Report by Geoff Attenborough
(Team Manager)
The Simpson Cup pennant season is over for Glenelg’s team with our finals hopes disappearing when Grange defeated Kooyonga at Kooyonga, five matches to two, leaving Glenelg only five individual games shy of 2nd place.
Our players knew the match against Highercombe was a make or break day and did the job accordingly, although the end result was much tighter than we would have liked with our boys winning four matches to three.
We were led out by Matt Overall in the number seven position, and he got us of to a good start winning 5/3. Matt was in control for most of his match and had an early finish. Matt’s first year at Glenelg was even with his win loss record being three wins, three losses and one halved match. Matt is a popular member of the team and is enjoying his time at the Bay.
Josh Hayes did not seem to be in control of his game today at number six, starting off poorly to be four holes down early, but with his fighting spirit he fought back to square after 16 holes only to go one down after his opponent won the 17th hole with a birdie and they halved the 18th for Josh to lose one down. With this being Josh’s first Simpson Cup season, winning four matches and losing three, watch out next season as he will be much better for the experience.
Anthony Olsen had another strong win at number five, getting the job done 7/5 after winning 8/7 last week. He has been our floating man up and down the order, but just went about his games with no fuss and after having a season record of three wins, two losses and two halved matches, has been a solid contributor all season.
David Hiern played at four and did not have his best day losing 6/5. David played the last three matches after playing well in the Bonnar Cup team at the start of the season. His record for us was two wins and one loss. With this being his first season at Glenelg and after having a pre season injury, he will only get better.
Matt McGowan at number three had a battle early in his match being two up after nine holes but eventually went on to win 4/3 with some great iron play late in his match. Matt had a good season winning four, losing one and halving two matches from six starts to be one of our best performers.
Lachlan Booth played at number two and had an even battle eventually going down 3/1. Lachy competed at the top of the order all season for us and has gained valuable experience against some of the State’s best players to learn what it takes to get to the next level. Lachlan’s season record was four wins, three losses – a good effort playing in the top three each week.
Our number one, Campbell Rawson was in charge of his match from the outset winning 4/3. This was probably Campbell’s best performance of the season with some great ball striking and some equally good putting. Campbell played six matches, winning three and losing three which is a very acceptable 50% strike rate playing against each team’s best player each week.
Andrew Gryzbowski played five matches this season for three wins and two losses, with his season being curtailed with a business trip to Indonesia with his new employer. Gryz as he is affectionately known will, I am sure, be back bigger and better next year as his employment situation settles down giving him more time to play and practice.
Although we did not make the final, the team performance was much improved on last year. In saying this, there is still improvement needed to make Glenelg totally competitive at Simpson Cup level with The Grange and Kooyonga. Even as the whole pennant squad worked on their game with Thursday afternoon practice sessions and some other individual sessions with our resident professionals Gareth, Shane and Adrian, the group can still improve much more with quality practice time. It is not about the quantity each player spends practicing, it is about the quality, concentration and execution.
With all of our players either working or studying full time, the team’s performance this year was exceptional as it is always difficult to commit the amount of time to the game of golf to reach the elite amateur level under these circumstances. I know this can be testing, but every little bit of extra quality practice will surely help our quest for success.
Thanks to Shane, Gareth and Adrian for the time and effort put in with teaching and advice for the season. We must surely have the best assembled group of golf teachers in SA.
Also thanks to Paul Duregon as Pennant Coordinator, and Wayne Humphries and James McDonald as Bonnar Cup and Sharp Cup managers respectively, for their time and effort in making for a successful pennant season. Good luck to the Women’s A1, Bonnar Cup and Junior Pennant teams in their finals this Sunday.
Last but not least thanks, to all the caddies and supporters for their support and help. I am sure the players appreciate your input and enthusiasm.
Results
Glenelg (4) defeated Highercombe (3)
(1) Campbell Rawson def. Mark Deacon 4/3
(2) Lachlan Booth lost to Ben Hallam 3/1
(3) Matt McGowan def. Nick May 4/3
(4) David Hiern lost to Scott Mills 6/5
(5) Anthony Olsen def. Adam Husdell 7/5
(6) Josh Hayes lost to Adam Couzner 1 down
(7) Matt Overall def. Joey Howlett 5/3
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