It seems confidence and comradery are the key to any happy sporting endings.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
On March 15, Mudgee's division one side made the trek to Orange to go head to head with Bathurst in the Central West District Golf Association's pennants series finals.
Although they were categorised as the underdogs, the results showed anything but with all bar the captain sealing victories - Mark Hale won 3-1, Dallas Kelly won 3-2, Andrew Best (captain) lost 5-4, Josh Campbell won 5-4, Kris Stathopoulos won 6-5 - with a stellar 4-1 team result.
"They [Bathurst] only lost a game last week against Forbes which put us both at one loss since we lost our first round to Parkes, we couldn't afford to lose another game to make the final," Hale said.
"They were predominantly the favourites in everyone's minds except for the Mudgee boys, we were very confident.
It was awesome, I also had my young fella caddying for me this year which was really good. Everyone played really well.
- Mark Hale
The division one squad weren't the only Mudgee side to take it all the way with division two also making the final but falling just short, while the remaining two pennants teams fell at the semi final stage.
"For Mudgee, we're not one of the bigger clubs with teams like Duntryleague and Bathurst and Dubbo, they're a lot bigger than us, but this year we got four teams into the semi's which was pretty exciting for everyone," Hale added.
"They [division two] were pretty unlucky, they went down 3-2 and one of their boys was three up with five holes to go and got beat on the extra hole on the 19th so that was a bit disappointing for them.
"Next year they'll come out firing."
When asked what the key was to this year's success, Mark said it had a lot to do with the team support throughout the series.
The comradery this year from all four teams was really good, everyone was keen to play and I think that's a lot to do with our success from Mudgee.
"Everyone was always talking to each other, even through the week, everyone was interested which was good.
"It's probably one of the better experiences I've had associated with the pennants team, just having the young fella caddying and having four sides making the semi's was a great achievement.
"I just want to wish everyone good luck for next year's pennants series."
Jay-Anna Sleeman
Reporter for the Western Advocate. First began as a sports journalist with ACM in 2018 before moving on to cover news and court.
Reporter for the Western Advocate. First began as a sports journalist with ACM in 2018 before moving on to cover news and court.
