Report by Wayne Humphries
Team Manager
Playing Flagstaff Hill on their home course was always going to be a tough contest. Throughout the day it was obvious the home team were generally finding the fairways and managing the greens that little bit better than the Glenelg players. After a tight contest Glenelg won 2 games and halved 2 games, but lost 3 games to lose the match 3 – 4.
Simon Gallie at No. 4 was the star for Glenelg. He played very solid golf and got out to 3 up after 8 holes and continued his fine form to win 6/5.
Will Starkey at No. 2 was our other winner. Will also got out to 3 up after 8, but his opponent fought back to take the game to the 17th where Will won 3/1.
At No. 6 Michael Ratajewski was struggling to hit fairways but scrambled many halves on the front 9 to be only 1 down at the turn. He then lost several holes to be dormie 4 down, but turned his game around over the last 4 holes to win them all and salvage a much needed half for his game.
Andy Humphries at No. 5 got off to a slow start being 3 down after just 4 holes, but he persisted and got back to all square after 12 holes. Over his last 6 holes Andy alternated losing a hole with winning the next hole, and playing the last was 1 down, but a great birdie on the last resulted in a tied game.
At No. 7 Jacob Rillotta also got off to a slow start being 4 down after 7 holes, but birdies on 8 and 10 and a win on 9 saw him only 1 down after 10. However his opponent steadied to win the game 3/1.
Henry Duregon at No. 3 was all square after 9, but uncharacteristically struggled to match his opponent on the back 9 and lost his game 4/2.
Michael Munn at No. 1 had a tough battle all day, he was 3 down after 3 and behind the 8-ball. However he hung in to be still 3 down after 9, then he won the next 3 holes to square the game, but his opponent holed a couple of nice birdie putts to finish the game off with a 3/2 win.
This loss has put us in a somewhat dire situation in relation to making the Final. We no longer can control our own destiny, we must win our final 2 matches and now need to rely on results of several other matches going our way over the next 2 weeks. But stranger things have happened!
Next Sunday we take on Tea Tree Gully at Grange East from the 10th tee at 12:10pm in a must win game.