Men’s Major Pennant Semi Final Results
Dear Members
Another relaxing and calm Sunday…….Not Really !!
It started with a 5.00 am exit out of the golf club carpark with Tony Smith at the wheel, players and caddies loaded and a beverage on ice for the trip home !
Well not all players and caddies met at the carpark as we agreed to collect Will “Stacker“ McLachlan at Surry Hills at 5.20am with google maps taking us through Kings Cross and down through Oxford Street : still plenty happening there !. A successful pickup and then down to Bondi to collect Will Yeaman and finally off to our destination being St Michaels Golf course !!
Some are sleeping, the music is vibing and the younger ones are getting their heads around Oxford Street and all that it brings, anyway onto the golf ………!
Per the photos the day is perfect and the course is in exceptional condition.
We have our 1st tee time at 7.00am and our team is calm and relaxed to play our opponent Cabramatta.
The golf course is set up for a real test of golf with a gentle breeze off the water, testy pin positions and firm greens.
We know a win today achieves 2 objectives :
- It elevates Manly to Division 1 next year.
- we go into the Final at NSW next Sunday
The playing team for the semi is as follows :
Liam Jordan
Will “Stacker” Mclachlan
Eddie Blake
Ryan Connors
Andy Tunny
Rory Page
Andy Hugill
The players have been out during the week to play practice rounds and are relaxed, well prepared and ready.
All 7 manly players play the perfect tee shot off the first, a 402 meter par 4, index 1 !
After 9 holes we look to be in a good position with 2 matches dominant being Andy Hugill 5 up and Stackers 3 up, 1 match was 4 down, 3 matches 1 up and Liam all square !
We need 4 matches to win.
Great news comes through early with Andy Hugill putting us on the front foot with a massive 7/6 win. For those that may not know Andy was a dual club champion at St Michaels in 2003 and 2005 !
Wow that’s a great start and on his birthday !.
I am watching Liam play the par 3 12th when his opponent has a hole in one to put his opponent 2 up: they all went crazy but not our calm, poised Liam, he stayed in the moment, retained his focus and composure and got on with the job, winning the next 2 holes.
Our Ryan played a very accomplished senior player (who was 6 under after 2 rounds last week in an amateur event) so we knew this would be a challenge and it was on this occasion, going down and making it 1 match all !
Great news comes through, Eddie has made a stunning comeback after being 2 down after 4 holes and won 7 of the next 11 holes and wins his match in style by hitting his 4 iron close to the flag on the 215 meter par 3 15th to win his match 5/3.
How good is Eddie ?
2 matches to one up and 3 matches square being Rory, Andy Tunny and Liam, Stacker is 1 up .
This final can go either way ……………….. and this is not a calm, relaxed Sunday !!
Unbelievable news comes through that Rory won 3 holes straight being 15,16 and 17 to win 2/1. Wow that’s relieving and a quality victory, taking us to 3 wins, 1 loss and 3 on the course all square !
I am thinking don’t get ahead of yourself as Liam goes 1 down, Stacker leaps to 1 up and as Andy Tunny heads down the 18th, a 405 meter par 4 into a strong North Easterly. A half will land us the win, take us to Division 1 and into the final next week.!
His heart rate would have been racing at 215 but only he knew that, as he handled the situation brilliantly, winning 1 up.
We have won with 4 matches in.
Stacker is 1 up playing 18 greenside and Liam all square waiting to play when Cabramatta conceded with each team being awarded half a point !
Manly win with a final score 5 to 2 and what a performance !!!
Next week we would love our members to come out and support the team at NSW, as we take on Penrith.
We tee off at a civilized 10.15am ! Thank you to the Manly members who came out to watch and support the players, they commented how brilliant that was.
Again to our wonderful caddies, some of which are in the playing squad, you did great and THANKYOU !
Cant wait !
Dave Brown
Manager
Men’s Major Pennant Round Six Results
Dear Members
Well we are at the pointy end of the regular pennant season of 6 rounds. The scenario is simple, if we can win today, we win our section and head into the semi finals.
