Royal Auckland was in immaculate condition on Sunday for the Bissett Final - the greens were firm and fast with many very tough pin positions. We were up against the defending champions from Titirangi. Our team was Connor Barker, Rakesh Patel, Andrew Meng, Jonny Goosman, Andrew Hipkiss, Karl Jorgensen, Scott Robertson and James Ashwin.
After 6 holes we were down 3.5-4.5 but had nudged ahead 5-3 just after the turn. As the back nine progressed Titirangi began to dominate the matches. Connor, Rakesh, Karl and James all lost their matches between 14th & 18th. Andrew Meng was down early but despite a good fightback also lost on the 17th hole (2/1). Scott and Jonny both fought hard to gain halves, while Andrew Hipkiss controlled his match all day to win 3/2. A 2-6 loss - not the result we hoped for but we will look back on a very good season.
The average age of our top 6 players this year has been about 19yrs and with more young players coming on the club has a very positive future at top Pennant level. Congratulations to the players and our thanks to the management and selectors - Adam Baker, Matthew Cormack and Chris Thomas.