Lonnie juniors go from zero to golfing heroes

THANKS to a champion Junior Pennant team, the Lonsdale Golf Club has broken a 37 year drought to reclaim the coveted Ford Cup.

Having only held the cup once before in 1981, the Lonsdale boys defeated Barwon Valley 4-1 in the final on February 18, delighting their band of loyal supporters and caddies.

Jordan Smith won on the 19th hole, Luke Adam won 8/6, Ben Waterson 3/2, and Rex D’Arcy won 4/3 with Andrew Adams’ match going down to the wire before losing on the 18th 2 down.

Club Captain Loren Larcombe said it had been wonderful for the club who had done a lot of work to ensure their junior section flourished.

“As captain I decided that it was time we tried to do something about our lack of juniors. We put flyers up around town and ran a free clinic every Saturday,” Ms Larcombe said.

“Sean Charleston is our local golf-pro and he gave the kids lessons and advice about putting and their swing. From those clinics we got about 6-8 boys to put into a team.”

Ms Larcombe said they were unsure if the boys were ready and at the standard for a pennant but entered them into the Westerveld Shield competition which they went onto win.

“They had to play up in the final and they won anyway. The whole club has been excited to have juniors and for them to be successful,” she said.

“All of the members were there cheering them on and supporting them and were going to enter in again this year.”