COHUNA Golf have continued their winning start to the new Northern Valley pennant competition, defeating rivals Kerang Golf by 35 shots on Saturday.
Last year’s Northern Districts premiers stamped their authority on the fledgling competition, claiming top spot in a grand final rematch featuring relatively comfortable wins on all three rinks.
Kerang Golf’s Frank Ritchie and his team were the only combination that managed to get their deficit into single figures, as Cohuna Golf’s Rodney Fletcher claimed a nine-shot victory.
Harrison Keely (12 shots) and Jarred Hammond (14 shots) and their teams produced dominant displays to defeat Richard Murray and Dallas Mathers respectively.
Kerang continued their unbeaten start to the season with a hard-fought nine-shot win over Racecourse to move into second spot on the ladder.
Racecourse’s Norm Smith and his combination of Glenn McKissack, Ron Wolfe and Alannah Taylor ensured their team didn’t walk away empty handed, defeating Jason Wilson’s team by nine shots.
That margin wasn’t enough to overcome a nine-shot win by Brian Bowles quartet over Glenn McIntosh and a seven-shot win to Dale Hancock over Mick Holyoak, with Kerang going on to record a 70-61 win and add 10 match points to their season.
Barham recorded their first win of the season by defeating Murray Downs 74 shots to 59.
The closest battle was between Barham’s Glenn Faul and Murray Downs’ John Caldwell, both teams unable to be separated after the 25 ends to finish tied on 20 shots apiece.
There was no such issue on the remaining rinks for Barham, however, with Brody Harker defeating Josh Thornton 29 shots to 19 after claiming 12 shots to one over the last eight ends in a come-from-behind victory, and Brian Mansbridge defeating John Lehmann by five shots.
The result lifted Barham to third on the ladder, with last year’s Murray Valley Playing Area premiers Murray Downs remaining without a win from their opening two games.
