Bonnar Cup boys earn finals berth with strong victory

Report by Wayne Humphries
(Team Manager)

This was an important contest for Glenelg’s Bonnar Cup boys to win. A win would consolidate our spot in the final and give us strong winning form in the lead up to the final next week.

It was pleasing to see the determination within players to do well. As the boys came through the first four or five holes, they were mainly even par or better.  Liam Kennewell at No.7 parred the first four holes to be 1 up. Jackson Kalz (No.5), Henry Duregon (No.4), Braeden Kelly (No.3) and Ben Layton (No.2) were all under the card after four to be 2 up, 3 up, 3 up and 4 up respectively – this was a great sign that the boys had turned up to play.

As the round progressed, Liam increased his lead to 2 up after nine holes but his opponent turned it around after that to take a 1 up lead after 14 and maintained that advantage to win the match 1 up.

Mark McDonald at No.6 had a battle on his hands all day – with his opponent playing well and Mark struggling a little, he could not recover from being 3 down after six, trying valiantly but going down 5/4 in the end.

Jackson Kalz maintained the pressure on his much longer hitting opponent – 2 up after four, then 4 up after nine and then 6 up after 12.  Jackson then lost two holes but steadied to win his match 4/3.

Henry Duregon was just far too good for his opponent on the day – he increased his lead to 4 up after nine and kept the pressure on to win 6/4.

Braeden Kelly also maintained his solid play to turn 5 up and went on to win 5/4.

Ben Layton, challenged to get off to a good start, responded really well to be 6 up after six holes – can’t get any better than that!  He maintained that advantage to win 6/5 – and this was against an opponent who played well and won matches at No.1 for North Adelaide through the season.

Luke Bashford at No.1 was reasonably in control of his match, being 1 up or 2 up for most of the day. He kept his opponent at bay over the concluding holes to win his match 2/1.

Thank you to the caddies – Brenton Kalz, Jack Hynes, Paul Grosvenor, Michael Ratajewski, Steve Layton and Paul Duregon. Their continued support to the players has been fantastic.

So, the final is next Sunday at Flagstaff Hill against The Grange. The time has not yet been announced, but it is likely to be around 11am hit off.  All Glenelg members are invited and encouraged to come out and support the boys. This scenario sees a repeat of last year’s final (which Glenelg won!). Grange have gone through this season undefeated and will once again start favourite – but Glenelg’s boys will give it their best shot and will never give up – a repeat of last year would be very nice and a great reward for the effort that all players have put in throughout the year. I congratulate all the players for making the final and wish them all the best for next Sunday.

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