The GolfWA Junior Pennants season reached its climax yesterday with divisional titles going to teams from Royal Fremantle, Joondalup, Gosnells, Lake Karrinyup/Cottesloe, Wanneroo and Bunbury.
In a straight shoot-out for the title in Girls Division 1, three-time defending champions Mount Lawley faced off against Royal Fremantle, with a predictably close contest settling matters.
The two teams traded blows, with Royal Freo points for Taehee Woo and Zoe Grace Ong cancelled out by dominant wins for Mount Lawley’s Aileen Sirait and Amanda Gan.
It all boiled down to the top match between Royal Fremantle’s Heather Grace Ong and Mount Lawley’s Isabella Leniartek, which was a nail-biting encounter between the two GolfWA Junior Squad members. Heather Grace eventually closed out a 2&1 win on the 17th green to give her team (pictured above) a 3-2 victory and secure the Division 1 flag for the first time since 2019.
“It feels really good,” team captain Heather Grace told GolfWA. “We weren’t really expecting to win but we put in a lot of hard work all season and particularly in the past week. We’ve got a really good relationship throughout the team and I’m so proud of them all. Everyone was an MVP today.”
There was double glory for the combined Lake Karrinyup/Cottesloe teams in girls’ Divisions 2 and 3. Their first team of Isobel Dorrington, Elise Gavin, Baoly Doan, Freya Gunesan and Lily Pampacos recorded a dominant win on the final day to top Division 2, while their second team lineup of Martha Morris, Alexandra Fleming, Jessie Wilson and Frieda Williams beat Gosnells 4-0 to edge out Mount Lawley 3 to top Division 3.
Lake Karrinyup/Cottesloe’s winning Division 2 and 3 teams
Joondalup return to winners’ enclosure
Boys’ Division 1 was wide open heading into the final day at Mandurah Country Club, with leaders Royal Fremantle, Royal Perth and Joondalup Country Club all in the hunt for top honours.
A win for Royal Fremantle would have guaranteed them the title but they were pitted against a strong Royal Perth team with title ambitions of their own and in need of a big win to give themself a realistic shot at glory.
In an extremely tight contest, Royal Perth’s Jasper Inglis edged out Mandeep Singh to secure a 3-2 win, which left his team tied on six points with Royal Fremantle, with both teams sharing an identical win/loss record.
Had Joondalup lost their match to Lake Karrinyup, this would have been enough for Royal Perth to bag the title. However, Joondalup’s team of Nate Johnson, Ronan and Zach Nayar, Archie McKinney and Jackson Tait were not to be denied as they marched to a 4-1 win to secure their first Division 1 crown since 2021.
In the Division 2 final, Wanneroo’s team of Ollie and Austen Marsh, Cooper Ray, Lucas Watson and Lucas Beagley beat Lakelands 3.5-1.5, while Bunbury’s lineup of Seth Sims, Krishan Burgemeister, Oliver Tilley, Scott Bunter and Ethan Mibus recorded a 4-1 win over Mandurah to claim the Division 3 flag.
Last but not least, Gosnells 3 topped the standings in Division 4, with Isaac Low, Kai Scott, Nathan Wee and Owen Spedding rounding out the competition with a 3-1 win over Mandurah to pip Gosnells 4 and surprise package Sea View to the flag.
View all the day’s results and the closing tables here.
Joondalup CC’s winning Division 1 team of Zach and Ronan Nayar, Archie McKinney, Nate Johnson and Jackson Tait
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