Australian Men's Interstate Teams Matches
The first match was played between New South Wales and Victoria at The Australian Golf Club on the afternoon of 1 September 1904, the day before the inaugural Australian Open started on the same course. Eight 18-hole singles matches were played. All matches were played out over the full 18 holes. Dan Soutar and Jim Howden halved the top match but New South Wales won 5 of the remaining 7 matches, winning by 11 holes to 6. The first tournament was arranged in 1905 at Royal Melbourne, two days before the Australian Open there. It was hoped that Tasmania would enter but they were unable to raise a team. Victoria and South Australia were drawn in the morning semi-final, the winner meeting New South Wales in the final in the afternoon. There were teams of 6, playing singles. Victoria won the semi-final 6–0 and went on to beat New South Wales 4–1 with one match halved. Victoria won by 7 holes to 1. In 1906 at Royal Sydney only New South Wales and Victoria competed, the match being played the day after the final of the Australian Amateur. Victoria won 3–2 with one match halved, winning by 13 holes to 4. Three players each from Tasmania and Queensland played a match against a team of Royal Sydney members. The two finalists in the Australian Amateur, Ernest Gill, from Queensland, and Tasmanian Clyde Pearce both lost their matches. Four teams contested the 1907 tournament at Royal Melbourne. The two semi-finals were very one-sided with Victoria winning all six matches against Tasmania and New South Wales only losing one match against South Australia, Bill Gunson beating Neptune Christoe. Victoria won the final 4–2, while Tasmania won a consolation match against South Australia. Only three teams entered at The Australian in 1908, South Australia getting a bye to the final. Victoria beat New South Wales 4–2 and went on to beat South Australia 6–0 in the final. Both Australian Amateur finalists, Clyde Pearce and Neptune Christoe, representing New South Wales, lost their matches against Victoria. Tasmania was able to raise a team in 1909 when the championship meeting returned to Royal Melbourne. In the morning semi-finals Victoria beat South Australia 6–0 while Tasmania beat New South Wales 5–1. Victoria beat Tasmania 4–2 in the final despite Clyde Pearce beating Michael Scott and his brother, Bruce, beating Jim Howden in the top two matches. From 1910 the format was revised with teams of seven, the result being decided solely by the number of matches won. Extra holes were played to ensure a result in each match. In 1910 the championship meeting was held in Adelaide for the first time with the interstate tournament being played after the amateur championship. There were only a limited number of New South Wales players at the meeting and, with some having already left for home, they were unable to raise a team. Tasmania were also unable to field a side so there were only two teams, Victoria and South Australia, Victoria were without the amateur champion Michael Scott but still won 5–2. There were also only two teams at Royal Sydney in 1911, New South Wales beating Victoria 6–1, their first tournament win since 1904. Jim Howden beat Eric Apperly by one hole in the top match but Victoria lost all the remaining matches. There were four teams when the event returned to Royal Melbourne in 1912. Victoria and New South Wales were drawn together in the semi-finals. Victoria won 4–3, winning two of their matches after extra holes. They went on to win the final against Tasmania, losing just one match. Tasmania had beaten South Australia 5–2 earlier in the day. The 1913 championship meeting was originally planned to be played at The Australian, but was moved to Royal Melbourne because of a smallpox outbreak and the poor condition of the course, caused by wet weather. There were less players from outside Victoria and only two teams, Victoria and South Australia, could raise a team. Victoria won by 6 matches to 1.
The format for the event was maintained between 1920 and 1939, as it continued to played as part of the championship meeting. New South Wales and Victoria had a team each year. South Australia generally entered a team, although missing sometimes when it was held in Sydney. Queensland first entered a team in 1925 and occasionally entered afterwards when the event was in Sydney. The number of team was never more than four in this period, meaning that the event was always completed in a single day with semi-finals in the morning and the final in the afternoon. In 1924, Tasmania beat a weak New South Wales team, before losing to Victoria in the final. The 1926 event was in Adelaide and South Australia won a close semi-final against New South Wales before losing to Victoria. South Australia beat Victoria in 1932, again at Royal Adelaide, but lost to New South Wales in the final. South Australia won for the first time in 1935 at Royal Adelaide. They had a bye to the final and beat New South Wales 4–3 in a close contest. Queensland beat South Australia in 1937, their first win, but lost to New South Wales in the final. South Australia won again in 1938, when the meeting returning to Adelaide, beating both Victoria and New South Wales. In 1939, at Royal Melbourne, Western Australia entered a team for the first time and beat South Australia before losing to New South Wales in the final. Five team entered when the event resumed at Royal Sydney in 1946. This meant that the tournament was extended to a second day for the first time, Queensland beating Victoria on the first day. Queensland then beat South Australia and New South Wales to win the tournament for the first time. There was a major change to the event for 1947. The event changed from a knock-out to a round-robin tournament with all six states playing each other, although there were still seven 18-hole singles matches in each contest between two states. There were five rounds of matches played over three days. It was played before the Australian Amateur, on the same course. New South Wales seemed the likely winner in 1947, after winning their first four matches. However they lost 5–2 to South Australia in their final match. Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia all won four of their five contests but Victoria won the event, having won 27 of their 35 individual matches, compared to the 23 won by the other two teams. Victoria retained the title in 1948, winning all their five matches with. New South Wales winning four. In 1949 New South Wales won for the first time since 1937. They reversed the result of the previous year, winning all their matches, beating Victoria on the final day, who also won their other four matches. New South Wales retained the title in 1950, despite losing a close match to Victoria. Both New South Wales and Victoria won four matches but New South Wales had won 24 of the individual matches while Victoria had only won 23. New South Wales won again in 1951 winning all their matches. Victoria and Tasmania won three matches each, Victoria winning 21 individual matches to the 18 won by Tasmania. New South Wales won for the fourth successive year in 1952 winning all their matches. Victoria and Queensland each won three matches but Victoria won 21 individual matches to the 19 won by Queensland. The Western Australian Golf Association
