Pennant Report: Round Two

Men’s Team: vs Eastwood at Spring Valley

After a tough loss to Sanctuary Lakes at their home track in Rd 1, the men’s pennant team were determined to bounce back at home. We had a solid hit out at Thursday night’s practice session and with Jonno Heys out this week, 4 players were pressing for selection. It would be 16 year old Noah Paterson, our youth star, who would get the call for his first game in Men’s Pennant. He was presented with his cap at the completion of training, he would wear #218. Noah hails from Bairnsdale and plays off a handy +2.7! The other change for the week was a slight tweak to the order with Sid and Hoops swapping places at 1 and 2. Sid had a terrific win in round one and thoroughly deserved his chance to play at #1 at home

The team would line up as follows:

1. Sid Nadimpalli
2. Scott Hooper
3. Caleb Wamsteker
4. Damian Kaehler
5. Anthony Cecchi
6. Noah Paterson
7. Andrew Thomson

The day would start off with a breakfast where the team was joined by some pennant legends, Dick Kirby, John Scheffer, Steve Foulds and Greg Ebinger. It was great hearing some of the stories from these legends

The course was in immaculate condition, a massive shootout to Chris and Craig and the entire SV team for their efforts. Everyone was super proud of our track.

Conditions for the day were going to be tough with strong winds shifting from the north to the north west during the day. The 1st tee shot was going to be very, very tough.

At #7 Thommo, with Brad Flintoff on the bag, was the first man out. After a couple of solid rounds during the week he was ready to go. Although we did sense some nerves as he busily searched for a banana just minutes before tee off. No banana was found but that didn’t stop Thommo striping one down the middle in front of the big crowd. He played a peach into the first and he was 1up after 1. Fairways and greens, fairways and greens, Thommo battered his opponent into submission and before we knew it the game was over. Thommo wins 7/5

Spring Valley 1 Eastwood 0

At #6 was Noah with dad Jason on the bag. You would think a 16 year old playing his first game in the SV Men’s Pennant would be nervous but that’s not the way Noah rolls. He kicked off the day with a bomb down the middle. This continued for much of the front nine and Noah made the turn 3 up. But as we know finishing your opponent in pennant is hard and things started to get tight on the back nine. It looked like Noah would finish it on 17 after his opponent was on the 18th Tee for 3 and Noah was in the back bunker for 2. Noah had a tough downhill bunker shot which he tried to spin but it ran through the green. His opponent got up and down from 18th tee.  All square heading down 18.

Both players would have similar shots albeit in the rough on opposite sides of the fairway. Noah hit 8 iron and it launched out of the rough so hard that it flew the green and landed on the practice green. His opponent would play a lovely shot to the green leaving a relatively simple 20ft birdie putt.  With an almost impossible up and down, it was looking like Noah would lose on the 18th, an honourable effort in his first match. But that’s not the way this story ends. Noah never gave up, making an amazing 25ft par putt to halve the hole and send it into overtime.

Both players hit good drives down the 19th and made the back off the green in regulation. Not the best spot given the pin was down the front. Someone was going to three putt this. Noah was first to play and rolled it down and what looked like a good speed putt initially pulled up 15 ft short. His opponent played next and hit a beautiful putt to 5 ft below the hole. Surely Noah couldn’t do it again but with zero fear he walked up to his 15ft putt and rolled it into the middle of the cup. Visibly shaken, his opponent didn’t even get a piece of the hole and Noah had a debut win. One of the most exciting finishes we’d seen in a while. Welcome to the team Noah

Spring Valley 2 Eastwood 0

At #5 was Anthony Cecchi with Greg Robinson on the loops. AC is new to the team this year and anyone who has played a round with him would know that AC is a par machine, the perfect style of player for pennant. Never out of the hole.

Early on he looked to be striking it beautifully with laser straight drives and crisp irons. But his crisp irons were a little too aggressive on a few holes early and he found himself past the pin more than he wanted and was all square after 3. After some adjustments he started to get into the groove and found himself 2up on the turn. From there, AC did his thing and played consistent golf, never really giving his opponent a look in. AC Finished him on the 17th with the final score 3/1. Well done to AC for his first win in SV colours.

Spring Valley 3 Eastwood 0

At #4 was Damian Kaehler with Marty Cook on the Bag. Damo had a disappointing loss in week 1 and was keen to make amends at home. Damo can go low, very low, when he’s on and when we caught up with him he was 3 up after 3 and had just smashed his shot down the middle of four. It looked like an early afternoon for Damo. We left him to watch the tighter matches. The next we heard as he appeared from out of Spring Valley’s amen corner was that he was all square. Damo had let his lead slip.

