The Grange versus The Vines at Victor Harbor, 29 May, 2022
Round 4 of Simpson Cup and The Grange travelled to Victor Harbor to play The Vines, who were sitting above us on the leader board. A bleak weather forecast and rumours about the course being in poor condition were cause for concern but turned out to be wrong. The weather was perfect until the drive home and the course was in great shape, with the greens being receptive and reasonably fast. The Grange lost the toss and were batting second off the picturesque 1st tee at 12:10pm. The starter was Bob Higgins, Grange Member and former Simpson team manager. The team was Alex Hendrick, Ross Steedman, Riley Marshall, Matthew Wilson, Steve Maddaford, Nick Siegmund, and Mark Demasi (C).
Captain Mark was distracted by the view from the first tee and had to rush through his warm up but got a great drive away to take the initiative early against his opponent Paul Gregory. Mark was up 1 or 2 most of the front nine and turned 2 up. He was 3 up after 12 holes when errant tee shots on the Par 5, 13th and Par 3, 14th holes had him back to 1 up. Steady play had him 2 up after 16 holes but a loss on the 17th saw him playing the 18th 1 up and needing a half to win his match. He comfortably halved the hole and won his match 1 up.
Nick played against Michael Bruggeman who consistently got up and down. Nick had the support of Nick Cheary who generously travelled to Victor and caddied. Nick was 1 down for most of the day but finished strongly and was able to halve the tug-of-war match.
In another tug-of-war, Steve was playing Tony Nobbs. Steve went 1 down when Tony eagled the Par 5, 4th hole. From then on there was only a hole either side in the match and Steve was 1 up going down the 18th hole. An unfortunate 3-putt saw him lose the hole and the match was halved.
Matt Wilson, playing his first Simpson match of the season, was 1 up after 3 holes, got to 2 up and was still 2 up at the turn. His steady, mistake-free play kept his opponent, Corey Apthorne, at bay and Matt went on to a solid 2/1 win. We now had 2 wins and 2 halves and needed another win to win the contest.
Riley was playing at number 3 against Jordan Percey. Struggling with his putting, Riley was 5 down after 8 holes. Renowned for his tenacity, Riley fought back to 1 down through 16 holes, was 1 down going down the 18th and the Manager was hoping for a miraculously halved match. A difficult chip saw Riley lose the hole and the match 2 down.
Both Ross and Alex were 3 up after 7 holes in their matches. Ross, playing against Alex Curtin, had not previously played the course and I don’t think he had ever seen as many kangaroos. According to caddy, Jeff Green, the highlight of Ross’ round was an eagle on the Par 5, 6th hole in which Ross hit driver, 3-wood to inside a metre and then holed the putt.
Ross was 2 up with two holes to play and a group of us had assembled by the 17th green to watch him play in when Alex and his opponent, Sam Earl, came walking from the 15th green. Alex had won his match 4/3. This was an excellent result playing at number one and gave us the fourth win needed to win the contest.
Meanwhile, Ross and his opponent were both nicely on the 17th green for two. Ross’ birdie putt lipped out and his opponent’s dropped and they went to the 18th tee with Ross 1 up. Ross’ opponent took driver off the tee and found trees on the left-hand side of the fairway. Ross played a nice iron shot to the left centre of the fairway and was just short of the green for two. After a couple of shots in the trees, the opponent conceded the hole to give Ross a 2/1 win and the team an overall 5/2 win.
So, the results were Alex won 4/3, Ross won 2/1, Riley lost 2 down, Matthew won 2/1, Steve and Nick both had halves and Mark won 1 up for an overall 5/2 win. This was a good result against a quality team and puts us in third place on the table.
Victor Harbor has many trees and it was good to see the low fades and draws that practice manager, Paul McDonald, had the squad practicing last Wednesday night being played.
Thanks to caddies Nick Cheary, Jeff Green, Ron Marshall and Luci (who travelled down to caddy for Alex after first running a half marathon in the Barossa!). Thanks also to Paul McDonald for his help managing the team and to Michael Siegmund who came out to support the team.
Next Sunday, June 5, The Grange takes on Southern at The Vines from 12:10pm on the 10th tee. Caddies and gallery welcome.
John Thomas
Captain and Simpson Cup Team Manager