Bonnar Cup salvage a vital half at The Grange

Report by Wayne Humphries
Team Manager

Well, it doesn’t come much tougher, playing The Grange at The Grange. In a Bonnar Cup match that promised to be a beauty, it delivered in spades. Everything coming down to the last putt on the last green for Glenelg to salvage a vital 3.5 to 3.5 halved result against the defending champions.

It was a contest played in good spirit, every game was an enthralling match up and the anticipation of the result was quite suspenseful. Five of the games were decided on the 18th, such was the tension in the match.

At No. 5 David Hiern played sub-par golf to win his match 3/2 against Matt Wilson. This was a great effort by Hierny who had been suffering from a back strain through the week and only deemed himself fit to play after the Ambrose event on Saturday.

Frank Vucic at No.3 was having a tough match, whilst he played a lot of nice shots, his opponent Nick Cheary was in good form and maintained the pressure throughout to record a 4/3 win for The Grange.

So, one game all – with all other games tight.

At No.7 Harry Burner was having a gigantic battle against another young fellow Nick Thompson. Nick was playing some very solid golf and held a one up or two up lead through most of the day. Harry won the 17th to be 1 down playing the last but an errant tee shot cost him dearly losing the 18th to give Nick a 2 up win to maintain his unbeaten record this season.

Jack Tanner at No. 6 was playing the Grange captain Brad Stenner. Jack gained the advantage early being 1 up after 4 and still 1 up after 8, Brad got it back to square after 10 and the match was still square after 13. A birdie 2 on 14 gave Brad the lead for the first time and he was still that 1 up playing the last where he nearly chipped in for birdie to give him a 1 up victory for The Grange.

It was now The Grange 3, Glenelg 1 – and not looking all that promising for Glenelg.

At No. 4 young Jack Buchanan played Simon Andrew. Both boys were playing great golf with Jack playing par golf and holding a 1 up or 2 up advantage for most of the day. At the 14th Simon nearly had a hole in one and rolled in the resultant birdie putt to be 1 down and then won the 15th to square the match. Playing the last Jack was 1 up but his approach shot took a big bounce and went through the green leaving him a tricky chip back. He hit the chip a little too hard and it ran over the hole but about 15 feet past. Meanwhile Simon has made a regulation par and Jack needed to hole his putt to win his game. Hole it he did, and a great 1 up win. Well done Jack!

So now Grange led 3 to 2. With Michael Munn at No.2 playing Mark Demasi, Munny got off to a great start to be 4 up after 4 and getting out to 5 up after 9. But Mark, not to be denied, fought back strongly on the back 9 and Munny was just 1 up playing the last hole. An errant drive from Munny necessitated a sideways chip out to the fairway, but his 3rd shot from about 80 metres out settled within a metre from the hole. Meanwhile Mark salvaged his par from the greenside bunker leaving Munny to hole out for a hard earned 1 up victory.

Now 3 all. Henry Duregon playing Scott Webb at No.1. Scott held the advantage for most of the day in a tight battle. Henry was 1 down after 9 but recovered to be 1 up after 11, then Scott won 3 holes in a row to be 2 up after 14. Henry was still 2 down playing 17, but a solid par on 17 won the hole after Scott missed a shortish putt. Henry was now 1 down playing 18 and aware of the need for a birdie to salvage a halved contest. Both lads hit superb drives down 18 and both hit the green leaving birdie putts. Scott putted first and just came up short, leaving Henry with about a 12 foot birdie putt to salvage the halved result. Whilst Henry’s dad Paul couldn’t watch, Henry calmly holed the putt amidst the roar from his fellow Glenelg players. Well done Henry!

The halved result was vital in keeping us in the box seat for a Finals berth. We now play Kooyonga, who are also undefeated, in another vital contest next Sunday at Flagstaff Hill from 12.10pm. A win next week will guarantee us a spot in the Final – and probably for the first time ever, the Grange boys will be hoping for a Glenelg victory as it is now looking like a 3 way battle between Glenelg, Kooyonga and Grange for the Final in 3 weeks’ time.  

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