Junior Team Matchplay at its Finest
The pinnacle of junior team golf in NSW was fought out over two days at Horizons Golf Resort in January 2020. Encourage Shield teams have 6 players competing in handicap match play, while in the Junior Pennant, the format is 2 scratch and 4 handicap matches. Teams from the Northern, Southern and Central regions and the Sydney Metropolitan area had qualified for the semi-finals on Monday 20thwith the winners progressing to the finals on Tuesday 21st.
Encourage Shield
The first contest to tee off was between Lynwood CC and Shelly Beach GC. The weather was warm and the course was hard and fast but with a good grass cover on the fairways due to some recent rain. At the turn Lynwood had a slight advantage leading in 3 matches with one even. The back nine saw little change and Lynwood won the contest 4-2. In the other semi-final it was very close. After 9 holes Moruya led in 4 matches to Northern Rivers 2, but a strong fight back saw NRDGA winning 3 to Moruya’s 2 with the last match square at the 18th. They had to continue and after 3 more holes, the result was 3-3. The number 1 players faced a sudden death playoff for the win. Obviously nervous, the NRDGA number 1 player pulled his tee shot into the dam and had to take a penalty. This led to a win to the Moruya number 1 and they were through to the final.
In the final the next day, Lynwood were playing well and led 4-2 at the turn and maintained their lead to win comfortably 4–2. Shelly Beach played their reserve players in the 3rd/4thand went down 4-2 to the Northern Rivers DGA.
Junior Pennant
The first semi-final was between Lower North Coast and Queanbeyan, who had only 5 players available. As they finished the front 9 holes, LNC was just ahead 3-2 with one match square. The back nine was very exciting as Queanbeyan fought back and saw the last match go down the 19thwhere they drew level at 3-3. This meant the number 1’s had to play off down 19. They halved the 19thand on the 20thDanny edged out Lachlan with a good par to have LNC go through to the final.
In the second semi-final, Bathurst were leading 3-2 at halfway and were looking good with about 4 holes left to play. However, Asquith had other ideas. They doggedly came back to be 2-2 with 2 matches square at the 18th. Down 19 we go. Angie sunk a 6m putt to make Cooper try to get his 3m putt. He missed it and so, Asquith led 3-2 with the other match playing 19. They halved it and went to the 20thtee. After they both drove well, William from Asquith just made the front of the green and his ball rolled into a deep swale. Ben went for the back pin and overhit into the rough. His chip found the green but a long way from the hole. He putted and still had 1.5m for bogey. William putted well to about 0.5m and when Ben missed his bogey putt, he conceded the hole to his opponent. Asquith had fought back to progress to the final.
In the final Asquith dominated the front nine and were ahead 5-1 as they went to the 10th. LNC did not give up and had a stronger back nine but Asquith played steady match play golf and held on to win 4 matches giving them the trophy with a few holes to go in the last match. Asquith won 4.5-1.5. Queanbeyan won the 3rd/4thplayoff after winning the 2 matches that went down the 19thto be 3-3 and then winning on the first playoff hole.
