NSW still on top at Interstate Series

BY Anthony Powter | Australian Mens Amateur Tour | 2008 Australian Interstate Teams Matches | Round Three | 03 Sep 2008

The Australian interstate men’s teams series moves into the fourth day with defending champions and current leaders NSW to face off Victoria tomorrow in what will be the critical match determiner for the series.

With three wins from three starts, NSW enjoys a half match lead over Victoria, after the Victorians squared its opening match with South Australia, 5½ to 5½.

South Australia is in third position with two matches, followed by Western Australia on one, Tasmania on a half and Queensland is yet to win a contest this series.

Leighton Lyle, the younger brother of Nationwide Tour player Jarrod, has been the standout performer in the series for the Victorian team. Playing number three, Lyle has won all three of his individual matches including a 2&1 win over Western Australia’s Jason Scrivener in the second round. Lyle has also won two of his three foursome matches paired with Tom Prowse at number two.

Supporting Lyle is Josh Younger who is Victoria’s number two player and on Tuesday disposed of Australian Amateur runner-up, Michael Foster, 7&5 in their second round encounter.

New South Wales have won the Interstate Series title for the last three years and were pushed to the wire during today’s third round by Western Australia, which they narrowly won 6 matches to 5. A highlight in this series to date was Matt Jager’s convincing 5&4 victory over seasoned amateur and 2007 British Amateur runner-up, Tim Stewart.

NSW have retained the same foursome pairing order this week but will undoubtedly review their top-order paring of Scott Arnold and Rohan Blizard, after Matt Jager and Jason Scrivener demolished the pair 7&6 in this morning’s match.

The individual seeding of Tim Stewart, Rohan Blizard and Scott Arnold for NSW has delivered mixed results with Stewart winning two from three matches, including a solid 2&1 win on Tuesday over Queensland’s Ray Beaufils, however, Blizard is yet to win a individual match from his two starts, after losing to Tasmania’s Ryan McCarthy 3&2 on Monday and to Michael Foster from Western Australia this afternoon 3&2. Scott Arnold at number three has played solid to win two of his three single matches.

US Amateur Qualifier Matthew Giles continues to play well for NSW and has paired successfully with fellow team mate from The Australian Golf Club, Paul Blake, in their foursome matches to remain undefeated in the series. It would be interesting to see if NSW team manager Stuart Cox moves Giles up the order in the singles bracket in tomorrow’s encounter against Victoria, after Giles disposed of Western Australia’s Scott Hunter 6&4 this afternoon.

Another impressive performer in the series has been South Australia’s Jordan Sherratt, who is yet to lose a singles match and has accounted so far in the series for Victoria’s Matt Griffin, 1-up, and Queensland’s Ray Beaufils, 3&2.

If the Victorian team is able to dispose of NSW in tomorrow’s encounter it will arguably set them for the series win as they will met the winless Queensland team in their final match on Friday.

The Victorians last won the series in 2003 and is a team packed with talent. It’s particularly strong in their middle order with Lyle at number three, Daniel Beckmann playing number seven and Tom Prowse at number four, all of whom are currently undefeated in the series.

NSW in contrast have struggled with some of its top order singles matches, having mixed their order each of the three days. The team’s foursome parings have worked well winning nine from twelve matches with successful combinations of Raseta/Stewart, Scott/Smith and Giles/Blake all undefeated, however, the top pairing of Blizard/Arnold are yet to win a match.

Grant Scott and Matthew Raseta are both having a stellar series, winning all their matches both in singles and in foursomes and will continue to be a pivotal links for the NSW team, along with Brendan Smith who has played with Scott as the number two pairing in a successful foursome team.

The consistency with the NSW’s top singles rubbers compared to the Victorians is where the difference currently stands and if the defending champions are to win tomorrow, they’ll clearly have to improve in this area.

A loss tomorrow will see them in an very difficult “must win” final match against the strong South Australian team on Friday. A position the NSW team obviously wants to avoid, especially if South Australia defeats Western Australia in their match tomorrow.

Victoria on the other hand will face Queensland in their final match, which given the form Queensland has shown in the series, the Victorians should win.