They put in a massive effort to reach this far in the tournament, but six junior Bathurst golfers have missed out on the chance to bring home silverware after a narrow loss in the State Encourage Shield semi-finals at Newcastle on Monday.
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Bathurst golfers Mitch Lamb, Jake Davis, Ben Davis, Cam Jackson, Cooper Starkey and Casey Thompson all travelled in the team to Newcastle to compete in the match play handicap tournament.
Moore Park Golf Club was Bathurst’s opponents on Monday, in the first semi-final match and it went down to play-off after the match was tied at three matches a piece.
It was windy, it was tight and a thrilling contest, but unfortunately for Bathurst, Moore Park won the play-off and the Sydney club progressed to meet Illawarra, who defeated Coffs Harbour 4-2, in the final on the Tuesday.
However, It was not all doom and gloom for Bathurst as they progressed to a third place play-off against Coffs Harbour Golf Club on the Tuesday.
Bathurst were too strong, winning five of the six match-ups against Coffs Harbour to finished third overall in the State Encourage Shield.
“They got beat in the play-off in the semi-final. It was tied three matches all. They went to a play-off and unfortunately got beat in the play-off,” Bathurst Golf Club manager Brad Constable said.
“The following day that had a play-off for third and beat Coffs Harbour 5-1.
“So to finish third overall, they’ve done remarkably well. They easily could’ve made the final but it’s just one of those toss of the coins, going into the play-off.”
Moore Park defeated Illawarra 4-2 in the final, with Illawarra’s 47 shots given away proving to costly against the Sydney-based club.
The match play format saw golfers take on each other in a head-to-head competition.
A point was awarded to a player who finished a hole in the least amount of strokes.
Jackson and Ben Davis were the team’s lowest markers, both playing off single figures, or close to single figures.
The team had qualified for the semi-finals thanks to a thrilling quarter-final success against 2014 shield winners Toukley Golf Club at the Richmond Golf Club in November.
The scores were all even – three wins for both clubs – at the end of the day, forcing a three hole playoff between the team’s number one players.
Ben Davis stepped up and held his nerve help progress his team to the semi-finals in Newcastle.
The result in the State Encourage Shield is best performance by Bathurst.
The shield was originally introduced to provide a chance for all juniors in the state to participate in a competitive match play team event.
