Main Image: (l-r)  Rob Caldwell (Crowe Horwath), President YGCC Tony Moran, Tim Small (Crowe Horwath) Matt Millar winner, Steve Jeffress r/up and Mark McGregor (Crowe Horwath). Images: Contributed

Matt Millar teeing it up

Cold weather welcomed a record field with 66 pro’s contesting for the $28,000 on offer and over 120 amateurs chasing the two day Stableford competition. Saturday saw touring Pro Steve Jeffress straight out of the blocks shooting 7 under 65 to be the club house leader from Matt Millar 67, Steve has played in a British Open and has recently won the Fiji Open and when speaking with him about our club he said that he could believe how good our course was being a public course and he can’t wait to return. The Sunday saw a close battle with the leaders with Steve Jeffress maintaining a 2 shot lead through the afternoon until the 12th where he made bogie then turned around  with 2 consecutive  birdies putting him back in front,  he then made bogie on 17th to go into 2nd place. Thanks to a live scoring golf app called “Golf Genius” allowing players to check how they are going from hole to hole with the scores displaying for the members in the club to eagerly watch, Matt Millar realised he needed 3 birdies in the last 4 holes to put him in front and seeing this he proceeded to birdie his last 4 holes shooting a equal course record 64 hits giving him his 5th consecutive win and the 2017 Crowe Horwath Pro-Am champion. In the Amateur ranks John Gilbert from Queensland was the Saturday winner with 40 points from Bruce Lulham 39, Michael Shirlow was 3rd with 38, Shayne Morris 4th 38 Les Scanlon 5th 38, Col Lindsay 6th 37, Jason Van Vilet 7th 36, John Hogan 8th 36, Chris Durrington 9th 36 and 10th place went to Jason Lavender with 36pts. NTP’s: Andrew Harris on the 3rd at 650cm, the 9th was John Gilbert 107, the 10th went to Andrew Kelly 46cm, the 12th was Jan Dampney 103cm and the 17th went to David Brown 324cm. Longest drives were Professional Tim Hart who hit a monster past the dam on 8, in the amateurs Adam Gemmell and Shayne Walker were the winners. Sunday’s winners were Jason Lavender from Riverlake with a great score of 44pts, 2nd went to Chris Parkinson 42pts, 3rd Mike Bailey 39 on a count back from John Ralph and Karen Van Vilet, Don Maling was 6th with 37pts from Phil McDougall and Barry Bartley, Shane Walker was 9th with 36pts on a count back from Reilly Wunderlich 36. NTP’s Garry Shaw on the 3rd at 242cm, the 9th was Ivan Mihalic 75cm, the 10th was Les Scanlon 207cm, the 12th Greg Hosking 145cm and the 17th went to Col Lindsay 69cm. Longest drives were; Jessica Cowie for the professionals, Rohan Ford and Kym Eckersley for the amateurs. It the Duncan’s Carpet Cleaning shoot out Troy Mosses knocked it to 85cm to win $1000 from the sponsors and in the armatures Matt Sahlqvist reluctantly took his shot and won another $500. Congratulations to all winners and a huge thanks to all our sponsors without whom this event would not exist. Chris Durrington