2020 Metropolitan Junior Pennant Final
At Brighton Lakes on a beautiful warm Sunday afternoon, Lynwood Country Club and Ryde-Parramatta Golf Club competed for the title of Metropolitan junior Pennant winners for 2020. It was the first final for Ryde-Parramatta for many years and their young team were not as experienced as the Lynwood team. The players in the Lynwood team won the 2019 Encourage Shield and the NSW State Encourage Shield so they were considered seasoned veterans at junior match play.
Early in the contest, Ryde-Parramatta was holding a slender lead and at the halfway they were just ahead on the scorecard. Too close to call. The tight fairways and soft greens were not what the Lynwood team was accustomed to playing and Ryde-Parramatta was just hanging on to the lead for the first few holes of the back nine. They won the first match when the #1 clinched a 5/4 win, but Lynwood came back winning #2, #3 and #4 matches. So the pressure was now on the #5 and #6 players for the contest. As they played up the 17th the Lynwood #6 was edged out 2/1 but the Lynwood #5 held her nerve to win 2/1 and give Lynwood a close and exciting win.
Congratulations to Ryde-Parramatta for providing solid competition to the experienced 2020 Junior Pennant Champions, Lynwood Country Club.
Lynwood Country Club – Imogen Carter, Katie Eastaway, Chayse Thorpe (Captain), Ti Fox, Andrew Kneeves, Manager – Gavin Thorpe, Jarrod Fletcher
2020 Metropolitan Encourage Shield Final
The 2020 Encourage Shield final was played in glorious weather at Brighton Lakes on Sunday 6th December. Ten years ago Woolooware Golf Club won the event, but had not since played in the final and it was the first time that Pennant Hills Golf Club had made it this far. Both teams were young, with no much match play experience, particularly at this level. But, they had won their division and their semi-final, so were keen and excited to be in the final.
As they players approached the 10th hole, the Woolooware team were leading in 3 matches with 2 square and the Pennant Hills #4 was just in front. Very close but plenty of holes still to play. The Woolooware #6 got the first win after 10 holes but the other 5 matches were very close. The next win came at the 16th hole when both teams claimed a win each making it 2-1 to Woolooware. Managers were getting nervous. Then Pennant Hills #5 won her match at 17, making it 2-2 with the #1 and #2 players hitting off 17th tee. Each team had a player at 1 up so it was very even. At the 17th hole the Pennant Hills #2 won the hole for a 2/1 win and the #2’s were square, so 18 would be a crucial hole. The mid length par three was slightly across the dam, hitting straight into a slight breeze. A large spectator crowd watched as the Pennant Hills #1 tee shot started out over the water but drifted back to clear the penalty area, only to bounce back off the slope into the water. Point of entry beside the green. The Woolooware #1 then pulled his tee shot too much and got it wet, the point of entry way back near the tee. His 3rd shot was similar but it cleared the water only so bounce back into it as had his opponent. He took his 2 club length drop and deftly chipped to about 30cm for a gimmee 6. The Pennant Hills #1 had chipped just through the green and chipped to about 1m for 4, so had to sink that putt for a 5 and the win. He took his time and carefully sunk the putt to give Pennant Hills their first ever Encourage Shield win.
Pennant Hills Golf Club – James Dailly, Brian Wu, Riley Lam, Matthew Nathan, Wenxin Wang, Agatha Hui
Manager – Andrew Lam
