The heavyweights flexed their muscles on day one of the Interstate Junior Teams Championship in South Australia today.
But it was Victorian Cheerie Tan who delivered the biggest blow, landing an albatross on a banner day for the Big V in both boys’ and girls’ competitions.
Tan, 16 and a member at Yarra Yarra, holed a spectacular six-iron with her second shot from 145m on the par-5 16th at Fleurieu Golf Club.
Her first career albatross came with Victorian manager Jo Charlton on her bag – and it couldn’t have come at a better time.
“We were all square (with South Australia’s Jin-Young Yun) at the time, so it was perfect timing,” Charlton said.
“She was over the moon – a bit stunned actually. We had to hit it 135m and let it run out and it was all over it all the way but the green slopes away and we didn’t see it drop.
“But we got up there and only one ball was on the green … it was an amazing shot and a real thrill.”
Typifying the quality of the match, Yun hit back to win the 17th with a birdie, but Tan stood tall again to win the match 1-up on the 18th with another birdie.
It ensured the Vics a 4-1 win over the hosts for their second win of the day following a tense 3.5-1.5 morning win over Western Australia.
And, with No.2 Stephanie Bunque and No.5 Zara Woodbridge each winning both their matches, gave Victoria the upper hand with hot rivals New South Wales and Queensland only having played one victorious match today with a bye thrown in.
The Vics also fared well in the boys’ competition at nearby Links Lady Bay, with Sandhurst’s Matias Sanchez recording the extraordinary scoreline of 9&7 in beating Tasmania’s Lachlan McDougall in their match at No.3.
It was part of a Victorian clean sweep – a 5-0 line matched by Western Australia over the Northern Territory and New South Wales over the ACT in other afternoon matches.
Queensland didn’t have it all its way against South Australia, needing No.5 Louis Dobbelaar’s 3&2 win over Travis Miller to seal a 3-2 success.
It left all four winners at 2-0 after day one with NSW on top of the defending champion Vics by 10-9 in terms of matches one.
Arguably the most impressive of the New South Welshmen was red-hot Daniel Kolar, who won both his matches, including a 7&6 romp over the ACT’s Trent Britton, of Queanbeyan, in their afternoon No.3 match-up.
Kolar stole the headlines last week when he fired a then course record 67 at Kooyonga in the Australian Boys’ Amateur Championship, a mark beaten by Victorian captain Ryan Ruffels later in the week.