Per the weather forecasts we are expecting heavy and consistent rain all day, and as it turned out we didn’t get a drop, it was even sunny at times, quite cold and at times blustery conditions.
Brenden, the Superintendent is down to ensure the course is prepared well and it certainly was !
It is nice to be playing at home on such an important day, our playing team as follows :
Liam Jordan
Will “Stacker” McLachlan
Ryan Connors
Andy Tunny
Rory Page
Andy Hugill
Wayne Wright (Capt)
Res : Sky Tse
Our Club Captain, Alex Hunter was there to welcome the Cronulla players and Caddies and provided his usual speech, one I feel sure they will remember for some time !!!
Cronulla have changed some of their playing order around and shifted their best player from No1 to No5 who will play Rory. Other similar changes were made to their playing order, but our depth is strong and we know if each of our players can play to their potential we will likely win !
After 10 holes the situation was tight with Manly having 2 matches up, 2 were square and 3 were down, albeit no large leads and all very close.
We NEED 4 matches !!!!!!!
Wanyne our Captain slips to 3 down after 14, with his opponent displaying a chipping master class. This match is going to be difficult with only 4 holes to play although Wayne does love a comeback ………. !
Good news for the team with Andy Tunny enjoying another really dominant victory 5/4, taking his season to a fabulous 5 wins from 6 matches, great stuff Andy !
Rory as gallant as he was lost his match 3/2 on the 16th and if it weren’t for the odd putt dropping could have taken his quality opponent all the way. Good effort Rory never the less.
News comes through that Wayne birdies the 18th to square his match, what an important outcome that is for us and what an amazing comeback over the last 4 holes and it was raining birdies !!!
Sky playing at reserve finishes his season with another win, 4 from 4 by hitting his 3rd shot on 17 to 6 inches for birdie. FYI he holed his 3rd shot on the 3rd for eagle !! Keep working hard Sky you will be a wonderful asset to this team in 2027.
We need to get 4 matches and we have 1.5 banked of 3 matches.
Andy Hugill who does love an audience, is all square playing the 18th when his ball plugs in the face of the left green side bunker. His opponent didn’t have the hole he would have hoped for and Andy plays his bunker shot to 6 feet and wins the hole and wins his match.
Stacker who is enjoying Will Crisp on his bag is playing his usual high standard at No 2 winning his match 3/2 which takes us to 3.5 matches, just short of the important 4 which gives us certainty ! Great season to date for Will with 4 wins from 4 matches at No2, outstanding !!.
2 players still on the course being Ryan on the 17th and 2 up and Liam all square on the 16th.
Ryan plays sensibly down the 17th then lags his birdie putt next to the cup and nails another win, his 5th of 6 matches and what a season !
This result gives us victory and into the semis.
Oh and let’s not forget Liam who loses his first match of the season on the 18th !!!
In division 2 we have finished with the most wins, giving us the No1 seeding and will likely play Muirfield on a neutral course, yet to be determined.
The mood is terrific amongst the squad and all are excited at the prospect of playing in the semi’s next week.
Thanks to the caddies yesterday and to all of the members who came out to support, the players love it.
A massive thankyou to every player in the squad as you have each played your part in getting Manly to the finals.
We will prepare well this week, stay in the same routine as we have had all season and head out next Sunday to do our best again !
Cant wait !!
Dave Brown
Men’s Major Pennant Round Five Results
Dear Members
We again met for an early 5.00 am exit from the Manly car park with all players and caddies “fresh”, in good spirit and punctual for the 1 hour drive to Cronulla !
The mission today is to achieve a victory on an away course which as we point out regularly is a genuine challenge.
The playing team from our playing squad this week in order, is as follows :
Liam Jordan
Will “Stacker” McLachlan
Ryan Connors
Andy Tunny
Rory Page
Andy Hugill
Wayne Wright (Capt)
Res is Sky Tse
Cronulla has Kikuyu fairways, very tight fairways and small greens, so a bit to adjust to.
All players made the big effort during the week to travel down to Cronulla and have a practise round, again a statement of “best preparation” by this committed squad.
