CIRCUMSTANCES are very different for Coomealla Golf Club compared to 12 months ago, but the pennant celebrations remain the same.
The NSW club claimed back-to-back division 1 doubles as their top ladies and men’s sides went undefeated to claim the 2023 Murray Darling Golf Association Pennant.
Last year, floodwaters had breached the club’s home course and they would not be back until June, however this year there were no such worries in the background.
Both division 1 teams defeated Mildura in their respective finals at Robinvale on Sunday, with the ladies winning 4-1 and the men 3.5-1.5.
Ladies star Sue Laird, playing off a handicap of four, ensured Coomealla took the early lead with a 3/2 win over Sue Burgess, but Mildura’s Bev Matthews squared the ledger with a 2-up victory against Carolyn Croke.
It was all Coomealla from there however with Angela Plumridge, Salli Fox and Kylie Walters gaining respective wins against Marg Morrison (4/3), Sheryleen McGlashan (3/2) and Jenny McCoy (3/1) to secure back to back honours.
Ladies captain Ann Bowen said it was a fantastic campaign by her team.
“They were all committed to the task and knew they had to take turns because we had a squad of seven who played,” she said.
“There was great camaraderie and support for each other, and our girls had much lower handicaps than some of the others so they actually had that extra work to do to get up.
“I was wondering how long they could keep it up for, but to their credit they played fantastic golf.
“The whole pennant was played in really good spirit across the board, we had a few girls newer to the competition and it can be a bit intimidating but they took it all in their stride.”
Mildura got off to the ideal start in the men’s final with Cam Stewart claiming a 4/2 victory over Troy Neville, but Coomealla would soon be in front through Garth Doherty’s important 3/2 win over Ash Whitehouse, and captain Jacob Slimmon defeating opposition skipper Mark Woodhouse 5/4.
The victory would be confirmed when James Daley finished at the 15th with 4/3 lead over Joe Rocca. Ben Doherty and Rob Toms would play out a squared game to round off the day.
“We’re obviously extremely pleased to go back-to-back, especially having no losses and just the one halved game for the year,” Slimmon said.
“After losing two top golfers in Cam Stewart and Justin McPhee from last year’s team to still go on and win was a pretty good achievement.
“Having Garth and Ben as father-son in the team was great, we believe it may the first time that has happened since Garth played in one with his dad Shane which was a nice touch.
“The match-ups probably weren’t the best for us, but Garth beating Ash Whitehouse was a huge result in our favour.”
Robinvale’s home course heroes were celebrated for their 3-2 victory over Riverside to win the division 2 men’s title.
The home side did have to fight their way back after an early 2-0 deficit, Riverside’s Nick George defeating John Zara 2/1 and Blaine Cucia going down to Alex Spooner 3/2.
Mick Smith, Greg Philp and Luke Benham brought the goods home however with respective victories over Scott Webster (4/2), Michael Holcroft (5/4) and Josh Fleming (5/4).
Riverside however would still taste success in division 3 with a 4-1 victory over Mildura Gold, thanks to John Denman defeating Allen lay 1-up, Jake Kiel winning 4/3 over Nigel Ingram, and David Lloyd beating Garry Smart 6/4.
Squared results came in the match-ups between Chris Curley and Cam Smith and Glen Walker and John Williams to earn their teams half a point each.
