Weekend Pennant Review
Published on 19th March 2018 in Club Events, Guests News, Latest NewsColts Match Report.
Rd 2- Spring Valley v Eastern.
After our narrow defeat of the previous round we shuffle our team a little with hope of turning the tables on Eastern.
This week we had the new inclusion of Dennis Liang whilst Luca is enjoying himself in Bali, Dennis represented the Valley last year and comes with good form line in pennant, so he played No 1.
Team line up: – Dennis Laing No 1. Nivethan Kanathan No 2 Aryan Sharma No 3 Andrew Beech No 4 and Sid Annagi at No 5.
7.45 am Sunday Morning – whilst most of you were tucked up in bed – the boys start the fight, Riversdale had in the last few weeks held the Amateur Cup so the course we knew would be in great condition. And it was, greens were lightning fast still and there was a gentle breeze to add to the difficulty. By gentle it was running at about 40 kilometres per hour with gusts far greater than that, Riversdale being somewhat elevated this was going to be interesting,
Sid sets sail with a new Caddy – Not the youngest of caddies but enthusiastic! Mr Graham Ball – who gallantly put his hand up to push a Buggy for Sid up and down the hills at this early time. After 3 holes Sid is 2 up after 3 and settles well under Grahams guidance, but the long holes find him out and is all square after 5, then puts his head down and turns 1 up, he’s doing fine – Graham?
Andrew is coming off his great win last match at Goonawarra, drops his first hole but after 5 holes is 2 up and striking the ball well. Dave (dad) his caddy explains that he may have to leave early for a function so we will see, Andrew goes bang and turn 6 up – Nice one!
Aryan also coming of a great win last match comes up against a long hitter that is very steady it is a close tussle and he turns 1 down but fights back to be square after 11,
Nivethan playing No 2 draws an opponent coming off a 7 and 5 win at Goonawarra, but Niv is on his game early, after 5 holes is 3 up and putting pressure on his opponent, his short game is killing his opponent in the windy conditions and he turns 4 up and smiling!!!
Dennis is playing No 1. In his first match of the season, starts well but 3 putts his 1st hole on the lightning greens, readjusts and climbs to 1 up after5 holes. Catch up with Dennis at the turn who smiles and tells me he is 5 up! Good place to be from a manager’s position.
Shortly after catching up with Andrew who has closed the match out with a 7and 6 – Dave off early both very happy – well done.
Next Dennis fronts up with a 7and 6 win – not bad for his first hit out – also very well done.
Followed up by Niv closing out 5 and 4 and pleased with himself for knocking off the previous big winner!!!
Aryan has a tight battle but finally runs out of holes and goes down 2 and 1.
And Sid – finally tracking him and Graham down on their 16th tee – Sid is bouncy and 2 up – Graham is still on his feet, “ this is a man of steel” remember this is Riversdale and a push buggy and he is no “spring chicken” wayward drives see both players battling the trees but experience prevails and the match is halved on the 18th hole so this is a great turnaround from his 8 and 6 loss on the previous match – well done Sid (and Graham) – I did have the mica unit number on speed dial – but after 60 plus years of representing Spring Valley and a past captain and life member Graham has done a great job.
The wash up Spring Valley 3 ½ to Eastern 1 ½ our first of many wins for the season – I hope.
Next match will be played against Rossdale at Gardiners Run Golf Club
With Spring Valley sitting 5th on the ladder and Rossdale 6th this will be an important season match for both teams, at this point in time Sandhurst appear to be the stand out team but as we all know a week in golf is a long time!
Once again to all the players and caddies a great job done this week and bring on next week.
Steve Adams – Pennant Manager
Friday Women’s Pennant Report
Rd 1 vs Ranfurlie
The first round of the Friday Pennant saw the girls take on Ranfurlie at the very challenging Champions course at Sandhurst. The girls were not phased though and came home with a brilliant 5/2 victory.
Heather Cadwallader lead the team out and was off to a flying start, 2 up after 2 holes. But great putting from her opponent saw her turn all square. Heather’s long game was solid, and she quickly found herself 2 up again. However, a couple of poor club choices and she was back to all square. Heather then put her foot down and with two great final holes saw her finish 2 up. Well done Heather, welcome back to the team.
Katie Pang and her opponent were well matched, but her opponent got going quickly and took the first 2 holes. This did not phase Katie though, who was cool as a cucumber and just played her own game. Katie grabbed a couple of holes back to go into the turn all square. Katie really came into her own on the second nine, she stole the show on the 3rd with a magic 150m shot into the green, over a bunker, to finish just 70cm from the pin. She followed this up on 4th with a beautiful chip, onto a difficult undulating green, finishing just 10cm from the pin. Katie was really relaxed and played solidly all day to finish 2/1.
Jan Pitcher was off to a bit of a rocky start 2 down after 3 holes. Jan didn’t let her opponent get away from her though, keeping her at bay with a string of halves, to turn 2 down. Jan had a couple of putts lip out for halved holes after the turn but managed to get the match back to square by the 18th hole. Off they went down the 19th but unfortunately after a great match Jan lost on the 19th. Great effort Jan, welcome back to the team.
Julie Sheldrake started the day strongly holing a 1m putt on the 1st hole. Julie’s opponent started making a few errors, but Julie continued her fine form and was 4 up after 4 holes. A few holes were halved but her opponent just couldn’t get a look in and after avoiding the bunkers all day, Julie took the match with a crushing win of 6/4.
