaten run…..Unbelievable!! It’s like saying great putt and it lips out. You played well today going down 3/2 .

Anthony Smith’s game was tested by Ports very good no.2. In a close game he was beaten 3/2.

Tim Young was our no.1 today and was in the match all the way going down on the 18th. Tim had a blinder net 60 in Saturdays Medal round and continued that form into this match.

This result is a setback but we are still in the race thanks to the great result last week ,boosting  our  for and against.

Many thanks to the support from Peter Francis, Wayne Griffiths, Bob Wright and Peter Young .

THE  2015 Pennant season is off and running and the Jamberoo teams recorded excellent results in the first round.

At Wollongong Golf Club the White Horse Cup team scored an emphatic 5 matches to 1 victory over Bowral. At St George’s Basin, the C Pennant team overwhelmed Moss Vale 5 matches to 0 and at the Grange, the B pennant team suffered a frustrating 3.5 to 1.5 loss to the Grange. With two matches losing on the 18th green and one on the 17th the team was close in a very difficult first encounter against the home side. Despite the loss the B’s are in with a great chance of making the semi-finals.

All three match reports now below.

David Ransom

White Horse Cup

Report by Chris Goodwin, Acting captain

There was a lot of excitement at Wollongong Golf Course early on Sunday 1^st February for the first round of the White Horse Cup. Being the start of the Pennant season, everyone seemed to be up for the event. The shirts and caps (thanks to Mike Harris for looking after this aspect for us) were presented to each player and we all moved to the putting green to size up our opponents, if only we knew what they were wearing.

We lead off with the ever reliable Brian O’Hare, our most seasoned campaigner, but despite his best efforts on the day he was beaten 3 and 2 by a wily old customer. Better fortunes awaited the rest of the team with everyone recording sound wins. We were probably a bit lucky that some of us were familiar with Wollongong layout and with the greens having been freshly rolled, they were a joy to putt on.

Following Brian off the 1^st tee was myself who was lucky to draw an opponent who was having a horror day. Despite all his efforts he couldn’t take a trick on the day and lost 8 and 6. Just behind me was Col Booth who was firing on the day and he eventually won 6 and 4. Steve Jackson was next on the tee and was solid throughout his round eventually running out a winner by 4 and 2.

Second last to hit the course was Larry Kent who had to play off a lower handicap than his current handicap. Despite this slight disadvantage, Larry proved you can’t keep a good man down and triumphed 6 and 4. Our low handicapper on the day was Scott Hainsworth who was playing off a handicap of 11, against a young opponent playing off 6. It was a daunting prospect but with a steady game, Scott was successful on the day by 6 and 5.

The overall result was therefore a strong win to Jamberoo 5 to Bowral 1. It was very encouraging to see everyone in good form at the start of the season. I rang our absent Captain Dave Ransom to deliver the good news and to say he was thrilled was an understatement. Our next round is against St Georges Basin to played at Bowral on Sunday 8^th February and it is hoped we can put on another fine display.

B Grade Pennants

Report by Ray Orr, Team Manager

1^st Feb 2015- Jamberoo v The Grange at the Grange

WELL it was always going to be a big ask to knock of our first opponent at their home course. We nearly pulled it off but fell down at the last hurdle. The final score of 3 ½ to  1 ½ did not reflect the closeness of the tussle.

Pete Munro playing at No.5 had a great match with his opponent which finally finished in a sweaty palmed (mine not Pete’s) ending on the 18^th. Both players had putts to win the match with both burning the edge. This was a great result as Pete had been down 2 holes for a good portion of the back 9 until he threw a left right combination on holes 15 and 16 to draw level. Pete nearly went 1 up after 17 when his putt just missed. The man in the hat is back!

Next match again was a very tight one that went to the 18^th. Tony Panecasio played solid golf for most of the game and had led his match all day until the finishing holes. The opposition finished strongly over the difficult closing holes and managed to draw even by the 18^th. Unfortunately a fairy tale ending was not in the offing as the Grange player was able to close out the match on the last. A feature of Tony’s play was his shot making on the par 3’s which he played beautifully.

The man who last missed a fairway in 1989 was our next contestant. Pat Paris played his usual solid no frills game and held a 2 hole advantage by the 10^th. The Grange player obviously had some special sauce on his snag at the turn as he proceeded to go beresk on the back 9. Pat’s opponent had 5 straight pars from the 13^th to the 17^th which was enough to win the match 2 and 1. Pat was seen leaving the course muttering about how he had seen the best and worse of golf in one weekend. He was still in a state of shock over how badly his partner in the Saturday foursomes had murdered his tee shots. I personally was very offended to hear that he had entertained his opponent with a blow by blow description of my play throughout the match.

Team regular Paul Hazeltine had an absorbing match at No. 2 and again had to fight right to the end. Paul was a couple up through to the 13^th hole where the momentum changed and his opponent started to erode his lead. The loss of the 13^th and 16^th holes saw the match all square going up the 17^th, which was halved. So again here we are at the tricky 160m par 3 18^th with the match in balance. I’m afraid that this story ends badly for the good guys with the Grange player winning the last. Paul noted that his wedge play from 50m in was not up to his usual high standard and that was the deciding factor at the end of the day.

Perennial No. 1 Adrian Bell had his usual solid day out giving his opponent no chance from the get go. Adrian was 3 up very early in his match which include a 100ft (was getting longer all day) putt from off the green on the 2^nd for birdie. His opponent was starting to wonder what he had got himself into by this stage. The Rock managed to get to 5 up at one stage but pulled out the slippers, had a glass of red and coasted home to win 2 and 1. This was a great result as the Grange played was off the minimum handicap allowed (5.6) and Adrian’s current handicap is 7.4.

So in summary we nearly had the perfect start to our pennants season. It should be noted that as well as having to give home ground advantage to our opponents we also gave away a fair bit in handicap as the Granges average was exactly 7 whilst ours averaged out at 8.8.  I would also like to thank Mathew Bell and Steve Rippon for their support on the day. As a finishing point I am glad to report that I managed to obtain a free sausage on a bun from the nice lady on the BBQ.

C  Pennant 

Report By  Chris Leckey

Round 1  V  Moss Vale @ St Georges Basin

Jamberoo 5 Moss Vale 0

THE “C” started the 2015 season with a resounding win.

Peter Francis was captain and led from the front with a 4/2 win, after being 5 up on the front 9 Pete cruised to a comfortable win.

The Hot Import from the White Horse Cup team was Anthony Smith, and he put on a clinic to beat his opponent 6/5.

Ever reliable Tom Zimmermann was another to show no mercy with a 6/5 win…continuing his undefeated form from last year and even further back!!

Tim Young is back in the team and won a tight match 2/1. Tim enjoyed his game at the Basin so much he became quite friendly with the local kangaroos!!

Our No.1 Arthur Bosanquet played his usual classy golf to win 3/2.

The team was cheered on by caddies Boyd Sylvester, Bob Wright and photographer Wayne Griffiths.

This year’s team is Chris Leckey, Peter Francis, Tom Zimmermann, Arthur Bosanquet, Tim Young,  Boyd Sylvester and Wayne Griffiths.

We move on to Round 2 V the always hard to beat Port Kembla @ Wollongong.