All players have caddies, some of which are part of the squad which is brilliant.
The playing order off the 1st is number 7 down to No1, so after 9 holes it was an unusual position for us this season, as our numbers 7,6 and 5 were either 1 or 2 down in their respective matches. Interestingly each went to either 3 or 4 down early in the back 9 !!!!! More on that later …….!
Through the front 9, Liam, Stacker, Ryan and Andy Tunny built significant leads, there were no close matches at this stage amongst this 4 !
Shot of the day was by Liam on the 282 meter par 4 sixth hole, noting at greenside it goes into a very thin neck from which to land. All players hit a 3 or 4 iron off the tee, then a wedge in to the green, except for Liam, he elected driver. He landed it 15 foot short of the cup and it finished 6 foot from the flag. Whilst on Liam, he again played at such a high standard and went onto to defeat his highly accomplished opponent a most convincing 4/3 ; another polished performance by Liam at No1 !
Although we had 4 matches leading, those players still had a lot of holes to play and the other matches which we were down were now a little more serious as they approached the midway area of the second 9 !
I bump into our Captain Wayne Wright on the 16th tee who is now only 1 down, having been 4 down earlier, with the comment “if I can hit fairways and greens and put pressure on, I am feeling positive”. 40 minutes later on our group Whats App comes the stunning news Wayne wins 1 up on the 18Th ! That was a phenomenal comeback and he gives much credit to his “demanding” caddy Darryl Tweedale, what a champion, what a combination.
Andy Tunny played fabulous golf all day with the little wand working its magic. Andy is enjoying a wonderful season and convincingly defeated his opponent 4/2.
Andy Hugill is working really hard to stay in his match and that wasn’t helped with his opponent holing a 65 footer on the 15th and he eventually lost a tight match on the 17th.
Rory who was 3 or 4 down through the back nine is methodically working his way back into his match and gets to the 18th 1 down. He has 156 meters to the flag, nails a 7 iron to 3 foot for birdie, wins the hole and squares his match : now an hour earlier that wasn’t expected !! This kid is a grinder when he needs to be and he is the real deal, great gritty performance Rory and boy do we need that .5 point for our season !!!
We have 3.5 matches of 7 in at this point, so looking really good.
Ryan was in control of his match all day and was rewarded with a 3/2 victory on the 16th. He holed clutch putts, hit fairways, hit greens in regulation, kept smiling, kept cool and again is having a terrific season.
One match remaining being Will “stacker” Mclachlan who after hitting the par 5, 15th to 14 feet for 2 and is 2 up and we witness his opponent hole a 20 meter chip for birdie and halves the hole. The great news Will won on the 18th, 2 up and was in control all day, another superb performance.
Manly win away 5.5 to 1.5.
We host Cronulla next week and look forward to a really solid home performance and if we do that we will progress into the semi finals the following week, BUT it is one week at a time.
Please came down and support as the players love it, even some of the caddies do to !
Tee time at 7.30 am next Sunday.
Tony Smith organised and drove the bus and caddied so a massive thank you Smithy. Thank you to each of our caddies, it makes a difference.
Bring on next week, CANT WAIT !
Dave Brown
Manager
Men’s Major Pennant Round Four Results
Dear Members,
We are now into round 4 and currently holding a narrow lead in our section of Division 2.
This Sunday morning is perfect although humid, the course is looking pristine and the greens rolling well after a cut and roll .
The Captain, Alex Hunter gives his welcome speech and now let the matches begin.
We are playing Pennant Hills whom we defeated last week on the their home course.
The team is as follows:
Liam Jordan
Eddie Blake
Will “Stacker” McLachlan
Ryan Connors
Will Crisp
Andy Tunny
Rory Page
Res : Sky Tse
We feel modestly confident on home soil but know quality golf is still required.
Young Sky is performing really well and earnt a very good 4/3 win, 2 wins from 2 matches. He has a high quality game that is only going to get better if he continues to work hard !
It is symbolic of this teams attitude that the squad members who didn’t play this week really wanted to caddy for those that did play.
