Big game players – 2011 A2 Champions Highercombe Metropolitan Pennants Round 1 summary On their home track, Highercombe, promoted from A2 has caused arguably one of the biggest upsets in recent Pennant History by defeating The Grange 4-3 in round one of the Simpson Cup. In other matches Glenelg and Flagstaff Hill played out a draw, whilst Kooyonga easily accounted for Royal Adelaide 5.5-1.5 and Tea Tree Gully defeated Blackwood 6-1. Highercombe s number 7 Kane Parry was solid in defeating Alex Hendrick 3&2 to get his side off to the perfect start which then continued with number 6 Andrew Couzner defeating Grange first gamer Ben Stowe 3&1. Grange fought back strong winning its number 3 match with Anthony Murdaca accounting for Adam Husdell 5&4 and at number 2 Tom Bond took care of Ben Hallam by the same margin. At number 5 former Junior Tennis star Ben Jaffer squared his match with Justin Crowder as did stalwart Nick May with Junior State Captain Matthew Lisk, leaving the number one match to decide the tie. Highercombe Captain Mark Deacon used all his experience to defeat arguably the state in form player in match play, Jack Williams, 2&1 to start the celebrations. In another tight contest, it was Flagstaff Hill s Jacob Sewell and Jarrad Roxby who saved Flaggies from defeat at the hands of a rejuvenated Glenelg side. With early wins to Campbell McLuckie, Lachlan Booth and Anthony Olsen and with Andrew Grzybowski sharing the points in his match with Scott Ready, Glenelg was in the box seat for a victory. However, former Flagstaff Hill touring pro Roxby, proved too strong for Mitch Nash at number 2 as did anchor Jacob Sewell who scrambled to a 1up win over Campbell Rawson. The experienced Tea Tree Gully side were dominant across the board with Greg Blewett (4&2 over Andy Humphries), Zak Fuller (5&4 over Dylan Thomas), Rudi DuPlooy (1up over Ben Leske), Ryan White (1up over Stephen Locke) and Guy Dawson particularly impressive winning 3&2 over Daniel Wake. Blackwood s solitary game came courtesy of squared matches by Nick Wake against Brett Crosby and Michael Munn versus Paul Wyllie. Kooyonga will be delighted with its first up 5 1/2 – 1 1/2 win over Royal Adelaide, with Jordan Bishop, John Hayes and Geoff Brennan, closing out early games. Royal Adelaide skipper Nathan Baulderstone was the only Royal player with an outright win with his 1up effort over Will Somerfield. Kooyonga s Stephen Speirs and Charles Shaw at number 2 and 3 accounted for Tom Cooper and Alex Curtin 1up and 4&3 respectively. In a battle of the heavy weights at number one Heath Riches squared his match with Brad Moules continuing his recent run of solid from. Next week s round two matches are held at Flagstaff Hill with the host side set for an enthralling contest with Highercombe. In other matches Tea Tree Gully should account for Royal Adelaide and Kooyonga would be confident against Blackwood. In the match of the round Glenelg would fancy itself against The Grange. For all results and draws, click here for the Pennant events page. Pennant Event Page Round 2 (20th May at Flagstaff Hill GC) 1st Tee 11.15 am Flagstaff Hill v Highercombe 10th Tee 11.15 am Glenelg v Grange 1st Tee 12.10 pm Royal Adelaide v Tea Tree Gully 10th Tee 12.10 pm Kooyonga v Blackwood
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