The 2014 season of Women’s Metropolitan Match Play commences tomorrow while Golf Victoria Men’s, Women’s and Colts Pennant begins in a number of Divisions on Sunday 16 March.
Men’s Pennant commenced in 1899 between five clubs consisting of Geelong, Royal Melbourne, Surrey Hills (Riversdale), Kew and Essendon (Northern). Six players represented each club with Geelong winning the inaugural Season.
Women’s Pennant has a similar tradition and within six months of the Victorian Ladies Golf Union being formed in 1906, a decision was made to introduce a pennant competition played out between Eaglemont (Yarra Yarra), Albert Park and Royal Park Golf Clubs and five of the Union’s six founding clubs, Caulfield (Metropolitan), Essendon (Northern), Geelong, Kew and Surrey Hills (Riversdale). In 1907, Surrey Hills went through the season undefeated to win the inaugural VLGU pennant season.
Colts Pennant was originally titled Junior Pennant on its introduction in 1954 with an initial age limit of 18. The following year the age limit was extended to 23. Junior Pennant was renamed Minor Pennant in 1967 and Colts Pennant in 2000.
In all Divisions of Men’s and Women’s Pennant, each club is represented by seven players while Colts teams consist of five players aged under 24 as of January 1. At all Pennant levels, the competing clubs are divided into Divisions with a promotion/relegation system in operation to determine the composition of Divisions for the following Season.
The Pennant Season runs for 8 weeks with “Round Robin” match play contests between clubs at one venue in each Division every week. At the conclusion of the “Round Robin” contests, the two leading teams in each Division compete in finals to decide the Divisional flags.
The 2014 Pennant Finals will be played on Sunday 18 May at Kingston Heath, Woodlands, Green Acres and Rosanna. While the Division 1 Men’s and Women’s Finals have already been scheduled at Kingston Heath, the remaining 15 finals will be allocated following the final round of contests on May 4 in order for teams from the same club to be allocated to the same finals venue.
In 2014, 38 clubs will be participating in Women’s Pennant; 46 in Men’s Pennant and 43 in Colts Pennant in arguably one of the strongest club team golf competitions in the world.
Women’s Metropolitan Match Play is a club teams competition which commenced in 2009. It is played on Fridays across five Divisions from mid-March to early May via “Round Robin” match play contests between clubs at one venue in each Division every week.
As with Pennant, teams consist of seven players and in 2014, 34 clubs will be participating. The team that heads each Division after the “Round Robin” contests is the Divisional winner and is promoted at the Division above for the following season. The team that finishes last in each respective Division is relegated to the Division below for the following season.
All Women’s Metropolitan Match Play and Golf Victoria Pennant Results will be published on www.golfvic.org.au following each round of contests.