AMSTEL scrapes through

AMSTEL hosted a determined Melbourne Airport at home last Sunday and despite some dominant performances just scraped home with 4 wins to 3.
George Johnson was sent out at 7 to get the ball rolling and he did just that, 7 up through 7 holes. After missing a gettable putt on the par 5 8th to go 8 up his opponent gave a fist pump and happily declared he couldn’t lose 10 and 8, 8 and 7 — the final margin got Amstel on the board first.
Nathan Crossley also had a big win 5 and 4 and remains unbeaten while Kirk ‘Special K’ Tuati brought his A game and won at the difficult number 1 position 5 and 4. In the other games, Takunda Moyo was promoted up the order to number 3 and was fighting a close battle, eventually going down on the last hole 1 down. Leigh Bailey seemed to find more bad breaks than good ones and lost 2 down while captain Brett Greenough had a day with the flat stick that is best forgotten and lost 3 and 2. This left Jayson Tekopua’s match at 5 the pivotal game. Jason made the turn 1 down but fought back to hit the lead on the 16th. On the 17th, he made a great bunker save to halve the hole and on 18, after finding trouble with his 2nd shot, hit a brilliant 6 iron to 5 feet and then sank the birdie putt to win 2 up and put the result in Amstel’s favour.
It was a great day with some terrific golf being played, and it was really tremendous to see a quite a number of club members out caddying and even more supporting the team, including junior member Kassie Boorer. Special thanks to the bar staff who went above and beyond with the meal service and the pro Shop staff and managers who ensured the day ran like clockwork.
Amstel find themselves 2nd on the ladder with 2 games remaining, equal on points with Sandhurst and undefeated Eastern (who have had a bye.) The club heads to Yarrambat next Sunday to play the home team in a must-win game.