Weather wise it was a perfect afternoon for golf. However, with a 45-minute delay in teeing off and a backup on every tee on the front nine with two or three groups waiting meant both patience and focus was going to required. On paper this was going to be a close match and this proved to be the case. Four of the five matches went to the 18th and the tie was in the balance with Kooyonga number 1 having an 8-foot put to tie the match. In the end Grange prevailed 3 to 2.
- Borck Bezzina (no 5) – Brock was in for his first match of the year after a bout of pneumonia. With a birdie on the first hole Brock took an early lead. He built on this with solid golf to start the back nine two up and closed the match out on the 16th winning 4 and 2.
- Benji Goodridge (no 4) – It was a slow start from Benji going two down after 4 holes. Benji worked his way back into the match to be all square after 11 only to lose three of the next four holes to be three down after 14. In typical Benij style he rallied again managing to square the match on the 18th.
- Alex Keylock (no 3) – This was a tight match all day with Alex going two up early on only for his opponent to fight back and square the match after 11. Alex then took the lead again on the difficult par 3 11th and was never headed after that closing out the match 2 and 1.
- Nate Yuan (no 2) – Nate struggled to get into the match and was 5 down after 12. Conditions then became tricker as the wind picked up. A mistake off the tee on 13 by his opponent was all that was needed to spark Nate into action who went on to win the next five holes and take the match all square up the 18th. Unfortunately, Nate copped a flyer from the left hand rough on 18 and couldn’t get up and down from the back of the green losing 1 down. This match provided the takeaway lesson for the lads, never give up!
- Eli (EJ) Kalogerias (no 1) – This was the closest match of the day with several lead changes during the round. In the end EJ did what he needed to do by squaring the 18th and his match. This was enough to give Grange the win on the day with 2 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss.
Next weekend there is a break for the Australian Women’s Open at Kooyonga. Our next match is against Glenelg at Kooyonga on 22nd March.
Peter Casey
Sharp Cup Team Manager