presented a perpetual trophy to commemorate the first event held in the state. Victoria won from 1953 to 1955. In 1953 they beat New South Wales in the final match. Victoria won four matches while New South Wales and Queensland won three each. New South Wales won 22 individual matches to Queensland's 21. There was a small change in the format in 1954 when extra holes were dropped, matches being halved. The change was not popular and extra holes returned in 1955. Victoria won again in 1954 despite losing heavily to New South Wales on the final day. New South Wales were runner-up with three wins and a tied match against Tasmania. Queensland hosted for the first time in 1955 and finished runner-up behind Victoria, who won all their matches. New South Wales won each year from 1956 to 1960, winning 24 of their 25 matches. Their only loss was to Western Australia in 1959. Although beaten by New South Wales each year in this period, Victoria won all their other matches and finished runner-up each time. They tied with New South Wales with four wins each in 1959 but New South Wales won with 24 individual wins to Victoria's 21. In 1961 Victoria regained the title, beating New South Wales for the first time since 1955. they won all their matches and did so again in 1963. 1962 saw the first tie in the event with New South Wales and South Australia both having four wins and winning 22 individual matches. New South Wales beat South Australia but had earlier lost to Western Australia. The teams were level at the start of the final set of matches, both teams winning their matches 5–2. New South Wales won in 1964 and 1965, winning all their matches both times. There was another tie in 1966 when Queensland and Victoria finished level with four wins and 21 individual match wins. Queensland beat New South Wales 4–3 in the final set of matches while Victoria beat South Australia 5–2. New South Wales won in 1967, despite losing their last match 5–2 to Victoria. Victoria had earlier lost to Western Australia, finishing with 22 individual wins to the 24 of New South Wales. In 1968 the event was held in Tasmania for the first time and the hosts won all their matches to win the title for the first time. New South Wales won in 1969 and 1970, being undefeated in both years. Western Australia won for the first time in 1971, with Tasmania runners-up, the first time that neither New South Wales or Victoria had been in the top two. New South Wales had further wins in 1972 and 1973 but Tasmania won for a second time when the event return to Tasmania in 1974. There was another home winner in 1975 when South Australia had their first outright win since 1938. New South Wales continued to be the most successful state but after 1973 they wouldn't beat all the other five teams again until 1996. Tasmania won in 1977, their first success outside their home state, while Queensland won on 1979, their first outright win since 1948. From 1979, extra holes were dropped, matches level after 18 holes being halved. Victoria won in 1982, their first outright win since 1963, while South Australia won in 1983. Foursomes matches were added in 1984. There were 4 foursomes matches in the morning with 7 singles in the afternoon, extending the event to 5 days. Western Australia won for the second time in 1984, finishing level with New South Wales with four wins out of five but with half a point more. They won again in 1988, after the final round of matches were abandoned because of rain. Between 1985 and 1996 the event was won by New South Wales 7 times and Victoria 4 times. Western Australia had further wins in 1997 and 1999 while Queensland won in 2001, 2004 and 2010. The format was changed in 2011. The foursomes matches were dropped from the round-robin stage. There were 7 singles matches, meaning that two contests could be played each day. After the round-robin the top two teams played a final. In 2011 the final consisted of 4 foursomes and 8 singles. Queensland beat Victoria in the final, although Victoria had led the round-robin stage. In 2012 the foursomes were dropped completely, the final being just 8 singles matches. Northern Territory joined in 2015, increasing the number of rounds to seven, one team having a bye in each round. In 2017 New South Wales won all their round-robinmatches but lost to Victoria in the final. In 2018 the final between Victoria and Queensland was tied, Victoria winning the event as they had led the round-robin stage. Victoria won five times in six years from 2014 to 2019. From 1947 to 1983 each team match consisted of 7 singles matches, so that each team played a total of 35 individual matches. From 1984 to 2010 there were an additional 4 foursomes matches, increasing the number of individual matches to 55. In 1988 and 1992 one set of matches was not played because of rain, so that each team only played 4 other teams, with the number of individual matches reduced to 44. In 2001, two sets of foursomes matches were not played, reducing the number of individual matches to 47. In 2008, one set of foursomes matches was not played, reducing the number of individual matches to 51. In 2011 the foursomes were dropped, returning to the format used before 1984. However, a final was introduced between the leading two teams in the round-robin, to decide the winner of the event. Northern Territory joined in 2015, increasing the number of matches played by each team to 6, and individual matches to 42. Source: The following are those who played in at least one of the matches. Northern Territory first competed in 2015. Queensland first competed in 1925 and played again in 1928, 1931, 1936, 1937 and 1938. They played in all events from 1946. Tasmania first entered in 1907 and competed a number of times up to 1930, generally when the it was held in Melbourne. After 1930 they didn't enter a team again until 1947. Western Australia first competed in 1939 and played in all subequent events.
History
The Australian Men's Interstate Teams Matches were an amateur team golf competition for men between the states and territories of Australia. The event started in 1904 when New South Wales played Victoria. Until World War II the event was played as part of the championship meeting which included the Australian Amateur. It was not until 1947 that all six states, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, and Western Australia, contested the event together. Northern Territory first played in 2015 increasing the number of teams to seven. The final format was a round-robin tournament, each team playing the other six teams, after which the top two teams play a final. Each team consisted of eight players. Seven competed in each round-robin match with all eight playing in the final. Only singles matches were played.