2022 Simpson Cup Champions - Kooyonga Golf Club

Kooyonga has won the 2022 Simpson Cup by defeating Royal Adelaide 5.5 matches to 1.5 in the final played recently at Royal Adelaide Golf Club.

The win is the 35th top grade men’s title for Kooyonga defending the title they won last year. Royal Adelaide was gunning for their first Simpson Cup win since 1951, a remarkable 71 years ago. However just by reaching the final today, Royal Adelaide had accomplished a feat which they had not done so since 1965.

Royal Adelaide and Kooyonga never met in the minor rounds due to a washout at The Vines in round five but with Kooyonga only just edging Royal Adelaide into second spot in the minor round table by half a match, expectations were for a very close contest today.

Kooyonga however got off to a fast start edging ahead in some key matches, and never found themselves behind despite some valiant efforts by the Royal Adelaide side.

An early win for number seven Charles Shaw 5&3 set the tone followed by wins for Joe Hodgson 3&2, Will Somerfield 1up and a convincing 5&4 win for Freddie Cassell meant that Kooyonga had got across the line and therefore the remaining three matches were recorded as halves. Team Captain Heath Riches, unbeaten throughout the whole season summed up an emotional win for Kooyonga.

“The boys have had a great, great year. We have got a good mixture of experience, those that have won Simpson Cups before, a couple of college guys that have come back and a couple of younger guys who are figuring out whether they want to go to college overseas. We came into the season knowing that we were going to be competitive, especially after winning last season but it doesn’t always mean that you’re going to win even if you have the best team on paper. To get the win is pretty special.” Riches said.

Kooyonga Team Manager David Fraterman was also elated with the result.

“It was a very successful season for us in the end, finishing top in the minor rounds but had to win the last match to do that. Glenelg took it down to the wire in the Semi-final, we scraped through that one, it was one putt away from losing that. Today was a lot tighter than the scores indicated. We were ahead early and then Royal Adelaide started rebounding but we closed out four matches strongly with Will Somerfield coming back from one down with three to play and holing the winning putt to seal the contest. Very rewarding, we have a very strong team, but they all have to play well on the day. Credit to Royal Adelaide, they really did serve it up to us today, but I guess we just prevailed, more of our day today than theirs”. Fratermen said.