As we gathered match scores throughout the front nine, like last week the games were very tight, some a little up, some a little down and others square !!
Ryan was the one exception who was dominant after the 10th, being 5 up. Fortunately he went on with his match and had an early mark winning 6/5 which is a stunning result at this level, a fabulous win Ryan.
Eddie, Will Crisp, Will McLachlan and Liam are all square after 9 holes !!!!
Again, Rory played such a high quality game and by way of example played a “low” 9 iron into 3 inches to a well tucked right blue flag on the 15th to close the match 4/3 !
What a wonderful season Rory is enjoying and it is no surprise to his fellow squad members
Not long after, across at the 18th Andy Tunny raises his right fist to symbolise a win. Again, Andy is grinding out these tight wins and capturing those big moments!
Well this is progressing nicely at this stage, 3 matches from 3 !!!!!
I bumped into Eddie on the 12th who said his game was a real roller coaster and with Eddie you never know, but I reasonably assumed he was few down. A little later on the 15th tee I asked him how it was going and he said “3 UP” and he went onto win that hole and another terrific victory over his fabulous pennant career.
We are now home with 4 matches in and 3 matches still in progress.
Crispy grinds out a squared match on 18 and was delighted after playing high quality golf.
Will McLachlan is now 1up playing the 18th and his heart rate has raced to 27 !!!! His opponent plays safely in front of the left bunker, leaving himself a nice wedge in………… so I am thinking, what will our Will do ………….and out comes the Big Dog, the Driver !!!! A few things were going through my mind until it landed and finished 8 meters short of the green and I thought “what a wise choice” !!!!!!!!!!
Will went on to win and post our 5th win for the day.
Only one match remaining being Liam at No1 and he is 2 up playing the 17th and against the same plus 4 opponent of the previous week. They halve the hole and Liam wins again 2/1 !
The Team Final score is 6.5 to 0.5
That leaves us with 3 wins and 1 loss, the same as Ryde Parramatta. We are slightly ahead with 19 wins and they have 17, so game on from here !
Off to Cronulla next week for a 7.00am tee time and back home the following week.
Thank you to our match day referee and life member Richard Evans and also to all of the caddies and the members who came out to support.
A terrific result and the grind continues again next week.
Cant wait !
Dave Brown
Team Manager
Men’s Major Pennant Round Three Results
Dear Members
What a day and what a result, so I guess I have blown the plot !
The players and caddies arrived in the carpark at 4.45am for a 5.00am exit as we were keen to get there early and inspect all of the temporary changes arising from their course renovations, albeit many of our players sited the course over the past week. We felt these changes would advantage them even more than the usual home course advantage and we were keen to be thorough in our preparation.
Out of necessity, Uber eats were ordered in from the Pennant Hills car park on arrival at 5.30, it’s a new world !
Such is the depth in the squad this year, team selections are difficult (in a positive sense) as we feel every member of the squad could capably win their match.
From a player perspective this match against Pennant Hills at Pennant Hills provided 2 meaningful milestones : A) Will McLauchlan who also works in the pro shop joined the club and the squad this week and played in the team at No2 and B) Sky Tse at age 14 (handicap .06) played his first major pennant match for Manly ! Sky played reserve and this allows us to develop and prepare him for next year and the years ahead.
The playing team this week as follows :
Liam Jordan
Will McLauchlan
Ryan Connors
Will Crisp
Rory Page
Andy Tunny
Andy Hugill
Res : Sky Tse
Throughout the day it was hard not to think the result could go either way, such was the closeness of every match !
After 9 holes, of the 7 matches, 3 matches were square, 2 matches were 1 up and 2 matches were 1 down !
Watching I could see opponents holing 35 footers, and they kept getting up and down from difficult spots but our fellas copped it all and stayed in a positive mindset. A great example was Will Crisp who was up against it all day and worked hard to grind out a halved match on the 18th.
The two Andys continued on their winning way and were both 1 up playing the 170 meter, 18th, hole. Both missed the green and played brilliant and very difficult chips to within 2 feet to win their matches ! Great effort again fellas.
