On a perfect day for golf, Foster Golf Club hosted the finals for the Div. 1, 4 & 5 finals.  The Course was in great nick and Foster were great hosts for the event. Leongatha Golf Club  had teams in each of those finals with our Div. 1 team playing Wonthaggi, Div. 4 playing Phillip Island and Div 5 playing Welshpool.

Div. 1  won their contest 4/3 with Captain Tom Sorrell winning with a solid 4/3 3 under for the day, Michael O’Keefe in dazzling form winning 5/4 with two eagles, Michael McGrath in nice touch winning 6/5 over the Wonthaggi Captain, and Leory Sharrock bringing home the Shield with a  5/4 win. Russel Williams & Matt Bowey both got pipped on the 19th and Chis Leaver in a hard battle losing 4/3 to his opponent who was red hot with the putter. A great win to the boys in Div. 1 considering they lost their first two rounds and languished on the bottom of the ladder.

Div. 1 Leroy Sharrock, Matt Bowey, Tom Sorrell (Capt.), Michael McGrath, Michael O’Keefe, Russell Williams & Chris Leaver (Jon Cowling & Anthony Sparkes absent)

Div. 4 took out their title over Phillip Island 6/1 in what appears to be a convincing win, but the scores show how tight the contests were.  With Rod Mackenzie winning 1 up,  John Wheatley winning on the 19th, Nathan Wardle winning on the 20th and Captain Chris Indian winning on the 21st shows the contests were a tight battle.  Brendan Simon won 3/2 and Grant McRitchie was solid with a 7/6 win to complete the contests.  Tom Williamson lost on the 18th in what was another exceptionally close match.

Div 4. Bruce Hutton, Grant McRitchie, Brendon Simon, John Wheatley, Chris Indian (Capt.) Rod Mackenzie, Tom Williamson & Nathan Wardle. (Colin Bear Absent)

To make it a clean sweep for Leongatha Golf Club, Div. 5 defeated Welshpool 5/2 with Craig Hams solid with a 7/6 win, Alex Hill winning 5/4, Denis Wallace winning 4/3 , Andy Horvarth winning 3/2 and Tim McCarthy winning 2/1 to secure the shield with Garry Rotteveel & Captain John McLennan missing out on a win this week.

Garry Rotteveel, Andy Horvarth, Alex Hill, John McLennan (Capt.) Denis Wallace, Tim McCarthy & Craig Hams. (Bryan McCorkell absent)

Many thanks to players who contributed to the Divisions getting into the finals, in  particular Bruce Hutton, Colin Bear and Bryan McCorkell who qualified for the finals. Also thanks go the peter Waters and George Misson for acting as starters when Leongatha GC had to host the three rounds of Pennant, and to Colin Bear for coordinating Men’s Pennant for 2018.

Michael McGrath was named Pennant Player of the Season for seven wins in Division 1 from seven games.  Clearly the best player in the District Pennant this year.  Andy Horvarth(Div. 5)  was a close runner up as having won his 6 matches from 6 contests.  Alex Hill, Chris Indian, Brendan Simon, Tom Sorrell, John Wheatley and Craig Hams, Michael O’Keefe and Rod Mackenzie rounded out the top 10.

Well done to all involved in the Men’s Pennant this Year and I hope it inspires others to give pennant a go in 2019.

Andy Bassett

Men’s Captain.