Neville smashes field
THE Murray Darling Golf Association District Championships was played at Coomealla at the weekend, with 61 male and 20 female golfers taking part.
Troy Neville took the lead on day one with a one under par 71 off the stick to be four shots in front of the field and in a commanding position overnight.
I was next best on 75, but one shot further back on 76 was Ashley Whitehouse and Cameron Stewart.
Brendan Rowse and Rhys Keating also shot 76 and had every chance on Sunday to put a good score together.
Keating and Whitehouse teed off in the seeded group on day two and put their best foot forward, both playing the first few holes one under and putting some pressure on.
Neville took it all in his stride and didn’t hit a bad shot parring the first five holes and then birdies on six, seven and eight all by holing good length putts, putting any potential chase to bed.
Or so we thought.
Whitehouse turned the front nine in 39 after fading late with a couple of poor holes.
That all changed though after he made par on the 10th hole.
This was then followed by a chip in birdie on 11, an eagle on 12, birdie on 13, par on 14 and another birdie on 15.
He was five under for the back nine and three under overall.
Neville got to four under the card through the 14th, but made a double bogey on the 15th to be standing on the 16th tee two under and still four shots ahead of Whitehouse.
After giving back three shots in one hole, the tee shot on 16 from Neville would be ultra-important to how the final few holes would play out.
After hitting 3 iron off the tee on many holes prior, Neville made the choice to attack what is close to the hardest tee shot on the course by taking a driver and hit it just short of the green.
Game over.
A late fade from Whitehouse which included an unlucky break in the bunker on 18 saw him finish with 74 on day two to finish second nine shots back.
Pars from Neville coming home on 16, 17 and 18 saw him end the second round with a two under 70 off the stick on day two to finish the weekend on a fantastic three under 141.
This is the first Open that Troy Neville has won and didn’t just win but smashed the field and when under pressure on Sunday started well and improved as time went on.
Hopefully Troy will have some opportunities next year to take on the district’s best more often during Open Season. If his form on the weekend is anything to go by, he may be the person to beat each time he tees it up.
Some final details are being put in for the results of the Men’s Champion of Champions’ event and who will win the Shane Doherty Cup for 2019 in both scratch and handicap sections.
This will be announced in the next couple of days.
Laird too good
The women’s District Championships quickly became a battle of two with Sue Laird shooting 74 on Saturday to lead but only by two shots from Michelle Philp after an opening round of 76.
With Lee Bottomley next best on 83, picking up 9 shots on day two would have been a massive task, especially with the quality of golfers she was chasing.
A great start by Laird on the front nine of day two with eight pars and a birdie to turn one under saw her extend her lead to four shots over Philp.
On any other day Philp’s front nine would’ve been the best of the day with six pars, a birdie and two bogey’s to turn one over.
The pressure must’ve hit hard on the back nine though as pars and birdies changed to pars and bogeys and doubles.
Philp made two bogeys and three pars in the first five holes but faded over the closing four holes to shut down any potential chase.
Laird managed two pars and one birdie on the back nine which saw her finish with 44 to close out the second round with and 80 and enough to win by three shots.
This makes Sue Laird our MDGA District Champion for 2019 and also the Wilma Bowring Champion of Champions winner in the scratch section.
This caps off a great few weeks for Sue who was an important part of our Country Week win playing at No. 1 for our women’s team who won Division 2.
The nett winner of the Champion of Champions’ winning the Wilma Bowring Trophy for 12 months was young Junior Emmallee Beggs with great scores of 76 and 70, for a 146 total.
2019 best juniors
The MDGA Junior Trophy for the best scratch score on the weekend went to Ben Doherty with scores of 85 and 89 for a 174 total with Emmallee Beggs winning the Junior Trophy for the best nett score.
A great result for two junior golfers who have put in a big effort in 2019 in the SAS Academy Golf Program.
At the start of the year TaylorMade Golf came on board as a sponsor of junior golf and offered a dozen TP5 golf balls as a prize at each Open of the year for the lowest score in both scratch and handicap which has been well received by the juniors taking part at each event.
On top of this they have offered a fully custom-fitted TaylorMade Driver for the lowest average score of the year in the nett section.
From this it was decided that the best five scores would be taken from all rounds played in local Open events including the District Championship.
Once this was announced the MDGA was approached by Mildura Locksmiths owner Craig Jukes who requested the opportunity to sponsor the same prize with the same format for the juniors but for the scratch section.
A fantastic and very generous offer which was very quickly accepted giving juniors a second chance to win a custom fitted TaylorMade Driver.
With the MDGA District Championships now finished I can announce the winners of these great prizes.
The winner of the nett section with a fantastic scoring average of 70.2 was Emmallee Beggs with the scratch section being won by Madeline Jukes with a scoring average of 80.
Both Emmallee and Madeline will be given the opportunity to be fitted to a TaylorMade driver from the M5 or M6 range that will suit their game.
Next week will be the last 19th hole for 2019 so if you have any topics you would like me to look at this is your last chance for the year.
If you have any golf-related topics you would like me to look at or have a rule change you would like explained email me at mildura@houseofgolf.com.au.
