The original date for the Super Senior Pennants Southern Zone Final at Monash Country Club was Monday October 10. Due to the course being too wet it was delayed a week till Monday October 17. The day dawned and it looked highly unlikely to proceed as there was torrential rain all morning. We made the trip north fully expecting a further delay. Surprisingly, the rain cleared and the match went ahead.
Our opponents were Castle Hill GC, our nemesis. They knocked us out in the finals last time then went on to win. We were down two players with Albert Salerno away and David Williams out with a back injury. Castle Hill were at full strength. Every Castle Hill player had a lower handicap than their Lakes counterpart. They were led by Gerry Power who represented Australia in the Eisenhower Cup (and played pennants for The Lakes back in the day). They had come to play, complete with caddies, managers and spectators.
The course ended up being OK, though wet in places. The rain slowed the notorious Monash greens down from terrifying to merely frightening.
A number of Super Senior Pennant rules came into play. In finals the playing order goes from 1 through to 8. Also, finals matches cannot be halved – if two players are square at the end of regulation play, the match continues until there is a result. If the final result is tied at 4:4 the outcome is determined by the sum of the individual results. Most matches were close and could have gone either way. It came down to the last few. In fact it came down to the very last match on the very last hole.
In the end the final result was determined to be 4:4, but Castle Hill won on the basis of the individual results 11:10. It was a heartbreaking loss by the smallest margin.
Congratulations to all the team. It was a terrific season and we should all be proud of the result. All matches were played fiercely but in a wonderful spirit.
We will be formidable next year …
Final results:
Roy Vandersluis lost 1 down
Vince Clark lost 7/6
John Dalley lost 2/1
Kevin Trenorden won 3/2
Stuart Beck lost 1 down
Paul L’Estrange won 4/3
Steven Lang won 2/1
Gary Snow halved
