A furious West Australian rally came up just short against Queensland at Melville Glades this afternoon, severely denting the hosts’ men’s Interstate Series title hopes.
With New South Wales all but assured of berth in the final, the second loss for Western Australia has left Queensland and Victoria favoured to challenge the unbeaten Blues again in Friday afternoon’s decider.
The Maroons and Big V face off on Thursday morning with the winner assured of the inside running in that race, with the hosts almost certainly having to beat NSW on Friday to have any chance of replicating the state’s 1999 heroics at nearby Mount Lawley.
After trailing all afternoon, the WA squad answered the urgings of a solid home gallery and roared home with unexpected hero Jordan Doull and Haydn Barron starting the revival with wins in the No.2 and No.4 matches, respectively.
Those victories seemed to spark No.2 Kiran Day into action and the skipper roared back to push his counterpart Charlie Dann to the final hole, where a conceded par eventually ended the rally with Queensland winning that match 1-up.
In a gripping top match, Queenslander Shae Wools-Cobb came from 2-down at halfway and hit the front after 15, only to lose the 16th to local hero Min Woo Lee.
A stunning “Texas wedge” from behind the tricky 17th green gave Wools-Cobb a birdie to square the match, but a classy wedge and one-putt birdie on the par-five closing hole gave Lee the 1-up victory that was personally satisfying, but left WA just shy at 4-3 down.
“It’s always nice to win a tight match like that, especially in front of your home crowd,” Lee said.
“But we didn’t quite manage to get over the line as a team and that’s obviously what we’re here to do.
“We’re doing a lot of things right, but things haven’t gone our way yet … but we definitely think we have the team to beat New South Wales and get back into this if we get a chance.”
The South Australians shape as the wildcard, although they’re only a remote mathematical chance to reach the final themselves.
The SA men have shown more than glimpses of competitiveness against the powerhouses, but haven’t yet been able to sustain it for 18 holes.
They have clashes with both Queensland and Victoria ahead and, if they can persist with the form that pushed WA in the morning and then NSW this afternoon, they could well be WA’s biggest ally.
Tasmania broke through for its first win with a 6-1 triumph over the Northern Territory with Andrew Phillips a dominant 6&5 winner at No.6, while Craig Hancock was impressive to take the top match against NT standout George Worrall, who beat Victorian skipper Zach Murray in their morning clash.