2012 Pennants Season Underway

The 2012 Illawarra District pennants season is underway with Jamberoo Golf Club entering three teams this year.

In their first matches on the Sunday 5th February the B Pennant squad had a great win over Nowra at Wollongong, the C Pennant team battled gamely but lost to The Links Shell Cove at Moss Vale while the White Horse Cup troupe looked really, really good in their new shirts and turned up really, really early to face defending premiers Sussex Inlet at Russell Vale.

Read the full reports below:

B PENNANTS – WOLLONGONG – SUNDAY 5 FEBRUARY

The 2012 season started with a bang with Jamberoo B Pennant team defeating Nowra 5 wins to 2 at Wollongong.

Big wins were had by Adrian Bell 2 & 1, Tom Persson 7 & 5, Pete Munro 6 & 5, Ray Orr 4 & 3 and Scott Hainsworth 5 & 4. Losing matches were at both ends of the field with Jarryd Buckley and Matt Bell both going down on the last hole. Congratulations to Ray and Scott for their first games in the B’s.

We don’t yet know Nowra’s strength relative to the other teams in our Division but a god win is a good start.  Next week (12 Feb) is a home game against The Grange starting at 7:45am.

Lance Fredericks

C PENNANTS – MOSS VALE – SUNDAY 5 FEBRUARY

Round 1 vs Links Shell Cove at Moss Vale Golf Club

The C Pennant team, looking resplendent in their new representative shirts, arrived full of anticipation, excited about the new season.  New players Wayne Griffiths and Chris Goodwin clearly showing eagerness to be “at ‘em”, while old timers Dave Ransom and Col Booth glad to be back playing. Chris Leckey, Tony McRae, and Tom Zimmerman also ready to again represent their club to the best of their abilities.

The Moss Vale course was in excellent condition despite the recent rain and so after winning the toss Col Booth  stepped up to the tee at #7. Col would be first to agree that it was a less than auspicious start with him laying up short of the water hazard 50 m from the tee! His opponent then proceeded to hit the first of many 300 metre drives straight down the middle. The Saint battled bravely but just could not keep up with his big-hitting opponent eventually losing 4/2.

It was a different story for Wayne Griffiths at #6. His match was a very evenly fought contest with only one hole separating them the entire game. Griffo seemed to have it won when he hit it on the back of 18 in regulation leading 1 up. Unfortunately the green was very slow from here (unlike all the others) and several putts later the match finished all square. An excellent first up performance Wayne.

A tremendous effort by Chris Goodwin at #5 saw him win his inaugural pennant match 1 up.  The Worrigee Kid played an intelligent game, keeping the ball in play and using his tight short game to great effect. This included a 35m bomb on the long par 3, 16th for a birdie. Well done Chris.

The ever reliable Chris Leckey again showed his class with an excellent first up win at # 4. The Hat used his power-fade and superb chipping and putting to win his game 3/2 in the day’s best performance. I can see Chris having a great season.

Tom Zimmerman at #3, fresh from a week at a health spa in Port Macquarie, was looking good on the first tee with a healthy tan and even more healthy swing. Unfortunately his opponent was hot, giving the Cougar a beating 5/3. Despite this score I noticed that Tom was actually playing excellent golf and feel he will again re-capture his normal growl.

#2 saw Dave Ransom tee it off. I managed to get to the lead after 10 holes and should have closed out the match being ahead by 2 holes. Unfortunately my opponent had different ideas and proceeded to play some excellent golf to win 2/1.

The in-form Tony McRae, playing his first game at #1, was playing a red hot opponent. Tony stayed with him playing fantastic golf himself and managed to get it to square early on the back nine. The game see-sawed from here and it went down to the last putt on 18 for him to lose 1 down. Well played Tony.

Unfortunately, we have lost our first match 4.5 to 2.5.

We look forward to our next match against Kiama at the Links Shell Cove next Sunday defending the Town and Country Cup.

Until then good golfing and cheers from Dave R.

Dave Ransom

WHITE HORSE CUP – RUSSELL VALE

As we foreshadowed in the introduction, the Jamberoo White Horse Cup troupe looked really, really good in their new representative shirts and turned up really, really early to face defending premiers Sussex Inlet at Russell Vale.

Team captain Tony Rodriguez was once again a magnificent inspiration on and off the course, taking the rag-tag mob the selectors had foisted upon him and presenting them at the first tee as a finely drilled, impeccably outfitted golfing machine.

Leaving no element of preparation to chance, Rodriguez had first rung the Russell Vale pro shop on Wednesday to double check the tee-off times (You just can’t trust those official schedules they hand out.)

He was told 8am so when team members dutifully turned up bright and early at 7.30 am they were delighted to learn that because of some incorrect advice from the pro shop they had nearly two hours to practice their putting and chipping before the actual tee-off. The extra time  came in especially handy for the captain, giving him the chance to return home to retrieve the representative shirts he had left on the dining room table.

Unfortunately, most of team – excluding the captain – seems to have put in most of their best work on the practice green. For some of the older members, by the time they got to hit off after 9.30 they had been awake for so long it was nearly time for their afternoon naps.

Not the captain though, who took the opportunity of his return home to have a leisurely brewed coffee, a gourmet breakfast, and who the hell knows what other Sunday morning marital delights. And to work on his rousing  (two word) pre-tournament motivational lecture, he claimed.

As for the game, team members got a very nice view of the Pacific Ocean from the very hilly Russell Vale course as they lost 6 ½ to ½ to the 2011 White Horse Cup champions.

And who was the only player to at least finish square – the well satiated Captain Rodriguez of course. Go team!