There was a lot of excitement coming into the 3rd day of the Senior Interstate Series, with Victoria in prime position to make both finals.
The Vics were a near certainty for the women’s final. To miss out on the final, QLD and NSW had to halve their round 4 contest while SA would have to come up with a 4-1 or more victory against our team.
That scenario was quickly put to rest as the Vics jumped out of the blocks, taking the lead in 4 matches immediately. Captain and birthday girl, Jo Charlton put on a display. After sitting square through the first 4 holes she put her foot down to win 4&3. Olivia Kline made a statement from the beginning going 3-up after 4 holes. She recorded another 2-up in the next 8 holes to take the match 6&5.
Dayle Marshall returned to the Vic team and took an early 2-hole lead through the front 9. Unfortunately she dropped her lead but squared the match to guarantee the Vics at least a half.
The two players that remained on the course, Julienne Soo and Grace Daniell found themselves in tight contests after going undefeated through the first 4 rounds. Their early 1-up leads were erased, leaving both of them 1 down through 15. Grace Daniell fought back to halve the match, while Julienne Soo suffered her first loss of the series.
In the unofficial preliminary final, Western Australia took out the contest against Queensland (3-2) securing their place in the final. The final will be played at Royal Melbourne tomorrow morning at 8:30am.
With a bye in the afternoon, the men were able to give it their all in the morning clash with WA at Huntingdale.
David Micheluzzi, Ben Eccles and Thomas Power-Horan all took one hole leads against their opponents through the front 9. From here, the 3 men at 1-up all put their foot on the accelerator. Micheluzzi finished 5&3, Eccles sealed his match 4&2 and Power-Horan took the number 7 match 3&1 to put Victoria in a confident position.
The 3 remaining matches held mixed results for Victoria. Lucas Herbert turned a 1 hole deficit into a 2-up lead but couldn’t quite hold on and finished up square. Ryan Ruffels, who was also celebrating his birthday and Frazer Droop were unable to replicate their round 4 form and dropped their matches however this had little effect on the overall result.
The 4.5-2.5 Victorian win established a 2 contest gap at the top of the leaderboard and left the men with confidence heading into their bye round this afternoon.
Click here for full scores.