The Hope Island Open Pennant side had a brilliant win on Sunday. Arundel turned up with a formidable side but I felt we were up to the challenge. Dylan Wang headed off first and at the half way mark was 3 down. Richard Cooper and Ethan Pham were both 1 up after 9 and playing well. Jayden Situ and Dujuan Snyman also had narrow leads after 9. Adam Hawkins and Mark Burrell were always going to be hard to beat at home and were both 4 up after 9 and looking comfortable.

The matches started to get very tight on the back 9. Dylan fought his way back to get to only 1 down but lost on the 16^th. Adam and Mark continued with their big leads and both finished early with 6 and 5 and 5 and 4 wins respectively. A great effort from 2 guys who have both been playing at the highest level for a long time. Mark as our captain lead the team through the series brilliantly. Ethan was 1 down with 2 to play and finished square, it was a gritty effort from one of our youngest. I could feel the tide turning in our favor but the boys still had work to do. Coops won the 15^th to go 1 up and played a brilliant shot into 17 to secure another 2 and 1 victory. We needed 1 more victory with 2 matches left.  Dujuan, who has just completed a big fortnight competing in the Australian Am and Australian Junior, was 1 up after 16. He holed a tricky downhill putt on 17th to win the hole and give us our 4^th win and get us across the line. Jayden was square after 17 and they shook hands as the final result was already determined.

A great team effort after 3 years of near misses.

On behalf of the team, I would like to thank all the caddies and spectators that came out to help and watch and support our team. The players certainly appreciate it. I would also like to thank the Club Manager, David and the Hope Island Management team for their continued support and for accommodating the final at Hope Island at very short notice.

Roger Worms

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