The 2021 Men’s Pennant Season is shaping up to be an exciting one, with Cottesloe Golf Club hosting the third round of the Division One competition on Sunday in blustery, wet conditions. At the mid-point of the season, Joondalup Country Club and WA Golf Club sit top of the table after three consecutive wins. The gents are well aware there is some strong talent nipping at their heels in the Cottesloe and Lake Karrinyup team line-ups.
The number one round three pennant clashes offered some first class golf viewing, an extra treat for WA golfing enthusiasts enjoying the 2020 Masters weekend. Undefeated to date, Joondalup’s Connor McKinney didn’t falter against 2020 WA Open Champion Royal Fremantle’s Hayden Hopewell, comfortably securing the match 4&3. McKinney shared, “ Hayds was always going to be a tough match – it really was a contest of who made the least mistakes rather than aggressive golf. Damage limitation! We were missing some of our team who are competing in the Australian Junior Amateur this week so very pleased with the outcome of Round 3. Manager of Joondalup’s Division One, John Greer noted, “our team strategy is just taking one game at a time and treating each match as a final. We are focussing on not getting ahead of ourselves as games so far have been tricky and probably tougher than the score lines would suggest. We feel our key strength is the depth of quality we have throughout our team.”
Lake Karrinyup’s Joe Owen is three from three in number one position, taking WAGC’S Haydn Barron to the 20th on his home turf in Round 1. This would have been a shake up for WAGC to start, however team captain Barron is confident, “this year the club team is the best I’ve ever been a part of, but we are taking it one round at a time.”
Cottesloe Golf Club only narrowly lost to WAGC by one match in Round 2 with talented Michael Hanrahan Smith in their number one position. Jake Patterson remains undefeated in the season to date, and next weeks match up of Cottesloe against Lake Karrinyup will be a tremendous one to watch on the challenging greens and fairways of Royal Fremantle.
Royal Fremantle’s Division One Captain Connor Faulds, “ has been disappointed to start the season with three consecutive losses. We’ve had games go down to the wire. I believe we’ve got a strong team that can fight back throughout the rest of the season. In terms of the top division, the stand out for us has been Zach Capelli winning three from three. With Alex Maxwell hopefully returning from injury and Hayden Hopewell returning from his eastern state commitments, we know that we will have a strong side that can fight. We’ve blooded some young players across all divisions and have seen some really exciting results. From Mandeep Singh in his first season of Men’s pennants having some wins in Division 6, to Rocco Cucchiara starring in his Division 1 debut with a 6/4 win, we can proudly say that Royal Fremantle has a bright future ahead. Not to forget the likes of Joe Teasdale, Braedon Law and Hunter Woodley-Page all competing this season. We are hungry for a win.”
Division One Round four will be played next Sunday at Royal Fremantle Golf Club. View all Men’s pennant fixtures and results.
