Our season came to a close on Sunday 5/3/23 with a home match against The Australian. Clear skies and light winds welcomed us for our 7am start. It was always going to be a tough day with The Australian team being defending 2022 winners, having 2 newly named members of the State Team playing and their top 4 players with + GA’s. We welcomed back Michelle from illness, with Grace and Marie Claire sitting out this round. Grace took on caddie duties for Savannah.
Savannah at 5 led us off with some new-found confidence following her strong showing last week and got us off to a good start establishing a 2- hole lead early. Annoushka at 4 was a little slower out of the blocks and conceded some early holes. Lia’s opponent started off pretty hot and a birdie streak left Lia with ground to make up in the 3 position. Annabelle kept pace with her opponent in the 2 match during the early holes and was narrowly in deficit. Michelle at 1 conceded some early holes and provided herself with a “come back” opportunity.

As we approached the turn, we were clearly “up against it”, so to speak. Whilst Savannah had maintained her lead and Annabelle remained in touch. Annoushka, Lia and Michelle all had some serious work in front of them to get back into their respective matches.
The comeback commenced on 9 with Annoushka winning that hole and then following up with wins on 10,11 and 12. From 4 down to square and with real momentum. By the time Savannah reached 17 at 2 up there had been a significant change and we began to entertain the thought that we could win this. Annoushka remained in a tight battle, and whilst Michelle and Lia were down several holes, Annabelle was only 1 down with 6 to play. Savannah closed out her match with a 7 metre put on 17. Annoushka lost 17 to a birdie and her match was square with 1 to go. Behind them Annabelle was 2 down with 3 to go. Annoushka closed out her match with a solid par down 18 and we had 2 games in the bank. Unfortunately, almost simultaneously, the top 3 matches went to The Australian and we had been defeated 3-2. However, we made them work hard.

This team has represented Stonecutters magnificently. Each week they have come up against highly credentialled teams with plenty of experience. They have remained undaunted, played some great golf and played in a great spirit. They have supported each other with enthusiasm and provided many highlights. We might have finished last in our section, but we earnt the respect of all our opponents through our “never say die” attitude and positive approach. Our team highlight was clearly our home win over The Lakes, but gutsy home performances against Bonnie Doon and The Australian were also high points. In truth, we struggled away from home, and this is something for us to work on in the off season.
As a team we have great potential, but we can only realise that potential by putting in the hard work, taking every opportunity to learn from our experiences on course and keeping a positive mind set.

Thank you:
• To all our players, thank you for making me feel so welcome as your manager. I’ve enjoyed every minute, as golfers you belong in Division 1 , you have earnt my respect as individuals.
• To Dave and our greens staff, thank you for presenting our course so magnificently. Our opponents raved about it.
• To Michael and our hospitality staff, thank you for the meals and refreshments, once again “top shelf”.
• To our caddie crew, Bob, Yesh, Parvin, Glenn, Andrew and Anne your unwavering support and cool minds were magnificent throughout the season.

• To Anne, who was our referee for our 3 home matches, we hope we didn’t provide too much work for you.
• To “Bish” thanks for the ice for the esky and the friendly early morning welcomes to us and our opponents.
• To our supporters we hope you enjoyed the ride, we enjoyed your support.

So, in closing, our women’s team wishes good luck to our Men’s team in the finals series, we will be out there supporting you.
I’m looking forward to a few Sunday morning sleep ins😊!!

Craig Baird
Manager

---

Back to previous page