Glenelg Senior Pennant make history and win Division 1

I am thrilled to announce that the Glenelg Senior Pennant team were successful in winning the Golf Australia Div 1 Senior Pennant for the very first time last Monday playing against Blackwood at Kooyonga.

The Senior Pennant competition has been running since 2007 and has been dominated by Tea Tree Gully with 15 wins and Blackwood winning back in 2020. This is history for the Glenelg Golf Club and hopefully the start of many more wins.

It was a virtual 6/1 win and throughout the day Glenelg held a distinct advantage, leading 6/1 after 9 holes – but as happens the Blackwood team refused to surrender and the match tightened quite considerably towards the end.

Brian Welsh at No.7 had a battle on his hands – he was drawn against a very good lady player who had the benefit of 30 – 40 metres from most tees and finally succumbed after a valiant effort 5&3.

John Keogh at No.6 and Villi Koronis at No.3 were dominant in their games being 4 up and 6 up after 9 holes and going on to win 5&3 and 5&4 respectively. Team Glenelg now had a 2/1 lead with 4 matches still being played – whilst Glenelg were leading in these 4 games, all matches were fairly tight. Greg Way at No. 5 was 2 up after 9 and extended that to 3 up after 11, but his opponent fought back to have the match all square after 15 and still all square playing the 18th – a solid par down the tricky last hole was good enough for Greg to win a much needed game 1 up.

We now had 3 wins and under the Finals conditions, once a team has 4 wins all unfinished games are called off and classified as a half – we needed just one more win!

James Mattsson at No.4 got off to a flying start to be 4 up after 6, but his opponent rallied to be all square after 11 and the match remained very tight through the back 9 – with the match still being all square after 18 and the players then heading down 19 whilst Nick Wake at No.2 and Deane Harris at No.1 still fighting out their games. Both Nick and Deane were 1 up playing the last hole, so, it seemed likely we would get the 4 wins whilst James was playing the 19th. 

As it turned out Deane’s opponent conceded the final hole after a hooked tee shot and taking another 3 shots to get on the green and missing his putt – that gave us our 4 wins and the Pennant win – so, whilst Nick was set to also win his match 2 up, the match was officially classified a half due to the terms of the Final. At the same time, James Mattsson returned from the 19th hole having won that hole to win his match at the 19th. 

So, officially a 5 and a half to 1 and a half win. but as previously mentioned it was virtually 6/1.

Click here to see the Final Score Sheet.

A great season by the boys in a very competitive Division – special mention of Deane Harris who went through the season playing at No. 1 and winning 6 games and having one half. Recognition also to other squad members who played through the season Peter Jeffrey, Howard Slater, Trent Kotz, Anthony Doyle and Wayne Humphries.

Thanks to the club officials, caddies and spectators from Glenelg that came out to support Team Glenelg – it was definitely appreciated by all players.

Thanks also to Paul McGrath and Chris Harris for sponsorship of the pennant uniform – the boys certainly looked the part and played accordingly. 

This win follows our win last season in Div 2 and promotion to Div 1 and also our first win in the Seniors Interclub for 12 years earlier in the year.

A great couple of years – well done lads.

Wayne Humphries
Senior Pennant Manager