Western Australia, the new force of Australian golf, has struck again.
The WA women put traditional power New South Wales to the sword this morning to open the Interstate Teams Championship with a bang at Royal Melbourne’s East Course.
It should come as no surprise that WA is competitive having won three of the past four titles, but despite having lost former world No.1 amateur Minjee Lee to pro ranks, the Perth golf factory just keeps on churning out the wins.
After Paige Stubbs gave New South Wales the early lead with a 5&4 win over youngster Maddison Hinson-Tolchard, the rest was all downhill for the Blues.
Royal Fremantle’s Jessica Whitting exacted revenge of sorts with a 5&4 win over Jessica Lasky at No.4 before the emerging Hira Naveed powered past Olivia Wilson 3&2 in the No.3 match.
Her Mount Lawley clubmate Hannah Green eased past New South Wales No.1 Liz Elmassian 5&4 to ensure victory.
Then for good measure, Mandurah’s Hayley Bettencourt, the WA captain, stormed home to beat Celina Yuan 1-up for the 4-1 overall victory.
In the other women’s matches, South Australia looked as though it might pull off an upset against the fancied Queensland, but couldn’t see the job through.
All members of the SA team, perhaps excluding No.5 Cassidy Evreniadis, looked chances at various stages of a tight tussle.
But only Ella Adams could convert and when Gennai Goodwin and Karis Davidson stormed home to win the No.2 and No.1 matches respectively, Queensland breathed easy with a 3.5-1.5 victory.
Victoria was too powerful for Tasmania, with Grace Daniell setting the tone with a dominant 8&7 win at No.4.
The top match between Jo Charlton and Sarah Johnstone was in the balance for much of their clash, until Charlton wrapped up a 4.5-0.5 win with a 1-up result on the last hole.