THE sixth and final qualifying event of the Victorian Golf Link Race Series was played at the superb Portsea Golf Club on the Mornington Peninsula.
Heavy rain in the morning prior to tee off did not affect the playability of the course with the sand-based playing surfaces draining well.
The course was presented in great condition and the sun came out for much of the round, however, strong winds were the great challenge of the day and persisted throughout the round.
In the finish we had just one player in the field that beat their handicap and a lot of very close scores requiring count-backs to establish the winners and the distribution of Order of Merit points.
After the countbacks were complete, Irene Day (B-Grade) took the overall win on 38 points to qualify for the State Final in March at Yarra Yarra Golf Club. Damien Cooper was the A-Grade Winner with 32 Points and Scott Brennan won C-Grade with 35 Points.
The seven other players rounding out the top 10 rounds of the day were: Daouda Traore, Dean Jennings, Steve Homans, Russell Plowman, Lachlan Oakley, Anthony Jacobs and Adam Sutherland.
To view full results from the day click here.
The par-three 2nd hole hosted the Golf Buddy Nearest The Pin and Craig Ballinger was victorious with a lovely shot that was 250cm from the hole.
Craig took home the brand new Golf Buddy VS4 GPS device for his approach.
In the Cobra Puma Go Looong Challenge on the 8th hole it was Luke Redpath who took out long drive with his drive to 320m.
In the ladies division it was Anita Blencowe that was the winner hitting her drive of 192m. Ryan Sutherland also hit a fantastic shot on the 16th hole to within 61cms to win the other NTP.
After the six game series in 2014/15 VIC Race to Bonville, it was Adam Sutherland from Kooringal Golf Club who won the VIC Order of Merit.
Adam came home with a solid with 30 points in very hard conditions at the final event. Adam is now the first player to qualify into Team VIC at the National Final at Bonville Golf Resort in May.
You can view the full Order of Merit standings here.
Well done and thank you to all golfers who participated in the qualifying events in VIC. Record fields and quality golf courses have ensured a successful series to date.
We now look forward to the State Final to be played at Yarra Yarra Golf Clubon Monday March 30 2015. It will be there that the State Team will take shape for the National final to be played at the beautiful Bonville Golf Resort.
Finally, make sure you check out all of the pictures from the Portsea GC that can be found on the Golf Link Facebook page.
