RED Cliffs looms as the team to beat for the 2023 Murray Darling Golf Association Pennant, which begins this weekend.
Four divisions and 22 teams from eight clubs will compete for glory on the courses over the coming weeks, beginning at Merbein on Sunday and concluding at Robinvale with the final on November 5.
The Red Cliffs Division 1 men’s outfit will be led by District Championship winner Dom Vartuli and runner-up Darryl Morgan and will regain Justin McPhee, who joins from defending champions Coomealla.
The Country Week trio are joined by Brad Steer and Troy Germane to round out the team.
They begin their campaign against an experienced Mildura outfit who are bolstered by the inclusion of Cam Stewart and Ash Whitehouse.
While Coomealla have lost some key players they will still field a strong team, led by skipper Jacob Slimmon, in their opening clash against last year’s grand final opponents Riverside.
Riverside will field a new-look team under captain Jarred Stokker.
Coomealla are also out to defend their women’s pennant title following a brilliant grand final victory over the previously undefeated Red Cliffs in 2022 in which the five contests went down to the 18th hole.
The reigning champions will face Riverside in their opener while Red Cliffs are against Mildura.
Women’s pennant is a handicap contest and golfers must play in handicap order.
Division 2 men will see the lower-handicap players contesting handicap pennant between six teams, leaving a perfect round robin over five weeks.
Host club Merbein is hoping for a home-course advantage against Riverside this weekend, while Robinvale will play Coomealla and Mildura will play Red Cliffs.
Division 3 men’s pennant has eight teams so to cater for these numbers, the competition has been split into two pools for the first three weeks, then there will be two weeks of crossover contests befo the final.
These contests are also handicap but players can be placed in any order.
Mildura and Red Cliffs have a team each in Pool 1 and Pool 2, while Ouyen is fielding a team along with Coomealla, Robinvale and Riverside.
Pennant contests are all one-on-one with the goal of defeating a direct opponent, with the team having the most points at the end of each contest winning.
