It came down to the last putt, but Australia kept alive its unbeaten start to the Astor Cup in Adelaide today.
The hosts needed to square the final singles match to beat New Zealand after mounting another solid afternoon comeback at The Grange Golf Club.
But when Brisbane’s Gennai Goodwin was three down through 13 holes against Alanna Campbell, it looked for all money that the rubber would be halved.
But Goodwin dug deep, winning the 14th, 15th and 17th holes to leave her needing to halve the last on the famous West Course to give Australia overall victory.
And when the Texas Tech student calmly rolled in a par putt that sealed the 4-3 aggregate win, her emotional teammates rejoiced and high-fived around the closing green.
“I was three down playing the 14th and needed to knuckle down,” Goodwin said afterwards.
“I got myself into the right head space, I knew my match had a bearing on the team's result."
Earlier, after trailing 1.5-0.5 through the morning foursomes session, the Aussies again turned to No.1 Shelly Shin to right the ship – and the Sydneysider responded for the second consecutive day, beating
Kiwi ace Munchin Keh 2-&-1.
Hannah Green couldn’t match Julianne Alvarez in the second match going down 2-&-1, but Becky Kay pulled the Aussies back level when she toppled Chantelle Cassidy 3-&-2.
The unsung hero of the day was hometown star Jenny Lee, whose barnstorming 6-&-4 win over Wenyung Keh set up Goodwin’s late rally.
Lee, who also won her singles on the opening day against Canada, even holed out from a bunker when she looked in trouble on one hole and was two under par when her match finished.
In the day’s other match, Great Britain and Ireland bounced back from an opening loss to New Zealand, hammering South Africa 6-1.
The result left Australia alone atop the standings as the only unbeaten team after two of the five days.
The Aussies have the bye tomorrow, then face GB&I on Thursday and South Africa on Friday.