Strong finish to season for Simpson Cup side

Report by Geoff Attenborough
(Team Manager)

Glenelg’s Simpson Cup team went to Royal Adelaide Golf Club on Sunday with a very positive attitude and a belief that a strong win against Blackwood would give us a chance at a finals berth if Royal Adelaide could provide an upset win against Kooyonga.  Unfortunately the best case scenario did not eventuate with Kooyonga defeating Royal Adelaide 4.5 matches to 2.5 matches denying us a chance to get in the final. To our boy’s credit, we did our part defeating Blackwood, 6 matches to 1. This capped off a very good finish to the season after a poor start with the team eventually finishing in third position. This stands us in good stead for next year with some good young players coming along and gaining experience to give the pennant squad greater depth.

Our first match out today at saw James McDonald playing his first Simpson Cup match this year and he did not let the team down winning his match 1 up. James had a tough day being at best 2 up in his match and being square standing on the 18th tee, finally closing out his match with the win.

At position six, Leigh Attenborough continued his great season with a solid 4/3 win. Leigh was quickly out of the blocks to be 4 up after six holes extending to 5 up after nine holes. A couple of errors let Leigh’s opponent get a couple of holes back but experience prevailed with the match being closed out 4/3. After not playing pennant golf for the last few years, it has been a solid return for Leigh going through the season undefeated. Well done.

At number five,  David Hiern finished his year off well with a solid 3/2 win. David seemed to be in control of his game and it appeared that he would run away and win easily but his Blackwood opponent made him fight hard to eventually win with a couple of holes to spare.

Josh Hayes, at four, played very well today to win 5/4. Josh seemed to be really relaxed and enjoying his match and was always in control. This was a significant result for Josh as he, by his own admission, had not played to his normal high standard over the past month. For a young guy with so much ability, Josh will be so much better for this season’s experience.

Connor Chant, playing number three, had tough day against a determined opponent being down most of his match. To Connor’s credit and showing a never give up attitude, he worked his way back to be square standing on the 18th tee. With Connor’s opponent in a difficult position for his second shot and missing the green by a long way, Connor calmly put his ball in the centre of the green forcing his opponent to try and make tough up and down. This did not occur and Connor closed out his match 1 up.

Campbell Rawson had an interesting duel against a very experienced opponent with the match ebbing and flowing. Campbell gained the upper hand early to be 3 up after seven holes then to lose a couple to be only 1 up at the 10th.  Campbell then showed his superiority to be 3 up after 15 holes and eventually win 4/2.

Matt Overall was not in his best form today but toughed out his match to go down 3/2.  The big fella never tossed in the towel, even though not playing to his normal standard, but was just outdone over the last couple of holes to go down fighting.

It has been a pleasure to be involved with the Simpson Cup team this year and I would like to thank all the players for their input.  Henry Duregon and Sam Raschella, along with James McDonald had limited representation in the team but did their very best to give the team wins.

 Thanks to Gary Thompson for his support as assistant manager, making my job much easier.  Also thanks to Gareth Jones and Adrian Wickstein for their coaching and teaching and Paul Duregon as pennant coordinator.

Special thanks to Shane Robinson for the time he put in with the team and his knowledge and counsel. For Shane, to be at every pennant match encouraging and caddying for various players, shows his passionate interest in improving the whole pennant golf set up at Glenelg.  I know the players appreciate his input and the whole pennant program – men, women and juniors – will be better for Shane, Gareth and Adrian’s knowledge and expertise.

Good luck to the men’s Bonnar Cup and the women’s A1 teams in their quest for finals wins next Sunday.

Round 7 Results

Simpson Cup Table after round 7

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