Manilla's Richard Bright watches this approach shot at the Walcha Open. 030313BSF39
IT was wet but they managed to slog it out at Walcha Golf Club on Sunday when the annual Walcha Open Fourball was contested and won by the father and son combination of Vic Coulter and Tim Stackman.
They carded a minus two to win the scratch event by two holes from Tim Beaumont and Andrew Brennan (-4).
The nett event was won by Woolbrook’s Andrew Crawford and Anthony Uren with a +8. Walcha’s Steph Sweeney and Simeon Cross were second with a +6.
84 players contested the annual Open with Tim Stackman’s success in the scratch leading in to his final round of the Walcha Golf Club’s A Grade Championship.
He leads the A Grade club championship and will make it championship number 10 if he can win.
Front nine winners at Walcha in Sunday’s Open were Andrew Robinson and Bill Heazlett (+7) while Col Berry and Warwick Hogan won the back nine with +4.
Nearest the pins went to Warwick Hogan (3rd), Darren Henderson (9th) and Roger Jamieson (18th).
Long drives were won by Neil Cullen (A Grade), Angus Monie (B Grade) and Walcha club president Allan Green (C grade).
Meanwhile, Geoff Ogilvy’s Augusta dreams are closer to reality after the Australian surged back into the world top 50 with a runner-up finish at the US PGA Tour’s Honda Classic.
Ogilvy completed an early season form reversal when he birdied two of his last three holes, including a brilliant chip in on the 16th, to shoot a closing one-under-par 69 and finish two strokes behind American first-time winner Michael Thompson (69).
Having missed the cut at his previous four starts with some dismal putting, Ogilvy said he pretended he was starting the season afresh at PGA National in Florida and it worked a treat.
While he couldn’t quite end a three-year drought by winning an eighth US tour title, the 2006 US Open champion had plenty to celebrate – apart from his $US648,000 in second place prizemoney.
The result lifts his world ranking from No.79 to No.46, getting him into this week’s field at the rich World Golf Championships tournament at the Doral resort in Florida – an event he won in 2008.
“I didn’t think that was possible to get in next week, I thought I had to win, so that’s a bonus,” Ogilvy said.
He needs to still be inside the top 50 at the end of the month to get into the year’s first major, the Masters at Augusta National next month.
Ogilvy made 13 straight pars in his final round then a bogey at the 14th before his strong finish which left him two shots clear of third-placed rookie Luke Guthrie (73).
“I played nicely and it gets me back in the mix for the Masters,” Ogilvy said.
“Obviously I would have loved to have won here and sealed that but at least I’ve gone in the right direction, made a decent jump in the world rankings.
“I saw this week as a fresh start as it was kind of going pear-shaped on the west coast so I viewed it as this is my first week of the year, let’s just kind of start again.
“It wasn’t any fun missing the (WGC) match play and it wouldn’t have been any fun missing next week, both are tournaments that I’ve played well in before.
“If I can play well next week hopefully I can make more of a move up and get back to Augusta.”