The match remained tight through the middle stages and the next time we caught Damo was on the 13th. He had a tricky little downhill left to righter from about 10 feet for the win. Damo lined it up and with little fuss rolled it into the hole. All sq with 5 to play

The match would ebb and flow for the next four holes and arrive at the 18th all sq. Damo grabbed his driver out of the bag and went bang. Middle of the fairway with nothing but a sand iron flick left to the pin. But as we all know, when the westerly is pumping down 18 it’s no easy shot. Unfortunately for Damo he didn’t catch it cleanly and he hit it into the bunker short. With his opponent nearly assured of a par, Damo needed to get up and down. A good bunker shot left a tricky downhill putt. It looked good early but the putt would miss to the left. His opponent made 4 and unfortunately Damo lost in a close one.

Damo loses 1dn

Spring Valley 3 Eastwood 1

At #3 was our current club champion Caleb Wamsteker with Tim Hargreaves caddie for the day. Caleb has recently taken up a traineeship at Commonwealth and is starting to find some form. He kicked off his pennant season with a dominant win last week at Sanctuary Lakes. Caleb was up against Tom Ryan, a good friend of our #1 Sid Nadampilli. Tom is a very solid player who won the 2022 Cranbourne Club Championship. So it was Club Champion Vs Club Champion.

Things didn’t get off to the greatest of starts for Caleb with a 4 putt on the first (Front right pin strikes again!) and Tom raced away to quick start getting four up early. Caleb fought hard but couldn’t rein in Tom and the match finished on 15

Caleb loses 4/3

Spring Valley 3 Eastwood 2

At #2 was Captain Courageous Scott Hooper, with faithful caddy Geoff Whannell on the bag. Scott playing at home grows an extra leg so we’d pretty much pencilled in a win. Early on it looked like he was getting his eye in with a laser like shot into 3 that hit the pin but then on 7 Scott showed he was human by duffing a few chips and halving the hole when it was there for the taking.

Scott, never the one to dwell on the past, put that bad hole aside and knuckled down and by the 12th he was 1up and the wind was in his sails. But his Eastwood opponent, who we’d seen at the course just a few weeks before, struck a blow with a chip in on 16 to reel in Hoops once again. By the time we got to the 18th Hoops found himself 1dn.

Both boys hit great drives down the middle with the Eastwood opponent playing a solid shot to the middle of the green. A par looked certain. Hoops needed to make birdie. He hit a beautiful iron straight at the pin, it then took a bounce and headed towards the left bunker but stopped just before and started to creep back towards the pin. It’s moments like these Hoops thrives on. He stepped up to the putt and rolled towards the pin. He knew it wasn’t right as soon as he hit it. His opponent would make the 4 and Hoops would lose 1dn. Hoops will bounce back next week, we know it.

Spring Valley 3 Eastwood 3

And we were all tied with one match to go…..

At #1 was Sid with his regular caddie Nick Venditti on the bag. Sid has been in very good form with a win in the Tasmanian Amateur followed by a course record 8 under at Box Hill.  He’d be up against Shane Butler, a professional golfer, with a very solid pennant record.

Now this match report was pretty easy for the first 15 holes. Sid playing great golf strolled to a 3up lead with 3 to play. But when you’re up against a wily veteran the match is never in the bag. Sid’s opponent then put it to 3 ft on 16 and made birdie and hit it to 20 ft on 17 and made eagle! 1up with one to play.

Let’s just say 18 was a very messy hole for both players and the only thing good that may come of it is a drop zone for balls that come to rest on the practice putting green. Sid’s opponent won it with a bogey and we were off to the 19th.

Both players smoked their drives and hit approaches near the front of the green. Sid was first to play and rolled his putt up to about 3 feet. His opponent was next to play and had it going straight at the hole. Our hearts were in our mouth as his ball pulled up an inch short and we were off to the 20th.

We quickly headed down the fairway to watch the drives come down. Sid’s opponent smashed it down the middle. Sid was next to play. It was heading right and there was a loud bang from the trees.

We scurried over to the ball to find it sitting deep in the trees and unplayable. Well we thought it was unplayable. Sid took a close look at the branches covering his ball and noticed the one causing all the trouble was actually dead. If he could move it he may be able to get a club on it and punch it sideways onto the fairway. With the skill of a pick up sticks champion Sid moved the dead branch which gave a small chance to get a club on the ball. We all held our breath, Sid swung, crack, bang and out came the ball onto the fairway. Sid was still away and played a lovely iron to the left of the green leaving 40 or so ft putt for par. His opponent calmly stepped up to his ball and hit a safe shot onto the green.

