Rising Illawarra talent Eddie Ward has made it through to the Eric Apperly Shield with his Sydney club St Michael's.
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Ward dropped his match-up against David Howard 4-and-3, but St Michael's overpowered ACT-Monaro 4-2 overall to march on to the decider on Sudnay.
Bradley Wills, playing for Concord Golf Club, was unlucky to lose his match on the 19th hole.
Wills team eventually went down in a playoff after finishing three matches all with Pymble.
Ward - who was named the inaugural Travis Smyth scholarship holder in March - will head into the Shield final with plenty of experience beside him, with his father, Jason, will be acting as his caddy in the final.
Ward Snr was a member of the team from Port Kembla which won the Eric Apperly Shield for Port Kembla Golf Club back in 1994.
The final of the Eric Apperly Shield gets underway at 10.30am at Riverside Oaks Golf Resort.
Bishop claims Worrigee crown
Brett Bishop is the Worrigee Links club champion for 2019. The event was shortened to 36 holes after the round scheduled for August 10th was cancelled due to the extreme winds.
Bishop shot rounds of 72 and 73 for 145 to win by six shots from Troy Monie with rounds of 77 and 74 for 151.
Lloyd Pigram took out the A grade net on a countback from Robert Kelly after both finished on 141 nett.
Drago Stich prevailed in B grade with rounds of 88 and 82. Stich's 170 total was good enough for a two-shot margin over Phil Nicolaides.
Smyth out to snap up another title
Shelharbour professional Travis Smyth has hit form before his shot at reclaiming the Northern Territory PGA this week.
Smyth shot four sub-par rounds of 71, 66, 66 and 69 to finish tied 16th in the Sarawak Championship in Malaysia.
On his way to Darwin, Palmerston Golf Club is a happy hunting ground for Smyth, having won as an amateur in 2017, a victory which kick-started his professional career.
Fellow Illawarra players Lincoln Tighe and Jordan Widdicombe will also be in the field this week.
Smyth had finished third at the Sanctuary Cove Professional Shoot-out on the Gold Coast last month, a format where 19 players compete in a knock-out format, which was won by Nick O'Hern.
In May, Smyth gained another foothold in America, by qualifying for the Evans Scholars Invitational starting at Chicago, part of the Korn Ferry Tour - formerly web.com - the second tier to the US PGA Tour.
Upcoming events
The Illawarra Open Series resumes with The Highlands Open on Saturday 24th, and The Grange Open this Sunday.
Worrigee Links will hold their Open on Saturday August 31st.
Darcy Boyd (Stonecutters Ridge GC) 700 pts currently leads the open series from Thomas Holz (Links Shell Cove) on 495 points.
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