Report by Jackson Kalz
Our trip started with a team meeting at Adelaide Airport on Sunday, 9th August. We all checked in and flew out to Sydney where we had a lengthy wait for our transfer flight to Canberra. As a result, we had to hurry to the opening ceremony – which we almost missed!
Looking at the players from other teams was a little nerve wracking at first, but after a solid 9 hole practice round at Federal Golf Club, I felt as though our team was in contention. Tired from the long day, we settled in to our spacious cabins at Alivio Tourist Park. Although I knew most of the people in the team, it was exciting to get to know each other better.
On our first day in Canberra, we played a two-round stroke play championship at Federal. I started off hitting it not so good and shooting 80, but hit the ball a lot better in the second round, only letting myself down with my putting to shoot 79. There were few good scores in our team for the day which left SA at the bottom of the leaderboard for combined stroke scores. It wasn’t long before we put our scores behind us and sat down to a fantastic 3-course meal at the host club.
Day two had us at Queanbeyan Golf Club for start of the main match play rounds of the tournament. Our first competitors were Western Australia. My opponent and I were fighting it out for most of the match with him leading only slightly, however I managed to pull it back and win 2/1. Other matches were tight as well, but with the help of Caleb Perry coming from 5 down to halve his match, we were able to win 3.5/2.5. Our second match was against one of the strongest teams on paper, New South Wales. Again all of the matches were close as the match came down to the last two games. Unfortunately, NSW clenched the 3.5/2.5 win, with Caleb and myself picking up a point each and Ben Layton halving his match. It was a fairly good outcome for the day and we proved to the other teams that SA was in the mix.
On Wednesday, we had a much needed sleep in. At 10:00am, we left to go to a Golf Australia speech about our possible futures in the sport which we all enjoyed. From there, we went to the Australian War Memorial to learn about and honour the soldiers who fought for our Country. Luckily, the only day we had off happened to be snowing! The rest of the day was pretty lazy and we caught up on some sleep.
Thursday’s rounds were at Gungahlin Lakes Golf Club. Our first opponent for the day were rivals, Victoria. We were absolutely stoked to come out with a 4/2 win, including a stunning 9/8 victory from Liam Kennewell playing number 6, promoting him to number 5 for the rest of the matches. The next match was against ACT. Their team didn’t look too strong however they were nothing to mess with as our team only came out with a draw. I brought my match to square down the 18th hole, however a poor putt left me with a loss on the hole, and my first loss for the tournament.
Our final match was against Queensland. I was 2 up on my match after nine holes, however my opponent’s par, birdie, eagle stretch saw me lose five holes to have me at 3 down. I managed to pull a couple of wins with clutch puts to force the match down the 18th hole, however a half on the hole was not strong enough and my opponent won 1 up. The rest of the team struggled a bit, with us only winning one game out of the six. It wasn’t the outcome we were hoping for, but a game of footy against the Victorians afterwards ensured we had a fun afternoon. The closing presentation was held at Federal Golf Club again and our team walked away with third place and a bronze medal to show for it!
Going into the week, we would’ve been stoked if someone had told us that we would come third against the quality of the teams that we were up against. Five of our six players are eligible for next year’s championship that will be held in SA which should give us a large advantage.
I took a lot away from the trip as it made me realise how hard I have to work to be in contention in national events. Playing different courses also proved to be a challenge, having to adapt to different conditions. Overall, I had an awesome time with the team and some of the things we did and learnt will stick with me forever.
A large thanks to the Glenelg Golf Club Foundation for their continuous support, and for all of the good wishes from the Glenelg members.
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