The final round of the 2023 home and away Pennant season took us out to The Heritage GC to take on Waverley Churchill. The weather was kind, generally sunny with a light breeze. The course was long. The greens slick and the rough punishing.

If everything went to plan, and the cards fell as we prayed for – there was an outside chance we could progress to the final and jump straight to Division 4, but regardless of the result of the day’s play, our tightknit squad had done the ‘Bat proud. Not only masking it to Division 5, but seriously challenging some old and prestigious clubs for the title and showing we are the little mouse that roared.

With Captain Mat unavailable through a prebooked trip and Jack suffering a muscle strain in his back, our playing depth was to be challenged. But as is the ‘Bat way, someone stepped up to fill the breach.

 

Playing at #7 Jas came home from straight from a tough nightshift hand rolling 10,000 toilet rolls and folding 100,000 tissues, grabbed a few hours sleep and turned up ready to play.

Well advised by veteran caddie Ronnie Dingle, Jas jumped out of the box and was never headed wrapping it up 4&3.

 

At #6 Aaron Saykan played some great short game golf, sometimes choosing the challenge of playing his second from a completely different tee box, just to up the ante. His caddy Wally Wescott showed great poise reining the young stallion in with sage advice as he looked to close it out 3 up, before actually closing it out on the 18^th. A great debut season form our youngest player.

 

At #5 four-time Club Champion Darren Kershaw, with former pennant veteran and now seasoned loop Jason Mullin on his bag, struggled to find his range against an opponent that was putting well to challenging pins, going down 4&3.

 

At #4 the eldest Saykan, Daniel – played well tee to green, but not even the wisdom of the self-proclaimed best putter from the combined African Nations – caddie Thabo Molwalefhe – could heat up his ice-cold putter. Nothing dropped, and the holes slid quickly by, as he too fell 4&3.

 

The match was on a knife edge, 2 wins, 2 losses – 3 live matches.

 

At #3 Alex “the Lion” Rachkovski, even with the calming influence of caddy Paul “Sarge” Murtagh, became increasingly frustrated as his radar was slightly off and the putts weren’t dropping – displaying some remarkably unlucky Brazilian Golf, before eventually falling 3&2 on the longest par 4.

 

At #2 Imran “the Postman” Muftarov – sans caddy, but with posse in tow, had a knock-down, drag out battle that see-sawed ridiculously. Even after falling 1 down when his opponent dropped a 175m 7 iron for eagle on the 14^th, Imran came right back and took the 15^th and 16^th to go 1 up with 2 to play, and then held on for a 1 up win. A fantastic first season with the ‘Bats – undefeated and unfazed with any challenge. Props brah!

 

At #1 Brock Gillard was up against fellow Pro Mitch Olhmus, and took young Callum Jacobsen as his caddy – (no doubt to use some of Callum’s local knowledge and because he knows the rules of the caddy!) Brock knew early on that he had his work cut out for him, after Mitch started with a birdie and then followed by putting his second, on the second, a 210+m 5 wood – to about 2 feet for a tap in eagle.

2 down after 2 was not the ideal start, and after a few unusual shots and putts that bemused everyone by not dropping, Brock was 3 down after 6 and needing to dig deep. He went birdie (7^th), birdie (8^th), bogey (9^th), birdie (10^th), but lost 11 and then, after Mitch almost aced the par 3 12^th was back to 3 down. A win in the par 5 13^th got it back to 2 down, halved 14 and 15 and then came to 16 still 1 down. A magnificent hole out birdie from 35m got it back to 1 and a birdie on the par 5 17^th squared the match = bringing the result down to the last hole.

Both players were well positioned off the tee, and Mitch dropped hi approach into the right greenside trap. Brock took 8-iron from 155 and his shot never left the flag. Unfortunately, he got a bit of a flyer from the rough, and it sailed long, over the green and plugged in the back lip of the rear trap. By now news had filtered through that Box Hill had beaten Heritage 4-3, and we would not advice on head-to-head difference, even with a 4/3 win).

Brock’s ball was embedded and unplayable, 2 feet above his stances, and even after a ‘free’ drop onto the 75-degree downslope covered with 12” grass, the odds of an up and down to take the match to extra holes were not favourable. The match was reluctantly conceded 1 down, leaving us 1 game short of tying for second, but 2 games short of advancing.

 

This year was truly a break out season for the Yarrambat Golf Club. Reaching Division 5 was the starting point many years ago, but now we have seen tat we can really challenge to progress to Division 4.

Anyone wanting to come along for the ride will be welcome to try out for next season and we will we look to recruit to add depth to our existing squad of talented representative players.  The draft window is always open, and new players are encouraged to get their game, and their psyche, in order before next year when we will encounter Cranbourne, Patterson River, Melbourne Airport, Yering Meadows, Mt Derrimut, Gisborne and Goonawarra.

 

Once again my thanks to all who assisted, including ; caddies, spectators (Micky Wilson you’re a legend), Tuesday Arvo Chicken Run players, club members and YPGC staff, even long-suffering wives and girlfriends – and a very special mention to Ash Crawford who stepped into the role of Manager this year! (He was desperately hoping for a promotion to Div 4 so he could retire a winner, but we shall cajole and badger him to back-up again next year)

 

Stuart Thompson 

President YGC

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