ASH Whitehouse has started the Murray Darling Golf Association Open season with victory in the Merbein Open.
Rounds of 72 and 71 saw the decorated golfer claim back-to-back titles at “Royal Merbein” and give him an early jump in the recently installed Order of Merit award.
Whitehouse, who avoided the rainy weather that greeted him 12 months ago, finished four strokes ahead of defending Red Cliffs Open winner Daryl Morgan (147), with Matt Bottomley (152) rounding out the podium.
In the women’s competition, Lee Bottomley put in a superb performance to score 169 over 36 holes, 12 shots ahead of Salli Fox and Carolyn Croke who both finished on 181.
Cooper Mitchel impressed in the junior title to finish with 152 off the stick, followed by Joel Doherty (155) and James Clay (168).
Mathias Moisidis (168) and Luke Stafford (195) were the scratch winners in B Grade and C Grade respectively.
The MDGA Order of Merit for Men’s, Ladies and Juniors 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.
Open events continue this week 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 13-14.
