ANOTHER strong field of golfers assembled at the magnificent Kooyonga Golf Club as the third qualifying round in the 2014/15 SA Race series got under way.
As expected, the course was in fantastic condition and certainly a highlight of the SA series so far. Despite the cool and breezy conditions, there were also plenty of scoring highlights with a dozen players breaking handicap on the day.
Prevailing on the day was Heather Anderson, whose score of 41 points, saw her win the day and become the first female event winner for Race Series 2014/15. A great effort and congratulations to Heather! For the win, Heather took home the brand new Cobra Puma stand bag, the Race winner’s medal and also gains free entry into the SA state final to be held at the Glenelg Golf Club in March 2015.
Members of the Flagstaff Hill GC obviously took a liking to the Kooyonga layout, with the top four players, after countbacks, all hailing from the same club. Included in those four was our B grade winner Matthew Richardson with 39 points who won a count back from Mark Foley. The A grade winner on the day was Craig Bartholomew with a score of 37 points on a countback from Craig McKnight. Full results for the day can be found by clicking here.
With the wind picking up as the day progressed, getting in early proved key for the Cobra Puma Go Looong Challenge. In what was his first shot of the day, it was Hugh Daw’s drive of 230m on the 10th hole that held up all day to take out the men’s division. This is Hugh’s second win on the trot after he also took out the long drive in round 2 at Links Lady Bay. The ladies division was taken out by another second time winner, with Sarah Russell’s modest drive (by her standards) of 149m holding up as the longest on the day.
The third SA instalment of the Golf Buddy nearest to pin saw plenty of pencil being used with the leader changing no less than 8 times on the day. The eventual winner was Race regular Daniel Burrows who takes home the new VS4 GPS device for his approach to 215cm on the par three 7th hole. The days’ other nearest to pin on the par three 14th hole was taken out Matthew Richardson whose approach to inside a metre saw him add to his daily prize winnings.
There is now just 1 qualifying round remaining before we crown our SA Order of Merit champion, and the competition is certainly pretty hot. A third solid performance by Owen Davies has seen him jump to a handy lead, however there are still up to 10 players who can mathematically win with a good final round result. Click here to see the full Order or Merit standings.
All of the day’s photos can be found on the Golf Link Facebook page.
The fourth and final SA qualifying event will be held at last year’s state final host course, The Grange - East Course on Friday the 13th February 2015 and can be booked by clicking here. With another of the country’s top courses lined up for the final qualifying round, we are expecting another big field, so make sure you book early and don’t miss out!
