The 2021 Interclub season kicked off on Sunday 2nd May. The Lakes GC has been grouped with Oatlands, Concord and Royal Sydney in section 3 which happens to be the four semi-finalists from the 2019 season (2020 cancelled due to COVID).
Round 1 saw The Lakes playing Concord at home.
We managed to achieve a draw. Whilst it was a shame not to record a win on our home turf, it was equally as important that we didn’t lose as each point gained on the day accumulates over the season and can be useful in a count back situation.
We remain in control of our destiny.
The day started off with Marc O’Brien and James Hawkes at number 8 and 7 respectively. Marc went back and forward with his opponent all day until a downhiller on the 18th finally decided the match in favour of the Concord player. Bad luck Marc. At number 7, James Hawkes put in a solid performance defeating his opponent 5&4. Well done, James.
Shane Ribarovski and Adrian Marafioti were next off at number 5 and 4 respectively. Both players true to form managed to edge out wins. Shane got off to a strong start making the turn 5up with an even par performance! From there he proved to be too strong and finished the match 4&2. After a shaky start, Adrian quickly found his feet to win the next couple holes. Nevertheless, his opponent slam dunked his bunker shot on the 5th, and then won 7 and 8 meaning Adrian was 2 down at the turn. Never panicking, Adrian won the next 4 holes in a row and finished the match 3&2.
Myself and Mark Leo were next to go at number 4 and 3 respectively. I was fortunate to get off to a hot start with a 7-up lead through 9 holes. A couple soft bogies on 10 and 11 gave my opponent a glimmer of hope as he won both holes, however I managed to win the 12th and square the 13th for a 6&5 victory. Mark and his opponent fought a close battle all day with the match never really being more than 1 or 2 up. Unfortunately for Mark his opponent got the better of him 2&1.
Mark Dries and Jason Ong were representing us at number 2 and 1 respectively this week. Mark was on the 18th tee 1 down needing to win the hole and square his match for The Lakes to edge out a victory. After hitting the green in regulation and his opponent on the green for two with a 20-footer for par, the win was within reach. However, an excellent put from the concord player took that possibility away from us. Jason had his work cut out for him from the get go coming up against a +3 market. Unfortunately, his opponent proved too strong clinching the match 4&3.
Round 2 will be played against Royal Sydney at Royal Sydney. A win in round two will be important to avoid the situation of relying on other results in the group.
Team Captain
Daniel Deverich.