Marg Willcox WON ON THE 23RD HOLE!!!! Nothing more to be said, congratulations Marg what an amazing effort.
Pam Wheelens and her opponent were well matched. They traded holes for the first nine to turn all square. Pam lost the 10th to a long putt and then disaster struck when the battery in her buggy went flat. After the distraction of organising a push buggy she lost a couple of holes and then rallied to halve the next couple. Her opponent went on to sink 2 really good putts seeing Pam finish down 4/2.
Lesley Meadowcroft played in the no. 1 position again for the team on Friday. Lesley was hitting well which saw her balls flying nice and straight down the fairway. She putted very well all day on difficult greens, putting her opponent under constant pressure. Lesley finished up 4/2.
What a great start to the season. Next week we are off to challenge Box Hill at Box Hill.
Joanne Drysdale
Female Match report
Round 2 – Spring Valley v Green Acres
Well they say that good things don’t come easily and in conditions that a British Open field would find trying, our Division 2 women’s team – that’s right division 2, took on last seasons nemesis Green Acres who just knocked us off for the flag. Revenge for a flag loss counts for nothing but bragging rights in round 2 counts for heaps.
First out was “Tenderfoot” Pezet. Playing under duress and with a medical expedition for a cart, sweet swinging Cecily was in deep trouble early on. 5 down after 9, she complained to her new caddie Steve Smythe, that she hadn’t had a decent lie all day. When Steve told her if she hit it on the fairway she’d have a better chance of a decent lie, Cec found some form – the 100mph winds dropping to about 80kph might have helped too. Despite a great fight back on the back 9 Cec had let the lead slip too much early on and lost the match on 16. The back 9 form will keep her spirits up for next week.
Next out was Rosemary McQuade. It’s the same little champ that went by a different name last year but keeps spitting out the same results this year. All square after 9, caddie Jan Kreymborg gave her a coaches speech for the ages and she promptly won the next 5 and giving her opponent a long walk back to the clubhouse wondering what on earth had happened. That’s 2 huge wins for the year out of 2 starts and rumour has it she might change her surname to Winx if she keeps this form up!!
Ladies Captain and all round champ Hayley Peters went out at 5 and despite impossible winds and I mean impossible, Hayley managed to get through the front 9 with only 15 putts. Despite Hayley’s good form her opponent was well and truly in the match until the wind delay when the field took an hours break before heading back out into seemingly the same conditions. It was a merciless performance after that. The match finished after 13 with a 6 and 5 victory to Hayley. Awesome stuff.
Next off was Phelan Poorly’s girl Sue Semmens. In a see sawing battle Sue turned 1 up. The key hole resulting in the lead was when Sue was in deep trouble on the par 5, 4th. Sue hit her 4th shot, a pitch, to 3 feet and then after her opponent failed to sink her 4th putt, Sue politely said “I can’t watch you miss another, you can have that” – talk about the velvet sledgehammer. The match was all square after 11 before Sue stormed away with 3 wins in a row, finally taking out the match with the great up and down on 17 to win 2 and 1
Helen Noble went off at #3 and had epic duel all day. Caddie John Carlson did say that aside from Helen’s solid wind play all day the highlight was her effort on the par 3, 3rd where the green is surrounded by the stone fence. John told Helen it was a 8 iron with the huge tail wind. Helen duly bladed the 8 iron like a 3 iron only for it to ricochet off 2 sides – like a Walter Lindrum special and finish 6 feet from the hole where she birdied for a win. Thankfully Helen’s class prevailed for the remainder of the round and in the finish she won her match 3/1
Young superstar (and I don’t use that term lightly) Tiana Wanigasekera was in grave danger of literally being blown away before the wind delay was called. In what her dad and caddie Del described as a hard fought win, Tiana did manage a couple of birdies on the front 9 before grinding her way to a 3/1 victory. Her great short game was just too good for her more than adequate opponent.
Our final player out was Erica Kreymborg. She stood up for the number one spot when everyone else took a step backwards and took on a class player in atrocious conditions. With Keith Mico on her bag keeping her focussed on the task at hand Erica stayed in the match for most of the day before going down 4/3. Despite fading light, and the disappointment of not feeling like she played her best, both Erica and Keith rallied the remaining players on course to victory and were as happy as anyone for the seeing the team get over the line 5 and 2.
It has been a remarkable start to the year and the girls have got their tails up heading into round 3 where we play Kew at Yarra Yarra – hitting off at 8am. It’s close by so if you’re having an afternoon hit at Spring Valley come down and support the ladies for a few holes or even more as we take on the best division 2 has on offer. I get the feeling it’s going to be a great year.
In signing off, well done to team manager Alison Miller for her efforts today keeping everyone focused on a very long and trying day and to our sole supporter – new member Marianne Austin for coming down to cheer on the girls. Great stuff.
Until next week.
Phelan Poorly
Men’s Match report
Rd 2- Spring Valley V Eastwood
With the wind playing havoc yesterday at Riversdale, our guys went down to Eastwood 4/3.
Simon went to the 19th but couldn’t get a win.
Lucas also went to the 19th and just missed out .
Wayne finished in front on the 19th.
Matt went to the 20th to get a win.
Greg had a good win finishing 2 up.
Scott fought hard but went down 3/2
Lee our new recruit went all the way but ended up 1 down.
Next week we take on Goonawarra at Chirnside Park.
Steve Ellis, Team Manager