Sport
8 October, 2024
Russell Anderson is 2024 golf champ
A thrilling battle for club championship honours was fought out between two former club champions in Garry McKenzie and Russell Anderson.
The 2024 Gilgandra Golf Club championships sponsored by Lummo’s Auto Repairs reached the pointy end of proceedings last weekend with a tense final 36 holes determining the winners for this year.
A thrilling battle for club championship honours was fought out between two former club champions in Garry McKenzie and Russell Anderson with Russell eventually able to pull away over the final 18 holes to claim his first club A-grade champion title since 2020 with a winning margin of five shots.
Garry held a one a shot lead after 36 holes before Russell was able to sneak one shot ahead with 18 holes to play and was then able to stretch his lead to five over the closing round to secure the win with a 72-hole scratch total of 292.
Garry claimed second place on 297 with dual defending champion Ike Morris rounding out the top three on 304.
B-grade saw another two golfers separate themselves from the chasing pack with defending champion Jarryd Eason and Nick Wright engaging in an enthralling, seesawing duel to determine the winner.
Jarryd jumped out of the blocks to hold the lead after the first 18 holes before Nick bounced back to sneak into top spot at the 36-hole halfway mark.
The pivotal third round saw Jarryd regain the lead with 18 holes to go courtesy of Nick fighting a losing battle with the out-of-bounds fence numerous times in a frustrating afternoon.
Jarryd looked on track to defend his title over the closing 18 holes until coming unstuck on the dangerous 13th hole that saw Nick regain the advantage which he was then able to maintain over the closing few holes to secure his maiden championship victory by the slim margin of two shots.
Nick’s 72-hole scratch total was 321 from Jarryd on 323 while the smiling assassin himself Stan Doyle claimed a distant third place on 333.
Unlike the previous two grades, C-grade turned out to be a one-horse race with Mark Barwick enjoying a comfortable wire to wire win that saw his competitors unable to match his consistency over the four rounds.
Mark’s wining scratch score of 342 was more than enough to secure a comfortable championship from daylight in second place. Geoff Lummis was the runner-up on 365.
Up and coming juniors Aiden Hinchcliffe and Dylan Wright show signs of a bright golfing future filling the next two places on 441 and 483 respectively.
Mark also claimed both the veterans title and China plate for the lowest nett score over 72 holes with a winning nett score of 270 while also sharing the putting champion title with Russell Anderson after both golfers finished with 98 putts over the four rounds.
It was pleasing to see a couple of junior golfers in Aiden Hinchcliffe and Dylan Wright stick it out for the gruelling 72 holes with Aiden on 441 snaring the champion junior title from Dylan on 483.
Saturday’s event for Todd Meyers secretary’s trophy saw Aiden Hinchcliffe claim the win defeating Jarryd Eason in a countback after both golfers returned scores of nett 66.
Golfers good enough to be awarded balls for their efforts were Russell Anderson on 67, Mark Barwick and Mick Wilson on 68, Lyle Horwood on 69 and Ian Ferguson on 70 after a countback with Geoff Lummis.
Nearest-the-pin winners were Ike Morris 2nd/11th, Bob Dwyer 4th/13th with Geoff Lummis scoring top place on the highlight reel finishing as close as possible to the pin on the 7th hole with his second career hole-in-one, congratulations Geoff.
Sunday (September 29) saw all golfers keen to claim president Mick Wilson’s trophy and this desire was reflected in the quality of scores returned.
As with the previous day young Aiden Hinchcliffe rose to the top of the leaderboard with an improved score of nett 63 to win by two shots from the not so young Andy Harris on 65.
Nick Wright, Ian Ferguson and Mark Barwick won the final balls on offer grouped together on 66 highlighting the quality of golf on display during the final round while nearest-the-pin balls went to Russell Anderson on 2nd/11th, Garry McKenzie 4th/13th and Bob Dwyer 7th/16th.
Thank you to the various sponsors and golfers who made for a successful 2024 club championship and congratulations to all golfers who played well to come away with a win.
Our veteran golfers ventured onto a cool, wind-swept links last Thursday (September 26) and the best of them was Andy Harris whose score of nett 33 not only earned him a win but hopefully also a long overdue handicap reduction.
Rob Hay snared second place on 36 while also having the least number of putts along the way with 11.
Soon to be hole-in-one maker Geoff Lummis rounded out the top three on 37 ½ while the average ball was won by James L’Homme
