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Royal Adelaide's #1 Billy Cawthorne in action in April during the Jnr Interstate Series (Photo credit nEverest Photography)
Round one of the Simpson Cup was played in perfect conditions on Sunday 17 May at Blackwood Golf Club.
In the contest of the round, Glenelg defeated Royal Adelaide 4-3, while all other matches went as expected, with Tea Tree Gully just falling over the line against home side Blackwood 4-3, Kooyonga too strong for newcomer The Vines of Reynella 4.5-2.5 and defending champions The Grange too powerful for Highecombe winning 7-0.
In the opening match of the season off the first tee, Tea Tree Gully number 7 Ryan White notched up his team’s first point of the year defeating Gavin Britten 3&2. Ben Winton then hit back for Blackwood, before Jacin Cook and new Captain Matt McMahon won their matches at number five and four respectively for The Gullies.
Michael Munn kept the home team in the contest winning 6&5 against Sam Burton to bring the margin back to 2-3. With the final two matches heading down the last and the contest in the balance, the Gullies Luke Steele held his nerve to win 1up and secure the vital fourth point for TTG. The final match then concluded with Nick Wake defeating Chris Austin 1up to bring the margin back to 4-3 in favour of Tea tree Gully.
For Royal Adelaide, Sam Medlin got his team off to a great start defeating Ben Magi 3&1, before Glenelg’s Henry Duregon and William Arnold halved their match. Glenelg's middle order then took command with wins to Anthony Olsen, Will Starkey, and Lachlan Barker to put Glenelg 3.5 v 1.5 ahead.
Patric Kroschel fought hard to win for Royal Adelaide at number two against David Hiern 2up to ensure the final match was still live.
In an epic finish, Ben Hallam and Billy Cawthorne halved on the final hole which was enough to nudge Glenelg ahead 4-3 to claim the win.
2013 Champions Kooyonga had to fight hard to defeat last year’s A2 Premiers The Vines of Reynella 4.5-2.5.
For Kooyonga, Jason Cocks, Joe Hodgson, Daniel Speirs and Tim Baker all had wins, while for The Vines Matthew Bell and Sam Earl were victorious. The number three match between Heath Riches and Tony Nobbs was halved.
The Grange with Antonio Murdaca out of the side was convincing winning 7-0 over Highercombe. Highercombe have been giant killers in the opening round the past three years defeating The Grange in 2012, defending champions at the time Tea Tree Gully in 2013 and last season Blackwood.
However The Grange team were too polished on this occasion with all players having convincing wins winning 4&3 or better.
Next week’s round two matches are held at Tea Tree Gully with the host side set for an enthralling contest with Royal Adelaide. In other matches, Glenelg do battle against Blackwood and The Vines play Highercombe, with both sides looking to respond. The match of the round will be between last year’s finalists Kooyonga and The Grange.
For results of all grades and draws click here the Pennant events page.
For a PDF version of Simpson Cup Results > click here
Round 2 (24th May at Tea Tree Gully GC)
1st Tee 11.15 am Tea Tree Gully v Royal Adelaide
10th Tee 11.15 am Highercombe v The Vines
1st Tee 12.10 pm Glenelg v Blackwood
10th Tee 12.10pm Kooyonga v The Grange