That gives us 2.5 wins from 3 matches, so a pleasing start and all of the matches finishing on the 18th !
Sky has convincingly won his match 4/3 t reserve in his first match and although it doesn’t count toward our result it’s a wonderful win and another experience for Sky.
Noteworthy for the members regarding young Rory Page is that in the 3 days prior to Sunday, he competed in the prestigious Concord Cup, shooting impressive rounds of 72, 70 and 76 to finish 29th, seriously impressive at 16 years of age !!. He fought really hard and was narrowly defeated on the 17th .
We have 2.5 matches from 4, so we need 4 matches to win the day, so the job isn’t finished !!
I spoke with Ryan Connors back on the 12th and although he was 2 down he was poised so although a tough ask, we remained hopeful. ! I see him playing the 17th and he let us know he was now back to square and then won the 17th and 18th to win his match 2/1 !
Brilliant Ryan and very gritty !
That result takes us now to 3.5 matches !!
Will McLauchlan is a pretty cool dude and we guess he has a resting heart rate of around 20 !! (He also played in the Concord Cup shooting 75, 68 and 70 to finish 16th) . Will played a brilliant and creative shot from the trees onto the middle of the green on the 17th to win his match 2/1, a wonderful start to his pennant career at Manly.
Our number 1 and current Club champion, Liam Jordan is now in his element: 50 people watching, 1 up in his match and playing the 18th . His opponent Ryan Richards is a highly accomplished amateur golfer playing off plus 4.
Liam hits his 7 iron into the 170 meter par 3, over the clouds and lands 15 feet from the cup ! Too good and wins 2 up .
All seven matches finished on the 17th or 18th holes, such was the closeness !
Manly winning 5.5 matches to 1.5
That result takes us to the top of our section, so we are now in control of our destiny.
Please come down next Sunday and support the team as we play Pennant Hills at home at 7.30.
Thanks to our wonderful caddies and bus driver Tony Smith and for those that came out to support the team.
Beast Wishes
Dave Brown
Manager
Men’s Major Pennant Round Two Results
Members,
It was an early start for the players and the caddies at 5.00am in the carpark on Sunday morning. Some even enjoyed a 4.15 coffee in manly they were that excited !!
The mission to win our away match against Ryde Parramatta who will be keen to avenge their 5-2 loss against us at home the week before.
The playing team is Will Crisp, Ryan Connors, Andy Tunny, Rory Page, Chris Connolly, Andy Hugill and Wayne Wright (Captain), with Jack Hugill playing reserve.
Ryde Parramatta with its large tree lined fairways places a premium on hitting fairways. The greens are much faster than they look, with the down hill putts rolling out further than expected.
As our first player tees off the light is now upon us and there is a little drizzle, just enough to be slightly annoying, but the team is in great spirits
Andy Hugill, Andy Tunny, Ryan and Rory all get off to solid starts and were either up or square at the turn which is promising.
Wayne without doing too much wrong is 4 down after 4 but we all know his mentality and game so are not worried. Chris’s match is tight at 2 down at the turn but he can turn on a massive birdie run, so we remain upbeat their also. Crispy who is in the engine room playing No1 this week in the absence of Eddie and Liam is always gallant but as I watch his opponent holing 40 foot putts across slopes I know its going to be tough. Sometimes you just have to let it be, do your best and hope things turn around.
Wayne, who played very well is the first one out so we are one down and not long after Chris shook hands, now 2 down. Andy Hugill’s opponent came home too strong, holing some lengthy putts and defeated Andy on the 17th Green.
Rory, who has poise well beyond his years was in full control of his match from the first hole and won convincingly 4/3. His final shot of 153 meters was an 8 iron, off a sloping lie, into 6 feet and ultimately a birdie was all class. !
Andy Tunny could only control his game and with his partner rattling off 4 odd birdies the back 9 made it to difficult and Andy suffered defeat on the 16th green.
In comes Ryan with a rock solid performance at No2 winning convincingly 3/2, a wonderful win on an away course.
