<image="1" align="right" />
This year’s Country Week has drawn to a close, with the final rounds completed this morning at Huntingdale, Patterson River and Rossdale Golf Clubs.
Huntingdale GC hosted both the Men’s Shield & Women’s Division 1 contests, with the Men’s Shield up for grabs for Goulburn Murray and Golf Peninsula Vic, and Women’s Division 1 having already been sewn up by North Eastern.
Ultimately it was Goulburn Murray who emerged as the victors in the 2018 Men’s Shield after they proved too strong for Western in their round 5 encounter and nudged out Golf Peninsula Vic for the title on total matches won.
Goulburn Murray’s number one player Kyle Michel led from the front and defeated Caleb Perry 6 & 5 to remain undefeated for the week.
The win means that Goulburn Murray have gone back-to-back after winning the Men’s Plate last year and earning promotion to the Men’s Shield.
Golf Peninsula Vic defeated Ballarat 4-3 in their final match for the week, finishing with a total of 16.5 matches won and just two short of Goulburn Murray.
Unfortunately for Western, they will be relegated to the Men’s Plate next year and may feel hard done by given they lost so many close matches.
In Women’s Division 1, North Eastern capped off an outstanding week with a 5-2 victory over 2017 champions Goulburn Murray to remain undefeated.
North Eastern duo Donna Anstee and Sue Eisenhauer both recorded four wins from four matches for the week.
Ballarat recorded their first win for the week with a 4-3 victory over Golf Central Vic, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough to avoid relegation as Goulburn Murray finished ahead by three total matches won.
The final round of the Men’s Plate and Women’s Division 2 matches were hosted at Patterson River, and both divisions were to come down to the results of today’s play.
North Eastern edged out East Gippsland in the battle for third place, the match coming down to the wire with eventual winners taking a 4 to 3 victory over the sole men’s Gippsland team playing in this division today.
Murray Darling, who finished in second place in 2017, finished their 2018 campaign defeating Golf Central Victoria today with a score of 5.5 to 1.5 to round out today’s play.
Murray Darling finished the week undefeated with three wins and a half, awarding them the Plate trophy for 2018.
The women’s match off the first tee today saw Dalhousie take a comfortable 5.5 to 1.5 win over South Western, which saw these teams finish in second and fourth respectively for the tournament.
As was the case in the men’s matches, the final result come down to the last match, seeing East Gippsland 4.5 matches defeat Western 2.5 and take home the Alice Coltman Cup for 2018.
In the Men’s Bowl competition, South Gippsland took the title with an undefeated week including three wins and a final day squared contest against runners-up Dalhousie.
By the district’s own admission, recent Country Week performances had been below expectation but team captain Steve Bromby spoke glowingly of the ‘renewed interest and enthusiasm of the team this year.’
The end result saw South Gippsland win 22 out of a possible 28 individual matches on its way to winning the Bowl for the first time since 2004 and earning promotion to the Plate for 2019.
Murray Darling was similarly dominant in winning Women’s Division 3 with three consecutive victories including a final round six match to one result over Wimmera.
With the competition consisting of four district teams, Murray Darling won 18 and a half individual matches out of 21 in winning the title for the first time since 2015 and earning promotion to Division 2 for 2019.
Team captain Anne Bowen was thrilled with the result and commented that she’s ‘extremely proud of the team and the effort they’ve put in. It’s been a great week.’
Over the past three days, the 15 men’s & 14 women’s teams representing Victorian Country District Golf Associations have competed in team match play as part of the Country Golf Week.
A wonderful institution of Victorian Golf, Country Week commenced in 1924 for the men and 1933 for the women and is annually played in early October with players traveling from all over the State to Melbourne to play at nine Metropolitan Clubs.
To conclude the week, the Victorian Men’s Country Team was announced which will play the South Australian Country Team on the weekend of October 20-21 at the Mt Gambier Golf Club:
|
Name |
District |
|
Brett Kellow (Captain) |
Goulburn Murray |
|
Mathew Lever |
Golf Peninsula |
|
Caleb Bolavina |
Goulburn Murray |
|
David Dorning |
Golf Peninsula |
|
Shane Grover |
Wimmera |
|
Ryan Hammond |
West Gippsland |
|
Caleb Perry |
Western |
|
Travis Tatt |
Ballarat |
|
Team Manager: John Snowden |
Western |
|
Assistant Manager: John Hobday |
Wimmera |
|
Emerg: Tim Coffey |
West Gippsland |
|
Emerg: Levi Sclater |
East Gippsland |
|
Emerg: Nathan Schneider |
North Eastern |
|
Emerg: Matt Walkenhorst |
Western |
Click here for Country Week photo gallery.
Click here for Men’s & Women's Results.
Note: Select preferred Division to view results. To view individual match results click on competing district names. To navigate back to main menu click 'Men's & Women's Country Week Teams' Matches' title.
If you're using a mobile device, rotate your phone to landscape position for a better experience.
<image="2" align="right" />