Vics home in #IntSeries nailbiter

Victoria won her third title in the Interstate Series in dramatic style at the Tasmania Golf Club today.

The Vics and arch rival New South Wales played each other for a tense 4-4 tie, but a deep-dive countback made the trophy return to Melbourne.

New South Wales had entered the day with a seemingly comfortable lead over the round-robin ladder and a reserved final berth, with Victoria first having to go to Tasmania to even get a chance to defend his crown.

But with the focus on that match, eventually won 4.5-2.5 by Victoria after another tight struggle, the turning point "off Broadway" happened.

Western Australia tensed its muscles and crushed a relaxed NSW squadron of 5.5-1.5 – the exact score that the Blues and Vics would leave behind, tied to both matches and individual wins, the first two decision makers of the final ladder position .

According to Interstate Series rules, the next determining factor is how many games were won by players at the number 1 position in each team through the round-robin games, and that fell Victoria's way 3-2.5.

So due to those miniscule margins, the Interstate Series was finally decided.

A thousand different permutations during the week could have resulted in an NSW victory with the final 4-4 score, but that didn't matter to the Victorians who celebrated on the 18th green when a brave James Conran gave the last hole to Darcy Brereton, of whom 2-up win earned the crucial fourth point for the defending champions.

"We understand that it is not a conventional way to win, but we have come on top of it, and that is all that matters," said Victorian captain Blake Collyer.

"Although it is a different looking team to the previous two years, we are very happy to be there three times in a row for the state.

"We all carried the cargo in different phases during the week and we got up when it counted the most on a long and cold last day.

"Tasmania and New South Wales have pushed both of us hard, but we have not broken."

Collyer and the undefeated Kyle Michel were the cornerstones of Victoria & # 39; s title run, but Brereton, a red-hot Andre Lautee and again-growing Matias Sanchez all delivered important points in the final.

The final seemed to be led north of the Murray when Jye Pickin and Lucas Higgins greeted in the first two races on course.

Promising Harrison Crowe continued his unbeaten week when he gave NSW another run in the third game, a tight game against Lukas Michel.

Lautee and Kyle Michel folded Victoria closer, the latest in a quality game against Australian Amateur runner-up Nathan Barbieri.

In the anchor competition, the joint NSW pilot Blake Windred set a performance for the ages in defeating Collyer 6 & 5, in a competition with a number of long-drilled holes in a sparkling iron game

Windred said he felt "as if I was at Playstation" while driving to six to 13 holes to bring his team to the brink of victory.

But Sanchez metaphorically high against towering Josh Armstrong to win on the 17th green and then ran just in time for the final hole to plug Conran & # 39; s ball into the greenside bunker – a cruel blow when the young Blue 17th had won, had late momentum and had to win the last to give his state the win.

Brereton threw his second to 1.5m and then watched as Conran first played a quality shot around the contours of the green and left a long par-putt behind, which he then slipped out when he broke late.

When Conran couldn't make the bogey putt, he took off his hat and reached out to Brereton in concession mode.

A quick shake later and the Vics were back in party mode for the fifth time in six years.

In addition to Kyle Michel and Harrison Crowe, Tasmanian veteran Craig Hancock also received a medal for his performance to go unbeaten during the week.