Crispy as we affectionately know him succumbs to the high quality play of his opponent (4 under par) and in those circumstances you just need to move on and acknowledge the high quality play of your opponent (and practise hard this week).
Final result Ryde Parramatta 5 and Manly 2.
It would be remiss of me not to comment on the wonderful play of young Jack Hugill to win 4/3, he was outstanding !! Jack is getting better and better and works really hard on his game during the week, so no surprise. Well done Jack.
Off to Pennant Hills next week for an early tee time again.
We have a really strong team and I am confident we will do our fellow members proud.
Thank you to our caddies and bus driver John Pankhurst.
Dave Brown
Team Manager
Men’s Major Pennant Round One Results
Fellow Members
We commenced our 2026 major pennant season at home on a perfect day and performed in a manner as we had planned and hoped for. Brenden our course Superintendant presented the course beautifully and our opponents were most impressed, with the course anyway !
Firstly allow me to introduce the playing squad for 2026 as follows :
Wayne Wright (Capt)
Eddie Blake
Andy Tunny
Will Crisp
Chris Connolly
Will Yeaman
Jack Hugill
Ryan Connors
Andy Hugill
Rory Page
Liam Jordan
Sky Tse
For those that may not know, each week we choose a team of 7 players from the squad.
In all of the years I have been involved in pennant rarely have I seen such a high quality of golf, it was outstanding.
The day became the “Andython Day” (photo attached) but more on that later.
We got off to a fast start with most players ahead or near square after nine. We have some experienced,hard consistent campaigners at the back (but hitting off first) playing number 6 and 7 in Andy Hugill and Wayne Wright . Both got off to good starts which gives the team real and early momentum.
Andy Tunny playing number 4, was ruthless and shot off to a brilliant lead of 6 up after only 10 holes, with many of his approach shots knocking the flag out . We knew we could bank that win early and we were correct as he won the next 2 holes and shook hands on the 12th green, very rare indeed and great effort Andy !
As for the other Andy (Hugill) they clearly had something going because I looked around and saw him shake hands on the 15th green winning 5/3 . He did that after hitting the wrong ball on the 7th with 2 red dots, the same as his, so look for new markings on his ball going forward ! How good are the Andy’s ?
I watched young Rory’s opponent who played methodical golf hitting fairways and hitting greens but that wasn’t enough against our resilient and persistent Rory. All square playing the 18th, his opponent went right and Rory nailed a perfect drive, smacked it in close and was given the hole to win 1 up ! An impressive grind, well done Rory.
Will Crisp playing in the engine room in the number 2 position, played really solid but found an opponent in excellent form and lost in a close one on the 16th green. Likewise right behind him at number 3 Ryan Connors was in a dog fight . We all watched Ryan play his third shot into 17 from the bark on the right hand side and 135 meters out into 10 feet. But his opponent was next to the green for 2, grabbed the birdie and the matched was completed there on the 17th green
Finally the iceman himself at number 1, Eddie Blake ripped into his match early and was 3 under after 8 holes and 3 up in his match. Eddie as he does, kept the pressure up with sensational golf and birdied the 16th to finish the match 4/2 and what a player he is !
Each week where we can, we request of our opponents to play a reserve so that we can develop and provide some experience to the younger members of our squad. Yesterday Jack Hugill did us proud and got knocked off at the death, but great learnings none the less.
Manly winning 5 matches to 2 !
Off to Ryde Parramatta next Sunday morning, meeting in the car park at 5.00am for any members keen to see us of !!!!!
A big thank you to caddies and Richard Evans for being the referee on the day.
Bring on next weeks challenge.
Dave Brown
Manager
We are delighted to announce the 2026 Men’s Major Pennant Team:
Liam Jordan
Eddie Blake
Rory Page
Will Crisp
Chris Connolly
Andy Tunny
Ryan Connors
Will Yeaman
Wayne Wright
Andy Hugill
Jack Hugill
Sky Tse (development)
These players will proudly represent the Club in this year’s Major Pennant competition, and we wish the team every success and look forward to cheering them on!
Please check back here for regular Round Reports from Team Manager, David Brown.