It wasn’t looking good. Sid’s opponent was the first to play and hit a solid putt to about 4 ft. Sid had to make a monster putt to stay in it. Sid walked up and rolled his putt towards the hole, tracking, tracking, Sid starts walking then the crowd erupts. Sid has holed it!!

Taking no time his opponent quickly walks up to tap in the 4 ft. He misses. WE WIN. What a match

Spring Valley 4 Eastwood 3

So we’re 1 win and 1 Loss and back in contention. Next match is against Southern at Eastwood in two weeks. Southern look to be the yardstick this year with their team full of professionals and ex professionals and a Manager that was third in the British Open

Finally, a big shout out to Brenton Ford, who was our 2nd emergency but turned into our social media guru for the day. The live coverage across all our social channels was tremendous

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Youth Team: vs Green Acres at Gardiners Run

A beautiful calm morning greeted our Youth Team at Gardiners Run GC for round 2 in what would be a crucial match for Spring Valley.

Our opponents, Green Acres are one of the strongest teams in our division and had won all match 5 matches in round one. As Jeffrey Jiang went to get things started off the 10th hole for Spring Valley, the wind suddenly picked up and only got stronger and stronger throughout the morning which would prove to be much tougher conditions than what we were greeted with.

With Noah Patterson promoted to the Men’s team, stand-in Captain Ben Newton took on Green Acres top player who was striping it pure in the first 3 holes. Early on Ben was 3 down and the opponent was 1 under off the stick through 4 holes, with Ben also having some bad luck with a lost ball which was just off the fairway. Knowing Ben though, we knew he would fight back and get his chances.  It started to take shape throughout his match. At one stage Ben was 4 down on the front 9, so to be able to get it back to being one down with 4 to play was an outstanding effort considering the caliber of opponent he was up against.

Jeffrey Jiang did what he does best and plodded his way around the course not missing many fairways and hitting many greens in regulation. With Danny Gorman on the bag, Jeffrey took care of his opponent clinically, winning 6&5 in what has been an impressive start to Jeffrey’s time in Youth Pennant, he is undefeated so far.

Mitch Hughes was doing his best but was up against an opponent who maybe could have been playing at the 1 or 2 spot for Green Acres. He hung in there as best as he could but went down with 4 holes to play but lost no respect in how he handled himself in such a tough match-up.

Adam Oulton’s match would now become crucial and at one stage he was 4 down in the match. In true Adam style with not much ever phasing him, he began his fight back and started winning hole by hole as his opponent started feeling the pressure. Suddenly Adam had won 8 of the last 9 holes to win his match 4&2, an incredible effort to help keep his team alive for a win.

With Ben fighting it out in the last match, there was another match in front of them going on with our ex-skipper Max Delaney. In what could only be described as “golf at its finest”, Max turned the front 9 only one down, as his opponent was 1 under off the stick through 9 holes. Max was getting up and down from bunkers and bombing some drives down the firm fairways. In challenging putting conditions with strong winds, Max held firm and was not giving any holes away, making putt after putt to stay in it.

Then things started to turn and Max went up another gear, claiming some crucial holes with some exquisite iron approaches. With 3 holes to play Max held a 1 up lead as he came to the tough par 3 seventh hole which was playing 181m with a ferocious right to left wind straight across them. Max had a 7 iron in his hand and cracked one way out to the right… the ball started to hit the wind with his draw and bring it back. Incredibly, it was the perfect shot and landed just short of the flag taking a few bounces and coming to a stop just behind the flag about 20ft from the hole. His opponent thrown by how good the shot was, pulled his shot left and across the green into the rough. Max would make his two-putt par as we waited to see if Green Acres could make the par putt… They did not, Max now held a 2-up lead with 2 to play to secure the win for Spring Valley. In smart golf off the tee, Max missed his tee shot left of the fairway on the par 5 eighth hole which has water running all the way down on the right. In gale-force gusts of wind, the two boys played the hole well, but Green Acres had the advantage. Max chipped his 3rd shot out sideways from the bushes and played a solid 4th shot to have a chance at par. Green Acres feeling the pressure, fluffed their chip from in front of the green but had the better chance to make a par and keep the match alive. Max just missed his par putt, so it was over to his opponent to keep the match going… The putt missed and Max won 2&1 which secured the victory for Spring Valley, amazing individual effort by Max and top shelf golf.

Ben was honorable in losing 2&1 but it did not matter as the victory was Spring Valley’s winning 3 -2. The boys now sit on top of the ladder after round two and now have a week off before we take on Gisborne GC at Kew.

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