MURRAY Darling has created history by becoming the first local men’s team to win Golf Victoria’s division one Country Week title.
In a thrilling finish to three days of competition, the local team made up of players from Riverside, Coomealla and Mildura Golf Clubs, defeated Goulburn Murray yesterday to claim the prestigious title.
An emotional captain Greg Rhodes described the win as victory for the “underdogs”.
“We are probably the only genuine country team – most of the other regions are made up players now living in Melbourne,” Rhodes said as he joined team-mates for the long bus trip back to Sunraysia.
“If you look at Goulburn Murray their drawing power is a lot more than what we have as a region – they probably have 30 more golf clubs and 10,000 more golfers than us.”
Heading into yesterday’s final day of play, Murray Darling trailed Goulburn Murray after losing their opening match on day one against Ballarat.
But with their fate firmly in their own hands, Rhodes said they were confident heading into the match.
“We had a chat last night (Tuesday) that this was pretty much our grand final – our opportunity and we knew our destiny was in our own hands,” Rhodes said.
“There are some people in our team who have been playing in Country Week for between 20 and 30 years and they have experienced success at division two and division three and have played in division one on a number of occasions, but never won it.
“It was just fantastic by the guys to win the four matches, to win the division.”
Rhodes believed the inclusion of Tim Walker into the side this year had helped elevate them to victory.
Walker is one of the rising stars of golf in Victoria and he showed his class through the three days of competition, not dropping a match.
“This year I thought was our best opportunity we have had in the last 10 years because we had a genuine number one player in Tim Walker who is a magnificent golfer,” Rhodes said.
“But there are plenty of other players who need a mention like Ashley Whitehouse – he was undefeated for the week and has been undefeated for the last three years at Country Week.
“You have guys like Justin McPhee who has been going down (to Country Week) for 20 years and Cam Stewart who has been going down for 20 years – there are a lot of people who have been going down for a hell of a long time and this is reward for everyone’s persistence and commitment.”
It was a double celebration for Murray Darling, which also took out the ladies’ division two title also.
The ladies success means they will move into division one next year.
Tomorrow: Ladies’ Division 2 win
