SCORES
MEN – The Grange GC (East Course)
WOMEN – Glenelg GC
Victoria has put one foot in the men’s Interstate Series final after day two at The Grange Golf Club in Adelaide.
The Vics, who had the bye in the morning, took full toll on Queensland in the afternoon, winning 5-2 to remain undefeated on top of the ladder.
Both Queensland and New South Wales are within half a point, but have played one more match than the defending champion.
But highlighting just how close many of the matches have been, Tasmania, Western Australia and host South Australia are also still contenders for Friday’s final, with the individual matches won differential – the chief tie-breaking method – tight among the entire chasing pack.
Given the shocks of day one, the morning match between Queensland and Western Australia had enormous significance and was nip and tuck for three hours before the Maroons closed strongly in almost every match.
In a matter of minutes, WA went from genuine contender to a 6-1 loser with a string of late Queensland birdies up and down the order, including a near hole-out by Charlie Dann on the last.
And while the scoreline looked comfortable enough for Queensland, it clearly took some sting out of the team which was almost immediately several holes down across the board when the afternoon clash with Victoria was just five holes old.
The Queenslanders pushed back hard late after Lukas Michel’s 4&2 win over Louis Dobbelaar gave him a remarkable ninth straight Interstate Series victory across the past two editions and set Victoria away.
But not until skipper Zach Murray, who began with five scintillating birdies in the first six holes, eventually shut down the Dann challenge 2&1, the contest was effectively done before David Micheluzzi’s 1-up win at No.1 over Shae Wools-Cobb sealed a 5-2 triumph for Victoria.
New South Wales, inspired by several newcomers, pushed back hard today in accounting for Tasmania and South Australia by the same 5-2 scorelines.
Spearheaded by Jordie Garner’s birdie-laced 6&4 win over local Colin Coleman, other youngsters Josh Gadd, Harrison Crowe and Nathan Barbieri were also impressive.
Gadd was three down to Jack Buchanan at one point, but fought hard for a meritorious half, while Crowe accounted for Frank Vucic 3&1 and Barbieri remained unbeaten (3-0-1) with a 2-up win over SA skipper Billy Cawthorne.
Tasmania, which has pushed several of the more largely populated states through much of the opening two days, got off the mark with a solid 6.5-0.5 win over the Northern Territory to keep its chances alive.