HOT OFF PRESS – Manly Victorious in Final!!!
Sunday 18th June – Grand Final
Manly vs Oatlands @ Royal Sydney
Remember these names and remember them forever….Grose, Webber, Karemacher, Farmer, Hill, Stevenson, Allara, Tweedale, Hunter. But also remember – Flynn, Bryant, Davis, Jordan and McMurray – because every single one of them played a crucial part in Manly Golf Club winning the Interclub Challenge for the first time since its inception 24 years ago!
The moon landings, JFK assassination, 9/11 – you’ll never forget where you were. And we will never forget Sunday 25th June 2023 at 4.09pm at Royal Sydney, when Sam Grose hit one of the greatest bunker shots under pressure to secure victory….actually it might have been later, I’ve forgotten already.
Royal Sydney in all her glory on Sunday morning.
It’s taken slightly longer than usual to complete this match report mainly due to press junkets, open-top bus tours, contract negotiations for a certain manager who has been offered positions as far and wide as Saudi Arabia and Bonnie Doon and a number of other commitments we were unaware of as Interclub Challenge Champions.
So where to start – probably with how we all got to the club. The format of Interclub is the two finalists do battle at 11am and are then joined by every player from every team for canapes, Champagne and sit down dinner afterwards to celebrate and commiserate….oh and speeches…if there is anyone in the team who fancies standing up and saying a few words. Normally Manly attend the final to have dinner and watch the speeches (and maybe a few of the closing holes of the final) – we have never had the issue/nice problem to have of having to transport our clubs to Royal Sydney on finals day. There were talks of water taxis, a hired minivan, borrowing the Sydney Swans coach….but MGC did what MGC does best, we worked together and organised ourselves in shared cars and readied ourselves for battle.
Now for those of you who haven’t played Royal Sydney it really can be quite intimidating. An imposing clubhouse, grass tennis courts, an indoor and outdoor swimming pool and a state of the art gym. But, Manly Golf Club does have something in common with them….an amazing golf course and a lawn bowling green which was also empty when we arrived. On top of all of their amenities there are numerous photos of previous Australian Open/Davis Cup winners to welcome us – Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy and Roger Federer didn’t necessarily scare us, more inspire us to achieve greatness.
The Team ready for battle!!
We all gathered on the top tee by the dining room for the introductions to the day and before we knew it, we were into the matches and on the path to victory. As Interclub Manager you always get a sense midway round whether or not we are behind, ahead or if we’re going to be battling until the final pairing on the final hole. And this time I can honestly say it never really felt like it was ever too far out of our hands. Again, I can’t completely put this down to how everyone was playing or the accompanying beers with the lunchtime burger….but the likes of Grose, Webber, Hill, Stevenson and Allara all going up early and up well made us think that 5 in the clubhouse was always going to be hard to beat. Match play golf can swing more times than an over-juiced metronome though and before we knew it Allara, Grose and Webber weren’t winning by as many and Karemacher (despite coming back to only being 1 down from 4 down) and Tweedale weren’t having the best of days.
The father and son team of Hill and Stevenson both recorded breezy wins of 4&3 and 5&3 and when the hardest man on the planet to read, Dave Allara, won on the last to take us to 3 wins in the clubhouse we only knew we needed another 1.5 points for the cup. And these points came courtesy of Grose (we mentioned his incredible bunker shot/up and down on the last to halve the match), Webber who nearly holed a 50 foot putt off the green on the last and Benny Farmer who scrambled for a beautiful half on the last and well deserved half point to take the overall score to 5/3 in Manly’s favour.
Tensions were again sky-high on the 18th hole at Royal Sydney – except for Andy who seemed to be enjoying himself immensely.
A typical gutsy Manly victory and celebrated as only we know how. With handshakes, genuine thanks and appreciation of a superb opposition team in Oatlands and hugs and high fives all round.
For those of you who have been reading these match reports from the start – I did say this was our genuine chance this year for three reasons….1. The accuracy of our handicaps (being closest to 27.2) 2. Section Finals at home and 3…..the team. It’s really always about the team. And by far the best team of level-headed, accountable, funny, hard-working, genuine golfers I have ever had the pleasure of managing. I am proud of every single one of you – because you all played a part in securing our first ever Interclub Challenge Cup. Thank you, thank you, thank you to every single one of you. You have made this not so young and retiring Interclub Manager a very happy man and many members of the club extremely proud.
Handsome bunch of MGC members – and Interclub 2023 Champs.
There was me thinking there is no win better than the Easter Cup….but there is….The Interclub Challenge. We did it, and we did it with style and grace. Thank you to everyone involved and for all the congratulatory emails/text messages and support on the day and on the way. We appreciate every single one of you and look forward to celebrating at the club in person when we have all recovered from what ended up being quite a late night on Sunday!
Our esteemed Manager (being held up by the Team Captain) enjoying the spoils of victory! Alex also delivered the best winner’s speech in the history of Interclub.
Alex Hunter – Interclub Team Manager (mic drop…)
