It was a historic win a year ago when Mudgee Golf Club broke a drought of more than a hundred years – now the same team has gone back-to-back to cement themselves in the annals of Mudgee’s golfing history.
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Undefeated for the entire season, the golf team that was named Masters Team of the Year at the Mudgee Sports Awards just a few weeks ago has brought home glory for the town once more, and this time they travel back from Orange with the division two title as well.
It was a 3-2 victory for the top side, but it came down to the wire against the Dubbo side at Duntryleague.
Matt Stanley was first off the bat at number five, who came up against James Morrow, and with just three holes left to play Stanley found himself down by two to the Dubbo five.
The last three holes all went to Mudgee however, and Stanley locked the first win of the day, handing over to skipper Matt Consadine.
Consadine was downed by Matt Button 3-2, and then Dubbo took the lead as their young gun Lachlan Jones was able to edge out Andrew Best.
Then it was Kiwi import Josh Campbell up to the plate to keep Mudgee in the contest, and his close 3-2 match over Chris Scubert set the stage for Mark Hale to battle for a nail-biting finisher.
It was Hale against Ross Horrocks in the last battle of the match, and with five to play Horrocks found himself up by one, but Hale was able to claw his way back into it to square the scores up on the 13th hole.
He put himself ahead on the 15th, but Horrocks wasn’t going down without a fight to level out the match right on the 18th.
It was a birdie by Hale, with many onlookers describing the drive as a ‘career shot’ for the Mudgee gun, and Mudgee’s top division team claimed the silverware and their back-to-back glory.
In the seconds, it was history in the making, with another drought broken by the travelling Mudgee men with their victory over Parkes.
Not since 1991 has Mudgee closed out the seconds and lifted the trophy, and although Terry Ford and Graeme Kurtz lost in the battle, Mark Bennie and Michael Kelly were able to square it 2-2 for the 1’s.
It was skipper Zac Kelly that had the battle on his shoulders, coming up against Tim Burke, and although the two golfers were all tied up on the 18th hole, Kelly was able to put away the tie-breaker to snap the quarter-century drought for the seconds.
After Graeme Kurtz – who had convinced himself he was never going to taste victory in a pennant – emotionally fell to his knees on the 19th hole with the victory, Mark Hale pronounced it “one of the best moments in golf [he] had ever witnessed.”
Cowra’s team defeated Dubbo 3-2 in the thirds, while the fourth division saw Forbes edge out the Cowra side with the fourth 3-2 triumph of the weekend.