Bonnar boys sneak win in nailbiter 2nd round match

Report by Wayne Humphries (Team Manager)

Phew – That was close!!

This was another really important match for us to win – Mt. Osmond was in really nice condition but there were some very tricky pin positions on the sloping greens which left all players from both sides with some very challenging putts.

After 9 holes our boys held a slight advantage – with Glenelg leading in four games, behind in two and one game all square – but the match tightened up over the back 9 – to such an extent that the contest was not decided until the final putt (from 18 inches) by Will Starkey was holed on the final green to give us the narrowest of wins.

Congratulations and special mention to our winning players:

John Noble at No. 7 – last week John had a bad loss and initially was named as reserve but received a late call up to cover for Marty Ardill. Marty’s young son Archie was not too well and understandably Marty elected not to play – so John wrote Archie’s name on his golf ball to inspire him – and John left his putting demons from last week behind him to lead all day and record a strong 3/1 win – well done John.

Matty Mudford at No.5 – Matty has had an interrupted pennant preparation with work commitments and a shoulder injury, but came out firing today – he was 5 up after six holes and went on to record a comfortable 7/5 victory.

Sam Raschella at No.4 – Sam was 1 up after nine, but then had a hot streak to win four of the next five holes to win 5/4. Thanks to Josh Hodgson for another superb caddying effort with Sam – a dynamic duo.

And Will Starkey at No. 2 (with David Brand caddying – thanks David) – Will was one up after nine, but after a couple of uncharacteristic errors on 10 and 11 saw him drop to one down. He got back to square playing the short par 3, 16th, where he nearly holed his chip shot, only to miss the four foot putt back, to go one down – so one down with 2 holes to play!!

At this point, James Brown at No.6 had lost his absorbing battle 3/2 and James McDonald at No.1 had succumbed 4/3 to his opponent. In front of Will, Ben Magi at No.3 was heading down the par 5, 18th hole, one down – but his opponent put his second shot on to the green and was putting for eagle and subsequently won the hole for Ben to lose 2 down.

So it’s three games all – plus Will’s game! While Ben was playing the 18th, Will won the 17th hole with a steady par to get his match back to all square playing the last. Again a steady par on the last by Will was good enough to win the hole and for the Glenelg boys to snatch the narrow 4/3 team victory.  Will showed great maturity to hold his nerve under the pressure and was rewarded for his strong practice ethic to produce some good golf when it really counted.

Next Sunday we play Grange at Grange from 11.15am. This will obviously be quite a challenge on their home course – but I am confident all our boys will give it their best shot. We will certainly give them a competitive contest and an upset win over the highly fancied Grange team would not surprise me.

Round 2 Results

Bonnar Cup Table after round 2

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