Gosnells Golf Club successfully defended their Division 1 Women’s Pennants title after a tight final with Royal Perth.
Played out in testing, changeable conditions at Royal Fremantle, the final was a predictably close contest between Division 1’s dominant teams.
Royal Perth perhaps held a small psychological advantage after topping the group stage with seven wins out of seven — including a 4-3 win over Gosnells two weeks ago.
Match play golf is anything but predictable, though, and Gosnells came out of the blocks swiftly, with teen trio Brianna Chueakrungthep, Kayla Clarke and Nalynn Kim all establishing strong leads after nine holes.
However, with Royal Perth’s Rose Moorby, Halia Edwards and Meihui Zhao subsequently taking control of their matches, the final looked set for a nail-biting conclusion, with the clash between Grace Cheetham and Colette Nalder shaping up to be crucial.
Gosnells’ Cheetham held a precious one-hole advantage over the wily Nalder through nine holes before producing some fearless golf to extend her lead and put Gosnells firmly in pole position.
Friendly rivalry: Royal Perth’s Colette Nalder with Gosnells’ Grace Cheetham
Match wins for Chueakrungthep, Clarke and Kim took Gosnells to the brink of victory before Moorby put a point on the board for Royal Perth with a fine 4&3 win over WA state golfer Aileen Sirait.
This paved the way for Cheetham to wrap things up for Gosnells as she closed out a 4&3 win over Nalder to secure her team the flag for a second straight season.
Halia Edwards and Alexandria Page agreed to a halved match before completing their 15th hole, while Royal Perth number one Zhao — deputising for the absent Isabella Leniartek — recorded an impressive 3&2 win over Gosnells’ Sasha Hofman in the top match to reduce the deficit to 4.5 – 2.5.
Gosnells eyeing three-peat
Having never won the Women’s Pennants Division 1 crown until last year, Gosnells will now have their eye on a remarkable three-peat in 2027.
Team number one Sasha Hofman certainly believes the young team has what it takes to maintain its stranglehold on the event next season.
“The whole team has combined so well every week, but it’s been great to see all our juniors doing so well this year,” Hofman told GolfWA.
“They’ll improve even further in the coming year, and we have more young players coming through, so I think we’re looking good for next year already!”
You can view a gallery of images from the final here.
Women’s Weekday Pennants winners
Gosnells’ women enjoyed a productive season, as they also wrapped up the Weekday Pennants titles for Divisions 3 and 5.
In Division 3, Gosnells (pictured below) edged Lake Karrinyup 4-3 in a winner-takes-all clash to take the title by a single point, while their Division 5 team completed a perfect season with a 6-1 win over Royal Fremantle on the final day.
Despite halving their final match, Royal Fremantle had wrapped up the Division 4 crown with a match to spare and won by two points from Cottesloe.
Wanneroo, meanwhile, were the first women’s pennants winners of the year, securing the Division 1 Weekday title in late May.
All the season’s results and standings can be viewed here.
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