The Lakes managed to get a convincing 7-1 victory at home on the weekend against Kogarah. That puts us at the top of the table in our division and into the divisional final against Bonnie Doon at Bonnie Doon next weekend on Sunday 2 June, 2019.
Adrian Marafioti got us kicked off at number 8 this week. After winning the first hole and going 1 up, the match then sea sawed for the rest of the front 9. Holding a one shot lead at the turn, Adrian halved the 10th hole and then the highlight of the day came greenside at the 11th where Adrian managed to halve the hole from the water (pants off and all!). His opponent was demoralised with Adrian claiming the next four holes in a row and ultimately winning 5/3.
Michael Smith got off to a very fast start going 3 up through the first 4 holes. His opponent realised he needed to lift and managed to claw back a few. After turning at 1 up Mike went on the offensive again making par on the next 4 holes. His opponent eventually conceded on the 16th and the match was won 3 and 2.
At number 6, Marc O’Brien brought his “range form” out onto the course with his first tee shot sailing towards the swan nesting grounds in the middle of the lake. A handy recovery shot saw him 1 up, however these shots were few and far between going 5 down at the turn. Wins at 10, 12 and 14 weren’t enough to stem the flow with his opponent playing handily at 2 over through 14 holes. A poor tee shot on 15 saw them shaking hands for the only loss of the week.
After his victory last week, Shane Ribarovski started the same way, with a cracking drive down the first. He made it clear to his opponent he meant business, and that he did, forcing the opposition to square holes with birdies. Shane was able to end the match on the 14th with back to back birdies giving him a 5/4 victory. Well done Shane.
The first positive for Mark Leo was his opponent decided to turn up this week so he actually got to play some golf. Although his usually reliable putter wasn’t behaving he was always in control of his match and never trailed at any point. He ultimately closed out the match on 15 with a comfortable 5/3 win.
Jason Ong made a slow start with bogey’s on 1 and 2 but was able to offset these with birdies on 5 & 7 to turn even par with a 4 up lead. Steady play from here enabled Jason to close the match out 6&5. Well done Jason
Nick Happell made a very clear statement to his opponent when he was pitching the ball onto the first green after an absolute bomb! It didn’t stop there with another bomb leaving a chip to a back left hole location on the 6th leading to a 3 footer for birdie. Nick was to strong on the day winning his match 6&5. Well done Nick.
Tony O’Rourke faced a young opponent whose choice of a 3-iron off the 1st was accompanied by a celebratory club twirl. After losing that hole, Tony recovered to control the match and was able to reduce the precocious flourish to bemoaning angst, winning 4 of the last 5 holes to close it out on the 16th. Well played Tony.
Daniel Deverich
Team Manager