When the team gathered in the clubhouse at Terrey Hills soaked and elated following our round 2 victory the mood was somewhat dampened by the fear that we were little chance of playing round 3 at Cromer. How the fortunes turned in a week. The weather held off and the team at Cromer worked absolute miracles to turn out a course. For the first time in Interclub history, we were playing two loops of 9 holes. And a quirky nine they were. We started on the 10th before playing 2 to 6, walking the 7th, then playing 8, 9 and 18 to finish. Despite the quirks the course was in excellent condition with the greens quick and pure.
Cool and blustery conditions greeted the team, eager to knock over Royal Sydney and advance to the semi-finals. Royal Sydney had different ideas, fielding 4 players that hadn’t featured in the season to date including Chad Hohnen. The additions bolstered the middle order and gave Royal Sydney depth through the 8.
Despite cold-topping his opening tee shot Scott Bear continued his fine form. He went on to destroy the Royal Sydney number four 6&5. This would see Scott finish the season with 2 wins from 3 starts and wrap up Rookie of the Year honours.
Worryingly the team was down in 6 of the other 7 matches at the turn and our 1-0 lead wasn’t going to last. Matt Rolfe playing at 7 could be seen dialing the Swing-King Ryan Bernard looking for tips as his season came to an early end, 1-1.
Ty Southern had lead 2-up at the turn. There were multiple Kevin Na sightings as he walked in several 20 footers on the way out. However, the tide turned against him and his was the first of 5 Killara matches ending in disappointment and despair on the 17th hole.
There weren’t too many highlights to report. James Harpham seemed lost in a daze and spent most of his day wandering aimlessly over Kev Pike’s line on route to a 3/1 defeat. Pike wasn’t sure what to blame other than Harpham’s footprints… although at one stage he credited his trolley battery going flat for his 2/1 loss.
Unbeknown to the team on the day Tony Wray was playing his final match in Killara’s colours since retiring about 6 seasons ago. TWray set a great example for our inexperienced team over the last couple of seasons of how to approach match play, in striking a balance between being fiercely competitive, yet remaining a bloke both teams would be keen to share a beer with after the round. TWray you will be sorely missed, but we still must mention your Sunday shank…
Peter Kerr played the Abraham Ancer role to Chad’s Tiger. Unfortunately for him he hadn’t been the one poking the bear in the leadup. In what looked like a quality affair he went down 2/1. Interclub can be a pretty cruel place to be at the top of the order unfortunately. It is worth noting that Chad’s son is a developing player, and Chad may soon be the fourth best Hohnen.
The final match on the course was Devan Valenti. 1 up on 18 he snapped his tee shot 40m left on the par 3 to give the crowd something to watch. His second remarkable final hole up and down of the season was to follow. This put some respectability on the scorecard with KGC going down 6 matches to 2. It also gave Devan a 3-0 season record and earned him Player of the Year status.
Royal Sydney will play Pymble, whilst Moore Park take on NSW in the two semi-finals this weekend. Whilst that concludes our 2022 campaign Captain Damian Graham can look back with pride on the season and the vast improvement on our last place finish last year. Next year will be much anticipated as we expect to be pooled with The Australian, The Lakes and Avondale. If you are between 25 and 55 and want to play get your handicap sub 6.0 by year end and get practicing.
Many ways to get it done: Ty Southern, Key Pike, Matthew Rolfe and Scott Bear
