The final qualifying round had some mixed results for the Lake Karrinyup pennant sides resulting in only one side progressing to the finals this Sunday.
Division 2 had a home game against Mt Lawley to finish and needed a win to avoid the relegation final in a tightly bunched group. Brendan Milburn showed once again that it’s all in your preparation recording a convincing 6/4 win to go through the season undefeated. Matt Bowra (4/2) and Dave Bandy (3/2) walked off the 16th green as winners while matches behind them hung in the balance. In the end it was tight wins to Mike Rundus (2/1), John Wallace (2/1) and Roger Perrie (19th) that secured the 6-3 win for the home side and lead to a second place finish in the group. Once again the side showed plenty of class throughout the season and glimpses of the potential that will hopefully result in a return to the big league in coming years. Thanks again to Steve Palframan for his tireless efforts in organising the sides each week.
The Juniors also played Mt Lawley needing a convincing win and other results to go their way if a finals berth was to become available. The boys did their part winning 4 ½ – 2 ½ but unfortunately the other result went against them and they narrowly missed the final. Ethan Andrews (square) finished the season undefeated while Joe Owen (8/6) and Tip Snowden (10/8) showed their class in recording massive wins. Travis Temm (3/2) also had another good win. The bottom 3 players in the junios have to play off handicap and our boys gave away a combined 64 shots over the 3 matches!! To record any wins under these circumstances was always going to be tough so it was amazing when Liam Flynn (2/1) actually won his match while Azer Pehlic and Clayton Herbst were only pipped by the narrowest of margins. Congratulations to the boys on another great season and to Peter McCabe for his ongoing work with the juniors. As these boys continue through into senior ranks it can only mean good things for the senior pennant side.
Division 5 had nothing to lose as they headed to Joondalup. Matches were tight throughout the day and this was reflected in the final result with the two sides halving the match with 3 ½ wins each. For the visitors it was the top 3 who recorded the wins with Sam Gill (2/1), Ken Hellsten (3/2) and Daniel Howe (4/2) getting over the line. Kade Harvey halved his match to allow the visitors to walk away with a point. Thanks to Mitch Bristow, and Ken Hellsten in Mitch’s absence, for looking after the side this year with hopefully bigger things to come next season.
Division 7 were also up at Joondalup needing a big win to get them into the final. Unfortunately the home side rocked up ready to go as they were in the same position and our boys went down 5-2. Most of the matches were tight throughout and it was skipper Steve Paisio (3/2) and Tim Gattorna (2/1) who recorded the wins. It was little surprise that Steve was a winner in this situation as he is a passionate skipper who has poured a lot of time into the side this season and should be congratulated for his efforts with a relatively small squad.
The Division 8 side were notified of a late change to the fixtures resulting in their match at WAGC moving from 11.30am to 7am!! With the Karrinyup Cup the night before this was going to present an extra challenge for the side and unfortunately the boys were soundly beaten 6-1. Mark Dawson (4/3) was the only winner for the visitors. Luckily it’s not all bad news as the Division 8 side have still qualified to play the final at Lakelands this Sunday against the Vines, teeing off at 8.30am. If anyone would like to go and support the side I’m sure it would be greatly appreciated – as would any offers of caddying. Good luck gents!
On a side note, Lake Karrinyup is hosting the Division 1 finals this coming Sunday so the course will be closed all day. Members are more than welcome to come out and watch if they would like.