By John Serhan
Junior Pennants 2023 Match 4 V NSW GC at St Michael’s GC
Second last match for the year and this was a critical one in terms of
the competition! We were playing arch rivals NSW GC and it turned out to
be another epic tussle between the two great clubs! And when the dust
settled it would end in a 3-3 draw. This leaves us half a point behind
NSW and tied with Cronulla so the division will be decided in the last
match at Woolooware where NSW will play Cronulla and we take on the home
team Woolooware. Should be an exciting end to the season!
Team this week with Jim Byrnes Manager, Ian Kim, Seb Mok, Cooper Grant,
Max Jennings (non playing), Maddie Mok (n.p.), Alfie Frain, Ryan Bailey
(non playing), and John Serhan (Coach). James Nicholas and Alex Radevski
not present in photo. Unfortunately no photo was taken this week.
First out were Seb Mok and James Nicholas and for the first time this
year Seb received 5 shots and James was even with his opponent. Seb
jumped out of the barriers and holed a 30 footer on the second for
birdie which ignited a great run of holes and he eventually ran out a
convincing winner 6/5. James also hit a magnificent drive on the second
hole to just 35m out from the green! What a drive! He was up against a
very strong player who hit far and had a great short game. Unfortunately
James’s putter was not firing up and he went down 5/4. Both boys
displayed great sportsmanship and skills.
Second group out was Cooper Grant and Alfie Frain who were only giving 1
shot and no shots respectively! Both boys had really strong opponents
and strong matches to play. Cooper drove the ball like a legend hitting
driver PW to the 7^(th) hole to make birdie and halve the hole and then
again on the 9^(th) hole drove pin high to set up another birdie halve!
A 7 iron on 15 to 6 feet gave him that hole and lead to the boys being
all square playing the 18^(th). Cooper’s 6 iron off the tee just turned
over a little and kicked thru into the trees from where he salvaged a
bogey but his opponent made a great par to take the hole and the game
1up. Alfie found it a bit tougher going with his driver and long irons
not quite on song but he dug deep including a pitch on the 5^(th) hole
from 20m that lipped out for birdie and set up a great par to win the
hole. He worked hard hanging in there but eventually went down 4/3 in a
tough contest! Both players gaining valuable experience to help them
learn and grow!
Last group out were our number 1 and 2 in Alex Radevski and Ian Kim. The
boys faced off on Saturday in the club championships with Alex getting
the chocies and then turned around over night to join forces against
some strong opponents from NSW. Alex in rare position of getting a shot
while Ian was on par. Ian found his C game there but like any great
player found a way to get the job done. After hitting long left into the
trees on 15 he punched a 4 iron out to 40 feet and made the putt for a
par! The C game was still good enough to secure a very strong win 4/3!
Alex also played strongly to take his match 2/1. Alex was actually even
par and 3 down after 4 holes! He stayed patient and played his game
hitting a 4 iron to 10 feet on the 5^(th) to win that hole, another 4
iron into the 8^(th) to 10 feet to take that hole and then when in
trouble on the 18^(th) holed his chip shot for par to stay bogey free
and parred the 1^(st) again to take the match. Fabulous performance and
well deserved for this hard working young gun!
Ian Kim proudly holding the 1938 Crown coin and the Eric Apperly silver
team who had a few of our Jnr Pennant players and certainly will be
populated by the youth coming thru over the next few years!
A fabulous result with big thanks to all the staff at St Michael’s and
especially our GM who came in especially to make sure it all ran
smoothly. But as always the bar staff, admin people, pro shop and of
course our wonderful greens staff who all do such a magnificent job year
round looking after the course and the members!! Thanks to Jim for
managing supported by Matt Nicholas and Mark Jennings assistant managers
and the ever present Captain Paul Bolster for coming out and supporting
the boys after celebrating founders day with the members. Very big thank
you to Carl Dumbrell from CDTL for sponsoring this fine young team.
Lastly many thanks to all the parents for supporting their kids and
being Ubers for them all.
One hole one shot!!!! Lets go!!!
The last match will be at Woolooware this Sunday with a lot on the line
but as always whenever we learn and gain experience we are already
winners. If we learn nothing then we are certainly going backwards
whether we win or not and so principles like those quoted below form the
foundation of future successes! How good is golf!!
We worked this week and every week on our Attitude, Intention and
attention! Our Attitude is simply never give up and stay positively
focussed on each moment. Our intention is clearly to gain a point for
the team but also to stay committed to our processes. Our Attention is
to stay clearly focussed on this one shot in front of me right here
right now. The players have been fantastic in applying these principles
which help them develop into very fine golfers and people!