It was billed as one of the closest Men’s #IntSeries in recent memory, and in the end Western Australia went down swinging.
In what essentially became a Quarter-Final, WA took on Victoria for a spot in the big dance on Friday morning, with South Australia givng them a significant lifeline only 12 hours earlier.
Despite their best efforts and some clutch putting late, the mighty Victorian side proved a bridge too far, ending a fairy-tale run towards the final for the Sandgropers.
The round began with plenty of positives for the men in yellow with Fred Lee continuing his fantastic tournament with a comfortable victory over Will Heffernan at no.7.
Cooper Geddes proceeded to double the lead for WA taking down the consistent Lukas Michel 4&3, giving the underdogs the perfect start to the do-or-die contest.
WA Skipper Haydn Barron and close mate Ben Ferguson couldn’t continue the momentum for their state, falling to the highly-talented pairing of Blake Collyer and Matias Sanchez respectively.
With the scores locked at 2-all with three matches remaining, Australian Junior Champion Connor Fewkes made his move, fighting back from 3-down to draw level down the 18th with Kyle Michel
Fewkes landed a clutch three-foot putt to put the pressure on Michel, however Victorian didn’t falter, taking a halve from an entertaining contest.
Kiran Day showed terrific spirit to match Zach Murray for majority of their encounter, with the WA Amateur winner coming from 2-down late to finish all-square after 18.
The halve effectively ended the run of WA, with Dave Micheluzzi putting the finishing touches on Victoria’s epic win, defeating Min Woo Lee 2&1.
The 4-3 result meant Victoria will face Queensland in the Men’s #IntSeries Final this afternoon.
WA leader Barron was particularly pleased with the endeavour of his side throughout the final day, going down fighting in a tight affair.
“Extremely proud of all the boys this week,” Barron said.
“It is the closest chance we’ve had in a number of years really; we had everything to play for.”
The WAGC gun gave his side every chance of making the final overnight, with South Australia’s upset victory a blessing for the WA team.
“The boys were all ecstatic last night,” he claimed.
“We got home and I personally ran straight to the SA room and gave them all a hug.”
WA ended the competition in fourth position on matches won, however Barron sees a bright future ahead for the young players coming through.
“I am super proud of the way we carried ourselves all week and the fight we put up in the end,” he said.
“Connor (Fewkes) was unbelievable this week, at first glance he was probably our MVP.”
