THE return of the prestigious Murray Darling Golf Association (MDGA) District Championships will be just the start of a bumper period for competitive golf in the region.
The 36-hole men’s and women’s tournament takes place at Coomealla Golf Club this weekend with the return of competitive sport in Victoria.
Last year’s event was cancelled due to COVID-19 and a lack of competition makes for a different lead-in to this year’s event, but a host of the usual suspects will be well in contention.
Troy Neville heads into the tournament as the most recent men’s champion, while Sue Laird won the most recent ladies’ title.
Greg Rhodes, Ashley Whitehouse, Darryl Morgan, Cameron Stewart and Jacob Slimmon are all expected to be near the front of the pack with Neville, as are Laird, Lee Bottomley and young gun Madeline Jukes.
Rhodes, also the MDGA president, said it was great to have the tournament back.
“It’s one of the premier events in the district and with a lot of clubs also completing their club championships as well, it’s a busy time on the golf courses,” he said.
“It’s fantastic that we can now play competitions on Victorian courses, and that also means in New South Wales we can also have Victorians come back to play.
“Although our district is quite small we have at least six players at a handicap of scratch or better, which is pretty impressive for a small country area.
“Although there hasn’t been a lot of competitive golf of late, any one of those guys would be capable of winning.”
Rhodes said the Coomealla course was in “pristine condition” and ready to accommodate a field the MDGA is hoping could be as many as 180 players.
“The field is good but we’ve still got a few more spots available,” he said.
“Quite a few ladies and men have taken up golf over the past 18 months because it was one of the few things they could do,” he said.
“Hopefully we can see a few of them come out and not only have a try and at their respective club championships, but the district championships as well.
“It’s a busy period coming up, but with COVID we’ve had to rejig the calendar and even had to leave a few things off. We couldn’t play Pennant or the district four-ball event, but hopefully it will be better next year.”
