RED Cliffs Golf Club’s first Division 1 pennant flag for a decade is a special moment to savour for team captain Daryl Morgan.
Breaking into the A Grade side as a teenager before moving away and then returning to the district five years ago, Morgan had until Sunday’s Murray Darling Golf Association decider never played in a final with his boyhood club.
An impressive performance on their home course against Mildura secured Red Cliffs a 4-1 victory, just their third top-grade pennant flag after victories in 1989 and 2014.
Brad Steer got Red Cliffs off to a good start with a 1-up result against Rob Toms, before Ben Hogan followed suit with a 6/4 win over Mark Woodhouse.
Morgan had the important match-up against gun Ash Whitehouse, but the 2/1 win was enough to ensure the pennant flag.
Cameron Stewart gave Mildura a point with his 5/4 win over Matt Pascoe, but Anthony Lee finished the contest in style with a 4/2 win over David Murray.
“This was my first opportunity to win a pennant flag with my home club,” Morgan said.
“I’ve only been back in the district five years after a long time away, but this one was pretty special.
“Talking to some of the older members I think the club has only made three pennant finals in the last 30-odd years, so it was a massive result.
“I would say there would have been close to 100 spectators there watching not just us but all four division finals, but having that home support definitely gave us a real lift.
“The way course was presented was outstanding, there’s only the one paid greenskeeper there but all the volunteers at the club had put in the time and effort to have it in great conditions.”
Morgan said despite playing their home course the only real advantage came from the support of their clubmates.
“When it comes to A Grade most of us play most of the courses in the district pretty regularly, so maybe there was a slight advantage there, but I know personally I got a bigger boost from having that home-club support more than anything,” he said.
“We had thought long and hard about the line-up. We hadn’t shuffled the order around too much in the rounds, but we thought Mildura might have Ash Whitehouse and Cam Stewart in the middle, so if we could pair myself or Ben Hogan or Matt Pascoe against those guys we’d be pretty happy.
“It worked out pretty well for us in the end and to come home with a 4-1 result was just the extra on top.
“Having Mark Wilson as our team manager was really special, too. He was part of the A Grade side when I first broke in as a teenager all those years ago.
“It’s all a credit to the club and what they’re doing at the moment, and across the district, to see the increase in juniors playing the sport and coming through the ranks is fantastic.”
In men’s Division 2, Riverside took out the title with a close-fought 3-2 win over Mildura.
Tim O’Neal and Matt Adams took the early advantage for Mildura with wins over Rob Garioch (3/2) and Josh Bailey (2-up) respectively, before Riverside captain Simon Dale clinched an important win over youngster Cameron Smith 4/2.
Scott Webster defeated Rob Morgan 6/5 and Nick George beat Paul Leonard 1-up to earn the flag.
After finishing on top of the Division 3 men’s ladder, Robinvale went on to the win the pennant title over Coomealla 3-2.
JJ Natale had a 4/2 win over Paul Matthews and Jacob Pulvermueller defeated Greg Lee 3/2 for Robinavle, however it was all square ahead of the final match-up with Coomealla’s Aaron Andriske winning against David Albanese 4/3 and Greg Butcher earning a 2-up victory over Jim Carruthers.
Barry Evans came home in the deciding match 3/2 over Jez Andriske.
Cossy Natale and Fred Garreffa also both played through the season.
