Golf Vic Vol 60 No 3 2019

girls,’’ said Commonwealth’s manager Sue French. “They’re all a little bit shattered, but they’ve had a good season. They’ll recover and come back better next year.” The back stories of Huntingdale’s triumph were many. For instance, number one player Wong, a Year Nine student at St Catherine’s in Toorak who came from Kuala Lumpur with her family four years ago looking to further her golf and her education. Her father Kenneth was on the bag for the final, having introduced her to the game back in Malaysia. Wong had played Hilliard during the regular pennant season and lost. She’d also lost the title-clinching match to Jo Flaherty against Commonwealth at the 20th hole a year earlier, but she was not about to let it happen again. She is a formidable player with astonishing length for someone just 155cm tall and weighing only 50 kilograms. Coached by Matt Cleverdon, she has applied for Australian citizenship and is awaiting approval, meaning that she cannot be in the state or national programs right now. But her life is crazy- busy already. “After school, I practise and then come back home for homework,’’ she said later. “It’s just a bit packed!” Golf is often criticised as a non-inclusive game (with some justification) but Huntingdale’s team was a model of multiculturism, with Kallista Do having Vietnamese heritage, Teo of Singaporean background, Wong from Malaysia and Francis adding the spice with her West Indian-English parentage. Her father Nigel is Trinidadian and was in the crowd to see Trinity play what Gellatly called “the match of her life” in the final. Francis came through Huntingdale’s junior programs after picking up the game with her brother at primary school. “I didn’t expect there would be so much team play in golf when I started but it’s good to experience it and learn from everyone else,’’ said Francis, who aspires to play college golf in America after she completes her studies at McKinnon Secondary College. Gellatly noted that the nature of Huntingdale’s team was particularly modern Australian. “The common factor is, they’re all really good kids,” she said. “They work together. They enjoy it, and that makes them easy to work with. This team is representative of our culture. We like to work together. It’s probably representative of the Australian community now and I’m pleased that our club is representative of that and our membership is representative of that.’’ Page 45 Trinity Francis, Star on the Rise Jeneath Wong d. Alex Hilliard 3&2 Pipers Stubbs and Casey Wild square Lisa Teo d. Sheradyn Johnson 4&3 Helen Gubbels d. Kai Shipp 2&1 Emily Smith lost to Kim Kennedy 3&2 Trinity Francis d. Laura Griffin 3&2 Kallista Do d. Kristi Bilkey 2&1 TOTAL: Huntingdale 5½ d. Commonwealth 1½ A Family Win. Helen Gubbels with great-niece Freya, nephew-in-law Will and great-nephew Finn. Straight-hitting Lisa Teo underlined her reputation as a pennant-final star beating state player Sheradyn Johnson. Commonwealth and state player Sheradyn Johnson in action. Golf Victoria 21