Razor close pennant golf play

Will Rumgay

ROUND three of the Murray Darling Golf Association’s scratch pennant season unfolded at the Mildura Golf Resort last weekend.

There’s little to separate clubs across both divisions this year as the scene has been set for a thrilling run home.

“It’s certainly close,” said Murray Darling Golf Association President Garth Doherty.

“So, in Division One you’ve got Red Cliffs and Riverside who have both won two games, and they play each other this weekend at Red Cliffs, so that will be an interesting match there.

“And then you have Mildura playing Coomealla Navy, so after this weekend there will be one team potentially with three wins and two teams with two wins with one round to go.”

In Division One action, Riverside edged out Mildura three to two in a tight encounter.

Wins for Riverside came courtesy of Ashley Whitehouse, Brendan Rouse and Steve Willman.

Whitehouse thrillingly sank Mildura’s Cameron Stewart one up on the last hole.

Mildura’s two victories came through Nathan Lever who took down Oasis Auto Service Riverside Open champion Jarrad Stokker, while Greg Tomer beat Alex Spooner.

Meanwhile, current leaders Red Cliffs were commanding against Coomealla White.

Brad Steer, Darryl Morgan, Chris Thomas and Mathhew Pascoe were all triumphant for Red Cliffs.

The only other matchup saw Ben Hogan half Ben Doherty from Coomealla.

“It’s exactly how the district would want Pennant to be, and it’s creating a lot of interest,” said Garth Doherty.

Division Two was equally competitive as Red Cliffs overcame Coomealla three to two with wins from Glen Goodall, Jack Crowe and Matt Forward.

Riverside defeated Mildura in another close three to two result as victories from Scott Webster, Nick George and Simon Dale took them over the line despite a determined fight back from Mildura’s Neville Hodges and Matt Adams who also clinched his match one up on the final hole.

“It’s that close that Riverside Green is on top by themselves,” said Doherty.

“And then in equal second is Mildura and Coomealla who are all tied on contests, individual matches and also holes so they can’t be separated at the moment.”

President Doherty hailed the growth of pennant golf in the Murray Darling region.

“Last year in 2024 there was only one pennant season which is in October and November that will go ahead again this year,” he said.

“On top of that, this year we’ve had junior pennant and now we’ve got scratch pennant.”

“So, there’s three different pennant competitions in one calendar year, which is obvious growth.”

Doherty is optimistic for the future and hopeful of even more pennant golf action.

“We attempted to try and get scratch ladies pennant off the ground this year after being requested to look into it,” he said.

“We gave that a really good go and weren’t quite able to get it over the line this year.

“But hopefully it might be the building blocks that could hopefully make it happen next year.”

Red Cliffs Golf Club will be hosting this Sunday for the fourth and second last round of the regular season prior to the final.

The top of the table clash between Red Cliffs and Riverside is set to excite and could be pivotal to how the rest of the competition pans out.

“The quality of golf has been very, very good,” Doherty said.

“The depth of how good our players are across the board in the Murray Darling Golf Association is really shown.

“Not just by how good the players are in Division One, but the strength and quality of players in Division Two as well.”