Club & A-Reserve Championship Report
Round 1
A magnificent sun rise greeted the players for Round 1 of the 2025 Championships. Still conditions gave an expectation of low scoring!!
Numerous works around the course make the course look a bit of a battle ground.
Also, those pesky whales were creating a distraction.
Golf Australia re-handicapping process Golf ID, also came in effect this morning, and unfortunately moved 2 players outside of the parameters for A Grade into B Grade
A strong field of 56, drawn at random, presented at 7.00am to commence the event
Best after Rd 1 was a fantastic +5 by Brendan Whelan and Mark Lee.
Mark also led A Reserve.
Followed by +7 by Cooper Smith, Merv Danne, Conrad Weber and junior Fergus Dawson-Damer
It was great to see the number of the juniors playing in The Championship this year
Round 1 is also 1st Round qualifying for the Match Play Championship
Round 2
As per day 1, day 2 was perfect for golf
49 players presented the starter today
A great +3 by Mark Sheedy was the best of the day, with a lot of the “name” players struggling in double figures.
Notable other good scores were +6 by Noel Flanagan and a +7 by Phil Hogg
Best A-Reserve competitor was Mark Sheedy with his +3.
Notable scores at halfway were:
Cooper Smith (+12), Jack Hickey (+13) and Conrad Weber (+16)
A Reserve = Mark Lee(+14), Chen Zhang (+15) and Mark Sheedy (+16)
Round 3
A strong field of 42 presented at 7.00am again to The Captain at the first tee for the 2nd week of the event.
Scoring for day 3 was better
Best was a fantastic +4 by Wayne Smyth, +5 by Patrick Thornton and +6 by Raymond Macey
Best A-Reserve was Wayne Smyth with his +4
Aggregate scores after Round 3 have a mix of outright and A Reserve in the last group so we played the seeding accordingly
After the game scores were compiled for the final round and the draw undertaken & posted
Last group for Sunday were Mark Lee (+22), Cooper Smith (+23), Mark Sheedy (+24) and Chen Zhang (+25)
A-Reserve leaders were Mark Lee from Mark Sheedy and Chen Zhang
Round 4
Another fantastic day for golf, 4 games in a row???
36 players presented the starter today for the final round (a loss of 20 from the start)
As usual final day nerves and strategies came into play.
Best on day was Cooper Smith with +5, Merv Danne +6 and a good round by Raymond Macey and Wayne Smyth with +9
Best A-Reserve competitor was Tom Perks with his 79.
As usual fellow competitors surrounded the 18th green to great the last group home, and usually, the winner.
What we all could not imagine was history repeating itself
This year Cooper Smith, holding a slender lead into the last skyed one into the dam and up to the drop zone he went.
All watched as Cooper hit onto the green and the ball rolling into the hole for a 3 = WOW
Not a repeat of his 2 last year, but non the less, fantastic (a great 80m slam dunk for a 2)
In the end the 2024 Club Champion was Cooper Smith (+28) with Merv Danne Runner Up (+33)
Mark Lee held on to win the A Reserve Championship (+36) from Phill Hogg (+37).
At the after-game drinks, trophy presentations and speeches, players relaxed over a few cold beverages and discussed the missed opportunities. Both trophies got a hit at the bar this year. How much to fill a trophy with beer??
Good again to see new faces this year who mixed and become known to others over the 4 days.
Tony de Kievit
Captain
