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Perfect autumn conditions greeted the Golf Victoria Senior team & the Australian Defence Force team (ADFGA) on the final day of the sixteenth annual edition of the match played between the two teams perennially at the splendid Sorrento GC. The event staged over two days is conducted in the format of a Presidents/Ryder Cup. Twelve players from each side play 4BBB in the morning and Foursomes in the afternoon of day one. This is followed by 12 singles matches on the final day.
The ADFGA team is made up of the highest quality players who are current members of the Australian Services, whilst the Golf Victoria Senior team incorporates the current top ten players of the Doug Bachli Senior Order of Merit with an additional two captains picks. The Golf Victoria Senior Team was captained this year by senior advisory group chair Tony Hyde.
The Golf Victoria Seniors started the final day with a slim one point lead. At the conclusion of day one, the match was delicately poised at 6.5 points to 5.5 in favour of the Golf Victoria Seniors. The ADFGA team were quick out of the blocks on the final day winning the first two singles matches to take the overall lead.
The Golf Victoria Seniors hit back in matches nine & ten, with wins to Barry Tippett & John Wheeler to wrestle the advantage back. However, Rod Smylie, Sam Harkis & Kurt Lampe completed a dominant flurry of comfortable wins to the ADFGA team in matches six, seven & eight to leave the ADFGA team in pole position to claim the overall win with only five matches to play.
The top five players from each team produced some of the highest quality golf seen over the two days. Guy Krall & Tony Greenwood could not be split at match number five halving their encounter maintaining the ADFGA’s two point lead overall at 11 points to 9.
As the ADFGA’s Bronwyn Mullins returned a tight 1up win at match number four over Ken O’Brien, the ADFGA team found themselves only needing half a point from the remaining three matches to take overall honours. Gordon Claney & Alan Bullas now found themselves needing wins in matches three & two to keep the hopes of the Golf Victoria Senior team alive. Claney recorded a fine 2&1 victory over Andrei Ezeregallis & when Alan Bullas secured a tense one up victory on the 18th hole, the scene was set for an exciting finish in the number one match.
Fittingly, two of the country’s top ranked seniors in Ian Frost & Daryl Whitehead were left to fight it out in the final match to decide this year’s overall result. The match remained tight throughout the day, with little separating both players at any stage. The match could not be split at the conclusion of the 18th hole resulting in a halved result giving the ADFGA team the narrowest of overall win’s 12.5 points to 11.5 points.
Undefeated players for the Golf Victoria Seniors included both Alan Bullas & Barry Tippett with Tippett in particular producing some outstanding golf to take home the Paul Lulofs Medal as the most outstanding player over the two days. Kurt Lampe produced some fine golf also for the ADFGA team finishing as the only undefeated player.
Once again, this event produced outstanding golf played in a fantastic spirit of comradery & sportsmanship, a credit to both teams & team members. A huge thank you to Sorrento GC once again for the outstanding hospitality provided to all players.
To view full results, click here.