Royal Perth just managed to cling on to their Division 1 Men’s Pennants flag after a titanic battle with Cottesloe at Royal Fremantle.
The heavy favourites heading into the final having defeated Cottesloe 6-1 in the group stages, Royal Perth had to dig deep to see off their stubborn opponents on a cold and breezy afternoon.
On what was a nip-and-tuck affair all day, there was little to choose between the players in the majority of 18-hole matches, with three of them going to playoffs.
Royal Perth still seemed to have the edge, with points for Jordan Jung, Jamie Warman and the evergreen Andrew Brown offsetting a comfortable win for Cottesloe’s Wade Mackintosh, giving them a 3-1 advantage heading into extra holes.
Cottesloe refused to buckle, however, and Charlie Parker reduced the arrears with a fine win over Corley McLernon on their first extra hole.
As tensions mounted, Cottesloe’s Ben Seward drew his side level after outlasting Peter Bennett to win their clash on the 23rd hole.
Attention turned to another blockbuster encounter between Aiden Hassan and Mark Solomans, which had also reached its fifth additional hole.
There were plenty of nerves in evidence, with Royal Perth’s Hassan blading a wedged approach through the green before Solomans left a greenside chip well short of the hole.
Aiden Hassan held his nerve to clinch a 4-3 victory for Royal Perth
When Solomans was unable to salvage par, Hassan faced a knee-trembling eight-foot putt for victory, which he coolly holed to spark enthusiastic celebrations from his team-mates.
Reflecting on his side’s successful defence, Royal Perth captain Peter Bennett paid tribute to both teams.
“It’s a great result, I’m so proud of the boys and here’s hoping we can keep it going next year,” he told GolfWA.
“Cottesloe showed that they’re a very good team. Even after we beat them 6-1 in the group matches, it was a lot closer than the score suggested and credit to them, they made it a very competitive final.”
Six clubs share remaining eight flags
Eight further divisional finals also took place on Sunday, with six different clubs claiming flags at Royal Fremantle, Sun City and Rockingham GC.
Hartfield secured promotion to the top flight in 2027 after an impressive win over The Western Australian Golf Club in the Division 2 final, also played at Royal Fremantle.
Hartfield will play top-flight Men’s Pennants again in 2027
With their stacked lineup including former Australian international Connor Fewkes, Hartfield ran out 5-2 victors on what proved to be a productive day for their Men’s Pennants teams.
They also ran out comfortable winners over Chequers in Division 5, while two Hartfield teams contested the Division 7 final.
Elsewhere, Meadow Springs earned promotion to Div 2 after defeating Nedlands in the Division 3 final at Rockingham GC, while other flags went to Royal Perth (Div 4), WAGC (Div 6 North), Gosnells (Div 6 South) and Chequers (Div 8).
View an image gallery from the Div 1 and 2 finals here.
Men’s Pennants finals scores
Div 1: Royal Perth 4 – 3 Cottesloe
Div 2: Hartfield 5 – 2 WAGC
Div 3: Meadow Springs 5.5 – 1.5 Nedlands
Div 4: Royal Perth 4 – 3 WAGC
Div 5: Hartfield 6.5 – 0.5 Chequers
Div 6 North: WAGC 4 – 3 Mount Lawley
Div 6 South: Gosnells 4.5 – 2.5 Links Kennedy Bay
Div 7: Hartfield 6 – 1 Hartfield
Div 8: Chequers 4 – 3 Wanneroo
You can view all the season’s results and tables here.
Meadow Springs will play in Division 2 in 2027
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