Men’s Major Pennants Round 6 Report
Posted on: 8 March
Men’s Metropolitan Major Pennant 2023 Report – Round 6 vs Long Reef at Long Reef
On Sunday the Stonecutters team travelled to Sydney’s northern beaches for our final match of the 2023 regular season. With a semi-final spot secured last week at home, this week was about fine tuning our order, providing opportunities for some the squad on the fringes of selection and getting ready for next week’s semi-final.
Whilst there was some great determination and fight shown by the team the Long Reef squad prevailed with a strong 6-1 home win.
Kade Webber at 1 fell to young state player Chun-ta Wu 4/3 who was undefeated at 1 all season for Long Reef. Sources tell me Chun-ta was 6 or 7 under when the match finished.
Harry Wilde at 2, won the sole match for Stonecutters 3/2 and was in control from the get-go. This win secured a well-earned undefeated medal for our captain with a regular season record of 4 wins and 2 halved matches.
Darcy Mackay at 3 fought hard all day and just fell short on 18 when his birdie putt pulled up short for a 1 down loss. Unfortunately, this loss meant no undefeated medal in 2023 but a regular season record of 4 wins, 1 half and 1 loss shows what a solid year Darcy has had to date.
Ryan Cadle at 4 played strongly and was square for a good portion of the day but losses at 13 and 14 saw him 3 down with 4 to play. Not for the first time this season Ryan rallied winning 15 and 16 but a loss on 17 saw him go down 2/1. Ryan’s regular season record of 3 wins, 2 halves and 1 loss was another strong effort that just fell short of an undefeated medal.
Jacob Carpenter at 5 started slowly and was 3 down early in his match. Jacob fought back, yet again, and reduced the lead to just 1 by the turn. A bad start to the second nine saw Jacob dormie down with 5 to go but with 2 successive wins on 14 and 15 again showed great spirit. A loss on 16 secured the win for the home team 3/2.
Ryan Suckling’s match as 6 seesawed all day between 2 down and square. Ryan’s opponent finished the match on 16 with a 3/2 win for Long Reef. Playing up the order on 3 occasions during the season when asked Ryan epitomises the phrase ‘team player’. His experience, contribution and leadership has been great for the group.
Daniel Beattie at 7 had a tough day at Long Reef and his opponent was just too steady, winning 6/5 for the home team. Daniel’s efforts tis year have not gone unrewarded with 2 wins at reserve in his debut season.
Ray Costello at reserve had a tough day also falling to his opponent 6/5. As I mentioned in last week’s report Ray has been an integral member of the squad and has been a great team player this year, despite his limited playing opportunities.
Jackson Northey, as our Junior Development player, has played 6 games this year and on Sunday fell to his Long Reef opponent 3/2. Jackson acquitted himself admirably and represented the club exceptionally well. I expect to see Jackson develop his skills over the coming years and be pushing for selection in future squads.
The teams record for the regular season reads at Played 6, Won 4, Halved 1 and Lost 1. and places Stonecutters Ridge as the second seed for the semi-finals.
Thanks to all our caddies and supporters and we look forward to our semi-final next Sunday at Cromer against Ryde-Parramatta. The current allocated tee time is 12.00 midday so best of luck to the team in their quest to win the first Men’s Metropolitan Pennant flag in our 94-year history.