The weather was freezing, but the action was hot and the tension was high as ten teams met in a series of elimination finals at Barossa Valley Golf Club to determine the finalists of the 2026 Public Course Pennants competition.

Two North Adelaide sides will head to the Big Dance next week, with another denied a berth by the smallest of margins.

Division 1
A tight contest was expected with Mawson Lakes, who finished second on the ladder after the minor round and that’s exactly what everyone got.

Results were even through the first four matches, with wins to Frank Kong (3&1) and Barry Smith (5&3) keeping their side well in the hunt. Brett Murphy (2&1) and playing partner, Atila Koca (1up) put two more wins in the bank, but alas they were negated by losses in the final group.

With matches at 4-all, a countback of holes won was needed to separate the teams… and it was Mawson Lakes who prevailed, 12 holes to 11.

A sterling effort by our team nevertheless, given a season with more downs than ups.

Division 2
North Adelaide dominated the minor round and did so again in their semi-final against, Playford Lakes, who finished second in the Northern Division.

The win was as emphatic as it gets, with five wins from the first six matches: John O’Connor (4&3), Damwon Kim (3&2), Mi Park (3&1), Jeong-Ae Choi (7&6!) and Luis Madriz (3&2) all comfortably home with little sign of finals nerves.

Tom Ryke squared his match… but with five wins already on the board, Kelly Kim and Ian George were called in with their matches declared draws.

Next week’s final will bring together the top sides from the Northern and Southern Divisions with Sandy Creek seeing off Regency Park, 4.5 to 3.5.

Division 3
An upset result saw North Adelaide overcome the best-performed side of both Northern and Southern Divisions, Sandy Creek, to reach the final after a countback of holes won.

Robert Berg (2up) and Threetip Wongsala (4&3) posted the first wins, despite Threetip having to concede three strokes to her opponent. The key results however, came with the second last group as Brian Roberts and Peter Adams both recorded valuable 5&4 wins. Despite four losses, the countback on holes won went comfortably North Adelaide’s way, 16-9.

Seacliff saw off Playford Lakes 6-2 in the other semi… meaning the final will be fought out between the top two teams of the Southern Division.

Before we draw the curtain on another season of Public Course Pennants, thanks once again to Alan and Marcia Potts for their incredible efforts behind the scenes to make this competition both fiercely-contested and thoroughly enjoyable .

Thanks also to Helen Silvy, our Match Referee, for keeping her eagle eye on proceedings.

Next week, we return to the Barossa Valley GC for Grand Finals in all three Divisions from 9am next Sunday:

Sandy Creek will meet Mawson Lakes in Division 1.
North Adelaide takes on Sandy Creek in Division 2.
and North Adelaide meets Seacliff in Division 3.

Gallery and caddies will be very welcome, as North Adelaide vies for championship honours in a year of transition.

Good luck to all.