The Victorian Junior Boys State team capped off a dominant performance at the Interstate Series with a championship sealing victory over New South Wales this morning at Heritage Golf and Country Club. It marks the first time the Victorian Boys have won since 2008 and 10th victory overall since the championship began in 1958.
It is also the first time since 1991 that Victoria has won the team title and individual title with Ryan Ruffels taking home the individual Australian Junior Amateur title last week, a feat that had not been accomplished by any Victorian Junior since Stuart Appleby in ‘91. Appleby also featured in that year’s Victorian winning team alongside Robert Allenby and Richard Green.
With the title resting on this morning’s contest, the Victorians won 4&1 to clinch victory. In an incredible team performance, the Victorians won 32 of a possible 35 individual matches over the four days with Zach Murray and Blake Collyer remaining undefeated for the champions.
High Performance Manager at Golf Victoria and Head Manager of the Victorians, John Anderson spoke about the team’s performance.
“The boys did really well. They were led from the front with Zach Murray. They kept the momentum going from start to finish with only dropping two matches against WA and one this morning against NSW. Last week, the boys played really well at the Australian Junior Amateur with having four out of the top five, and six out of the top 11.
“Ryan did fantastically winning it and there was a really good feeling from the boys. To win the double is a tremendous effort and add to that we only lost three matches, it really was a superb performance all around from the boys, coach David Capaldo and support staff,” said Anderson.
New South Wales finished in second place, one and a half contests clear of Queensland who finished third. Western Australia were fourth followed by South Australia in fifth. The ACT, Tasmania and Northern Territory rounded out the leaderboard.
Victorian Team
Brett Coletta (Sandhurst G.C)
Blake Collyer (Metropolitan G.C)
Frazer Droop (Yarrawonga G.C)
Zach Murray (Commonwealth G.C)
David Micheluzzi (Cranbourne G.C)
Ryan Ruffels (Victoria G.C)
Coach: David Capaldo
Manager: John Anderson
Assistant Manager: Mark Bamford
The Victorian Girls State team finished fourth in their campaign with Queensland claiming the title. Meanwhile, 14 year-old Victoria G.C. member Kono Matsumoto was the winner of the individual Australian Girls Junior Amateur title last week.