“We chaired Jimmy off the course,” was how team-mate Bruce Chandler described the victory by Jim McLuckie in Sunday’s Central West District Golf Association pennants competition.
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Round 2 of the competition was played at Bathurst and while McLuckie’s win came in division 4 it was the talking point of another successful day for players representing the Forbes club.
With the McLuckie win Forbes won division 4 3/2 over Parkes, division 2 also defeated Parkes 3/2 while division 3 went down 3/2 to Wentworth Orange. Division 1 had the bye.
McLuckie played his final four holes like a ‘pro’ in the pressure of pennants golf winning all holes to snatch victory over Parkes’ Dave Harwood on the 19th.
“We thought we were beaten but Jimmy rose to the occasion for a memorable win, it was brilliant,” team captain Steve Grallelis said yesterday.
“Not only did Jimmy have to contend with a course which produced slippery greens all the players had to put up with noise from the cars in the Bathurst 12-hour race.
“On the play-off hole Jimmy showed his experience to learn from the missed putt by his Parkes opponent.
“Both were on a similar line but the Parkes bloke missed to the bottom of the hole. Jimmy took a slightly higher line to slot in a pressure four-footer,” Grallelis added.
As for McLuckie, he was glad when he saw the ball disappear to the bottom of the cup.
“I’m usually the one who falters at the finish, I’m glad that’s over,” he told his jubilant team mates.
Other winners in division 4 were Geoff Betland who won 2/1 over Ray Griffiths and Ralph Baker, who also fought back late to defeat Gary Phipps 1 up.
Chandler played well to the greens but that is where the troubles started.
Five three putt greens saw him down 4/2 to Greg Powter while Troy Howe, who is on the come-back trail, lost 3/2 to Peter Bristol.
“After that exhibition on the greens they’re going to make me walk from Eugowra on the way home,” Chandler said amongst team celebrations.
Forbes division 2 has proven they will be hard to beat for 2016 honours with the Mark Collits led squad displaying a liking for match play conditions on all courses.
Collits, a former Forbes club champion again showed his experience to win 3/2 over Parkes’ Peter Nixon.
Kim Herbert who was all over the ‘shop’ due to errant equipment battled to the end for a one-up win over Phil Barnard while Neil McMillan had a more comfortable 3-2 win over John Green.
Dave Mylecharane who never had his nose in front all day playing very well from tee to green but unable to pick the line for putts made sure Joe van Opynen played to the end only going down 2-1 while Tim West made a welcome return to golf after several months away from the game going down 5-4 for Parkes’ Denis Howard.
Big-hitting Jeff House was the toast of a disappointed Forbes division 3 combination winning 4-3 while John Zannes again showed courage to win 2 up in a match where he and his opponent were in front at different stages.
Andrew Cogswell, one of the longest hitters in the Forbes club found trouble off the tee on Sunday to lose 7/5 while Brett Thomas again went close to winning going down 2/1, as was the same result for junior Jordan Brett.
This Sunday the AGCO Finance sponsored Forbes players made the journey to Cowra where division 1 play Bathurst while division 2 will be giving away the advantage of a neutral ground playing Cowra on their home course.
In 3 and 4, Forbes play Bathurst.
