Golf Vic Vol 60 No 3 2019

For the Royal Melbourne Golf Club, the winter of 1931 was a monumental season. In July, the club’s short move from Sandringham to Black Rock was completed with the opening of a “temporary” clubhouse and the commencement of play on the new Dr Alister MacKenzie masterpiece which would become known as the West Course. In the same month, works began on the East Course, designed by the club’s number two pennant player and also an Australian Open champion, Alex Russell. In August, Royal Melbourne won the VGA Pennant competition for the 16th time in the 28 years in which it had been contested. And just three weeks later, the club’s number one pennant player IvoWhitton won the Australian Open Championship for a record fifth time. That was 88 years ago. It would have been incomprehensible then for anyone to suggest it would take this long for Royal Melbourne to win another Division One men’s pennant flag. No wonder the French champagne was flowing in the clubhouse after Royal’s predominantly young team of locally developed talent had beaten Commonwealth in the 2019 final at Victoria. To make the occasion even sweeter, the club had earlier in the day won the Colts Division One title for the first time, the double a culmination of a decade-long cadet programwhich has seen Royal add ‘golfing nursery’ to its long list of desirable attributes. “It’s an extraordinary occasion for us,” said club captain David Thomas in the heady moments after the club’s number three player James McMillan had struck the winning blow with a 3&1 win over Metropolitan’s state team player Aiden Didone to give Royal an unbeatable lead. A fewminutes later, on the same 17th green, number one Matias Sanchez secured a 2&1 win over his state teammate Blake Collyer to complete the contest five wins to two. Twice as nice … Royal Melbourne’s men’s and colts champions celebrate at Victoria. Back Row (from left): Aaron Southern, Harrison Gilbert, Darcy Brereton, Connor McDade, David Shimmin, James McMillan, Sean Ong. Front Row: Harry Burgoine, Matias Sanchez, Harry Goakes, Thomas Hatt, Seve Jones, Jack Holland, Andrew Warden. Thomas paid tribute to club professional Richard Hatt as the driving force of the cadet program after the club identified that its pennant record was not in keeping with its reputation in other areas. Royal had even slipped to Division Five of men’s pennant in the early 1980s and although it climbed back to Division One a couple of times, it had fallen again to Division Three towards the end of the last decade. “We wanted to build a bit of impetus, so our plan was to build a cadet program and try to grow our own and bring players through from beginners and encourage the local kids,” said Thomas. “The guys are terrific young boys,” he said of the 2019 victors. “That’s one thing I am proud of … we have effectively got a home- grown pennant team.” As Thomas acknowledged, though, there was one exception, in the form of number seven player Aaron Southern. Southern is 46 and arrived at Royal Melbourne as a reciprocal member from Royal Adelaide. One of the best amateurs in South Australia, he’d considered a pro career in his younger days until the Barossa Valley vineyard he bought with his wife Julie started taking up too much time. They were producing such fine grapes that instead of growing them for other vintners they started bottling themselves under the successful boutique label Epsilon Wines. Four years ago, Southern finally decided to “live the dream” by packing up the family, setting up a caddying business on the sandbelt and using his reciprocity to play at Royal Melbourne. He would return to Epsilon every five weeks but apart from that played the two magnificent courses at Royal Melbourne almost every day. It was only going to be for six months, but the kids liked their new schools and he and Julie loved Melbourne so much that they decided to buy a house and move here. He still goes back every five weeks and especially at vintage time to make the wine. But for now, it’s a life of making wine, drinking wine and playing golf. “Like I said, living the dream,” he laughed. Southern’s first pennant season here was in 2016 when Royal made the final against Metropolitan. He lost his match to Nick Brown as Metro landed that flag, so there was some irony to find himself up against Brown again in this year’s final. Playing number seven, Southern won the short par-four first hole with a birdie, turned two up and had the luxury of a three-putt bogey on the 15th to draw first blood, 4&3. But in the number six match, Metro’s Ted Donaghue won four of the first five holes before closing out Royal’s Sean Ong, also on the 15th, 4&3. Match five was close and fluctuating all day. Metro’s Adam Tsiamis opened with an eagle but Royal’s David Shimmin fought back to turn one up and eventually win 2&1 while the advantage in match four was always with Metro’s state player Lukas Michel, beating Harrison Gilbert 3&2. The problem for the Metro team was at the top of the order, though, with Royal’s one, two and three Matias Sanchez, Darcy Brereton and James McMillan all holding comfortable leads on the back nine. Brereton, in particular, was always in control of his encounter with Chris John, wrapping it up on the 14th, 6&4, meaning the only two matches still on course would both need to turn dramatically if Metro was to have any chance. The number one clash pitted two longtime Victorian teammates against other, Sanchez and Collyer knowing each other’s games well, having played and practised together countless times. A week later they would head to Tasmania where they would share a third successive Interstate Teams Series win, but a pennant final is no time for friendly banter. Polite, pleasant compliments for good shots, yes, but this was serious business. Sanchez admitted later that playing number one for club was even more pressure than playing for state. “Yeah, it is interesting, I certainly felt a bit of pressure out there,” he said. “We got done a couple of years ago by Metro so I had that urge that we wanted to beat them … it was almost like redemption, a bit of nerves, a bit of pressure. It was tough.” The signs of pressure were clear from both players. Collyer failed to get up and down from just off the green on the first two holes to go two down. On the third they both pulled drives into the sandy waste before saving pars and on the fourth both missed the green and halved with bogeys. Photography: Paul Shire Golf Victoria 17