PAST champion Ben Hogan has taken the lead half-way through the 72-hole Riverside Golf Club Championships with scores of 73 and 70.
An opening nine holes of 38 on Saturday was followed up with a one under on the back nine to finish with 73, which had Hogan sit in the equal lead with Jarrod Stokker and Ashley Whitehouse, who opened their campaigns with 73s.
Chris Thomas sat one shot further back with Steve Wilmann (78) and Leigh Fuller (79) the only other golfers to break 80.
Hogan got to four under on Sunday through 13 holes, but a bogey-par-bogey finish saw him sign off with a 70.
Stokker was able to improve by one shot – shooting a par-72 – to sit two shots behind in second with Thomas leapfrogging into third place after another 74 to be five shots behind with two rounds to go.
Whitehouse wasn’t happy with how he finished on Sunday (76) to be in fourth position and six behind the leader.
Saturday could go any way with Hogan having the opportunity to extend his lead, but I expect to see the top four bunch up in the third round and hopefully an exciting finish on Sunday when the final round is played in a seeded group.
Mildura champs
THE men’s club championships at Mildura Golf Resort have become a two-horse race or, should I say, a two Stewart race.
Cameron Stewart was out in front with a 74 off the stick in the opening round on Saturday with brother Andrew close behind in second on 76.
Sitting in equal third, on 79, are Glenn Marr, Gary Fumberger and Maurice Warne and, with two rounds to go, could possibly get close to the leaders but will need to produce some impressive scores to chase down the quality of the Stewart brothers.
The second round will be played on Saturday with the third and final round to conclude the 54-hole championships next Saturday.
Junior success at Murray Downs
A SUCCESSFUL week was had by all when our junior golfers took on the tough Murray Downs layout in their annual 36-hole junior tournament.
The girls came away with the best results with Stephanie Baker taking out the overall scratch prize with scores of 89 and 89.
Emmalee Beggs won the girls’ overall net with rounds of 89 and 75 and it was great to see an improvement of 14 shots overnight.
Edward Parker came second in the boys overall scratch and Joel Finch was second in the boys overall nett.
For the eight junior golfers who made the trip, whether they played as well as they wanted to or not, they were able to take some great experiences away after playing on a tough course that was set up for tournament conditions.
The Sunraysia Academy of Sport juniors will again head away on September 13 for a golf camp at 13th Beach. The event will include PGA and LPGA tour players Marc Leishman, Cameron Smith, Hannah Green, Minji Lee, Lucas Herbert and Su Oh mentoring the youngsters.
Our junior golfers will play in a junior tournament at Torquay on the Sunday before heading home. I’ll have more information regarding this exciting weekend closer to the event.
County Week team full selection
LAST week I announced the 2019 men’s Country Week team on the information that was provided to me which was correct, but not complete.
The team that was announced was Greg Rhodes, Ashley Whitehouse, Tim Walker, Justin McPhee, Mark Hann, Cameron Stewart and Garth Doherty.
Two more golfers have been selected to represent the Murray Darling Golf Association.
Brendan Rowse and Ed Parker will head down, which means the team will comprise nine players who will vie for seven spots each round.
With the event less than five weeks away, the team will be starting to prepare for what is the best chance our district has had to compete at the highest level at Country Week.
MDGA fundraiser
IF you haven’t already booked in for the Murray Darling Golf Association district fundraiser then you need to get on to it soon.
The Texas medley Stableford will be played at the Mildura Golf Resort on September 8 with a 12.30pm shot-gun start.
The cost is $25 per player, which includes a sausage sizzle before the game and nibbles for all golfers after play.
There will be NTPs on all par-threes, longest-drive competitions, tickets after the game for raffles as well as great prizes for those who play well.
So get a team of four together and contact either the Mildura Golf Resort on 5022 8089 or the Sunraysia Golf Range on 5022 9440.
If you have any golf related topics you would like me to look at or have a rule change you would like me to explain you can contact me at mildura@houseofgolf.com.au
