Joondalup Country Club won its third Division 1 Men’s Pennants title in four years after digging deep to beat Mount Lawley in a high-quality final.

Played in testing conditions at Wanneroo Golf Club, intermittent rain and blustery winds added an element of unpredictability to the day’s play, while the 36-hole match play format also taxed each player’s physical and mental reserves.

Having beaten Mount Lawley in the final round-robin match last weekend, Joondalup started as favourite and was in a strong position at the halfway stage of the final itself. Mount Lawley, however, refused to buckle and at the 27-hole mark the match was too close to call.

Despite big wins for Joondalup’s George Barclay (10&8) and Lachie Hall (8&7), Ken Gao (6&5) put a point on the board for Mount Lawley with a dominant display of his own, leaving the title hinging on tight matches between Rory McKinney and Mason Whitehead, Tom Botica and Michael Montgomery, and Tom Addy and Shaun Malone.

In the end, all three of the matches went the distance, but it was McKinney’s grit, allied with a further point for 15-year-old Joondalup team-mate Nate Johnson, that played the crucial role in determining the outcome.

McKinney had held a three-hole advantage over Mason Whitehead with a few holes remaining, but the Mount Lawley man fought back tigerishly to take the match to the 18th, where McKinney held firm to post a vital 1up win.

Johnson, meanwhile – the youngest player in the Joondalup team – recorded a fine 4&3 win over Christian Nicholls to give his team an unassailable lead.

With Botica and Montgomery, Addy and Malone halving their entertaining tussles, Joondalup ultimately prevailed 5-2 in a match closer than the scoreline perhaps suggests.

Having missed out on a ‘three-peat’ in 2023, Joondalup’s win is the club’s fifth in the competition’s history, with their first coming in 2009. No team has won as many Division 1 Men’s Pennants titles since the turn of the millennium.

Joondalup captain Drew Dubberlin hailed the success of his charges, saying: “Even though we beat Mount Lawley last week, you can never take anything for granted in golf. After 27 holes I was starting to fear the worst but I’m really pleased with how the team responded. It’s great to get another flag.”

Team No.1 Tom Addy enjoyed a memorable season for Joondalup, winning six and halving one of his seven matches. It could be his last pennants’ club campaign should his ambitions to win a tour card be realised later this year, and Addy was delighted to have contributed meaningfully to his team’s success.

“It’s always an aim to go through the season undefeated, so I’m pretty happy with that,” he told GolfWA. “I love being part of this team and it’s so good to see the boys happy and to win the flag again.”

GolfWA Men’s Pennants final results

Division 1: Joondalup 5 – 2 Mount Lawley Division 2: The Vines 4.5 – 2.5 Hartfield Division 3: Nedlands 4 – 3 Sun City Division 4: Hartfield 5 – 2 Joondalup Division 5: Lake Karrinyup 4 – 2 Kwinana Division 6 North: Chequers 3.5 – 2.5 The Vines Division 6 South: Bunbury 4 – 2 Mosman Park Division 7: The Vines 1 4 – 2 Kwinana 2 Division 8: The Vines 2.5 – Hartfield 2.5 (match to be completed at later date)