Sunday the 13th of July was Round 4 of the 2014 Metropolitan Pennant season. All five Lake Karrinyup teams were looking to secure away wins to set up a strong finish to the season.
Division 8 played out at Hartfield this week and were narrowly defeated by the home team. It was a case of so close yet so far for the division 8 boys with 4 games going down the last hole. Unfortunately none of those games fell in Lake Karrinyup’s favour resulting in a 4 matches to 3 loss. The team will now look to rebound strongly at home over the next two weeks.
It was a similar story for the division 6 team who missed out on securing a win away by the smallest of margins, going down 4 matches to 3. Jay Barron kept his outstanding season going, securing his fourth win from as many games. Steve Temple had a solid 2 up win whilst Ian McDonald and Steve Paisio managed to scrape out hard fought halves.
The Division 4 team made the trip out to the Vines a worthwhile one, securing a commanding 5 ½ to 1 ½ victory over the home side. It was a tight tussle early with the two sides being locked away at 1½ games each through the top 3 games. However, the strong lower order steered the team home with commanding wins to Jon Clancy, Ethan Andrews and Mathew Bowra. The division 4 side is currently sitting on top of the ladder and will now look to perform well at home to make the final.
The Junior Pennant team was looking to keep their dominant start to the season going also playing against the Vines. The juniors experienced a much closer affair then what they have experienced in the first three rounds. The Vines looked like they were heading towards a home victory early on with wins in the first three games. Tej Mehta gave his opponent a scare at the number 7 position, his opponent was 5 up through 9 holes and seemingly cruising towards victory. Tej had other ideas though and managed to fight back to be only 1 down going down the last hole. Unfortunately Tej could not win the last hole and lost 2 down. Regardless of the result this was an outstanding fight back from young Tej. Staring down the barrel of a loss, the team needed the bottom 4 players all to win in order to keep their undefeated season going. With this in mind Liam Flynn, Travis Temm and Azer Pehlic all put their foot down and secured wins for the team leaving number one player Kristian Mitchell the task of pulling the team over the line. With a 1 up lead heading down the last hole, Kristian played steady golf to make a par and secure the important 1 up win. The junior team now hold a commanding position on top of the table leading into the final two rounds and will be looking to finish the season strongly.
The men’s A grade side were also up against the Vines this week and were looking to bounce back after last week’s disappointing loss. The match was sitting very evenly after 4 games with 2 wins a piece, with wins to John Wallace and David Bandy early in the proceedings. Unfortunately the team experienced a blow early in the day with Stu Jones injuring his shoulder on his first shot of the day. Stu was unable to proceed and had to retire hurt. The following matches were a bit of a mixed affair with matches falling slightly in the Vines’ favour. The game was a much closer contest then the 6 game to 3 loss would appear. The loss sees the Vines claim top spot on the ladder with Lake Karrinyup still a large factor in the finals race with their next two games at home.
It is fantastic to see a number of Lake Karrinyup members supporting our pennant teams throughout the year. All members are encouraged to get behind the teams and help them into their respective finals.