ALL three Jamberoo Golf Club Pennant squads had success on the weekend with both C Pennant and the White Horse Cup squads now virtually assured of finals places.
C Pennant dished out a 5 – 0 drubbing to Wollongong at home at Royal Jamberoo and believe they will still top their division table even if they lose their final regular season match in two weeks.
The White Horse Cuppers had a rousing 5.5 – 0.5 win over Wollongong at Kiama to ensure topping their points table with one round still to go. The Cuppers will play in a semi final on March 22 at Port Kembla with a place in the final at Wollongong the following week at stake.
B Grade also had a good win on Sunday, toppling Russell Vale 3.5 to 1.5 at Nowra. B Grade now lie second in their division, just two points behind competition leaders The Grange and also have a good chance of progressing into the finals. (In B and C Pennants two teams progress from each division, in the WHC it is just one)
Full Reports below.
[Update 3/3/15: The B Pennant Report has now been added below]
C Pennant Report
Report by Chris Leckey
Round 4
Jamberoo 5 V Wollongong 0
The Superoo’s conquer at home.
The C’s continued their run this week with all players having fine wins.
Arthur Bosanquet 9/7
Tim Young 5/4
Peter Francis 4/3
Boyd Sylvester 5/3
Wayne Griffiths 3/1
The results look great but were well earned as Wollongong were formidable opponents.
Arthur’s game today was a true gem. His Eagle 2 on the 4th set the tone for a comprehensive win against their no.1. This is the 2nd Eagle Arthur has had for the team, last year he Eagled the 16th.
Tim’s South Coast practice rounds at Catalina paid off this week as his short game was way too good for his long hitting opponent.
After being 1 down early Peter rallied and by the 5th he had found his touch with the putter which gave him confidence to take control of his match to close it out for a fine win.
Boyd was 1 down after 4 and said “ he was his worst enemy” and was looking worried, but he certainly changed his fortunes on the back 9 with perfect golf from the 12th to take the match on the 15th.
Wayne was up against Wollongong’s form player and Griffo had a real challenge on his hands. The cream came to the top with Wayne producing a tremendous win in his 1st match this year.
Behind the scenes the support team of Anthony Smith, Stuart Potter, Steve Rippon and Bruce Hammond were tremendous hosts and the visiting teams were most impressed with our facilities.
White Horse Cup
Report by Dave Ransom
1/3/15 v Wollongong at Kiama
Jamberoo def Wollongong 5.5 to 0.5.
Scott Hainsworth won 3/2
Mark Cassal all square
Col Booth won 1up
Steve Jackson won 7/6
Shane Townsend won 1up
Brian O’Hare won 4/3
An exciting day at Kiama Golf club saw the White Horse Cup team secure a semi-final berth.
On the face of it, it looks like it was a very easy win. The truth is far different. Wollongong brought their ‘A’ game with them and really applied the pressure with all of our team trailing early. It speaks volumes of the quality of our players who fought back in each of the matches to overcome their worthy opponents.
Scott again played a superb round and after finding himself 2 down won 4 in a row to take a 2 hole advantage into half way. His excellent tee shots on the difficult Kiama par threes kept the pressure on and he won his match easily in the end.
Mark found himself 4 down at the turn and things were looking grim. Never to be outdone a terrific back nine saw him take the lead on the 17th but he was unfortunate on the 18th where his purely hit second shot went a step to far leaving him with a difficult chip shot resulting in a tied match.
Col was involved in a tight struggle against his big-hitting Wollongong opponent but he didn’t deviate from his game plan of hitting his hybrid off the tee on the tight Kiama layout. The game see-sawed and it came down to the last where Col was able to get up and down to secure the win.
Steve was on fire. All of his drives seemed to rifle down the middle and with his solid short game he overwhelmed his opponent.
Shane seemed nervous early after his embarrassing late arrival last week. After settling down he started to play some great golf, justifying the skipper’s faith in him. Still his experienced opponent was playing some great golf himself and Shane trailed by 3 holes with 4 to play. A quick pep talk from Vice-captain Goodwin was enough to inspire him and he won the 16th, 17th and 18th to snatch an outstanding victory.
Brian was back after his exploits last week at the Ladies Australian Open. Before play he enquired “what are the tactics?” My answer to him was simple. You win your match and don’t worry about the others. Brian trailed early but was playing the better golf tee to green. Putting was hurting him and he trailed by 2 holes after 6. Brian found the remedy and started to apply the pressure and his opponent wilted with Brian fulfilling the captain’s request, winning his match easily in the end.
Thanks to Vice-captain Chris Goodwin for his support today. His little pep talks were very helpful.
With one round still to be played, the team has secured a semi-final berth and now will meet the winner of division 4 in the semi-finals at Port Kembla on 22nd of March.
B Pennant
Report by Adrian Bell
Jamberoo vs Russell Vale at Nowra.
Jamberoo 3.5 Russell Vale 1.5
RESULTS:
Paul Hazeltine all square
Adrian Bell win 6/5
Tom Persson loss 4/3
Pete Munro win 2/1
Ray Orr win 1 up
A beautiful sunny morning greeted us at the picturesque Nowra course.
Ray Orr (our illustrious team manager) had been picked to play his first match of the season as he is well known as a Nowra specialist with some of his best rounds being played down south. Ray went to a 2 up lead early in the match and hung on for a solid 1 up win.
Pete Munro got off to a slow start as he found driving off the mats in the “caves” difficult. Pete steadily clawed back his opponent’s lead and on the 17th tee he found himself 1 up with 2 to play. Pete’s consistent play was too much for his opponent and he cracked under pressure with a three putt on the 17th green. This allowed Pete to chalk up a well earned 2 and 1 win.
Tom Persson returned to the team after being laid low with a swedish flu. His opponent showed no mercy and achieved a win with some deft chipping and putting. The captain had demoted himself to the number 2 position after a demoralising loss on his home track last week.
This placed Paul “The Big Easy” Hazeltine in the number 1 spot. A tough match had left Paul all square on the long par 3 17th. Paul hit a beautiful high drawing 3 wood to the heart of the green. His opponent made a clever up and down from a tricky lie which halved the hole with pars. The pressure was on with both players wanting to steal a win for their team. Teeing off on the 18th, Paul didn’t get his customary draw and his drive collected some trees on the right. A punch out of the trees left Paul 50 metres short of the green. His opponent was 1 metre short of the green for 2 shots and with the pin on the front of the green he was almost guaranteed a par. Paul hit a spinning wedge to 12 feet and confidently rammed the putt into the hole to finish all square in a quality match.
Congratulations to the team for their gritty performance in achieving an important win against Russell Vale. The Bs now have a bye and following that they will play Gerringong at St Georges Basin.