Golf’s open season gets underway

OPEN season gets underway for Murray Darling Golf Association this week with the Merbein Open beginning proceedings on Saturday and Sunday.

The first of seven club opens in the district, this weekend also doubles as the first qualifying event for the newly installed MDGA Order of Merit for men’s, ladies and juniors.

The order will add a new layer of intrigue to upcoming opens and consist of a scratch and handicap section, where competitors’ eight best adjusted scores will be averaged to calculate scores for the season.

Last year “Royal Merbein” was hit by heavy rain, however Ash Whitehouse and Lisa Garioch navigated the course to win the respective A grade titles.

While Whitehouse said he hasn’t teed off at Merbein for a while, he said the course is in great condition.

“I’m not sure if I’ve played out there since last year but I have been to have a look a few times and the course is in terrific nick,” he said.

“The club have done a power of work out there and with the new club rooms being opened as well, I think they’re sitting in a really good spot.

“I’m looking forward to getting out there this weekend. Being the first of the opens, you don’t really know who is the player in form yet but you know everyone will be gunning for it.

“Obviously there’s bit of interest in the Opens this year with the introduction of the Order of Merit, which is almost getting back to when they used to have the Sunraysia Matchplay Championships.

“I think the order will also give us a pretty good sense of where players sit for Country Week later in the year too.”

Whitehouse finished last year’s event three strokes clear of Greg Rhodes and Daryl Morgan, while Garioch denied Broken Hill’s Jenny Stephenson a second consecutive Open title.

Open events continue next weekend at Mildura Golf Resort from Friday to Sunday, followed by Coomealla (April 26-27), Robinvale (May 18), Riverside (May 24-25), Red Cliffs (May 31-June 1) and Broken Hill (July 19-20), before the MDGA District Championships on September 13 and 14.