The 2016 edition of the Mazda Victorian Four-Ball Championship got underway this morning at the first of the eight city qualifying events at Commonwealth GC. Steamy conditions greeted the full capacity field of 100 competitors made up of 31 men’s pairs, 9 women’s pairs & 10 mixed pairs.
The Mazda Victorian Four-Ball Championship began in 1996, in response to a desire to create more state level events for club golfers, regardless of their geographic location, age or handicap level. The Championship culminates with a 36-hole final in late March for 100 pairs made up of the men’s, women’s & mixed winners of the 8 city & 15 country qualifying events. This year, the final will be held at Sorrento & The National GC’s on Monday 21 & Tuesday 22 March.
Today’s mixed event saw the husband & wife duo of George & Denise Paolucci (Southern) & (Riversdale) claim top honours by four strokes with a brilliant score of 46 points. In second place was Shaun Menner (Woddlands) & Judy Hooper (Rossdale), who recorded 42 points to finish runner-up on a countback from the local Commonwealth duo of Judy & John Bull.
In the women’s event, the Huntingdale combination of Margaret Curry & Maria Clarke emerged victorious with a solid score of 41 stableford points. Latrobe’s Ruth Buckstein & Rosalie Flynn finished runner-up in the women’s event with a score of 38 points with The National’s Suzanne Cripps & Elizabeth Poort finishing third with 37 points.
The men’s event saw a tight finish, with three pairs locked together on 46 stableford points at the conclusion of play. The Flinders pair of Dean Burrows & Paul West finished the strongest of the three pairs over the closing stretch to win the men’s event by the narrowest of margins, Heidelberg’s Carmine Masci & Paul Giannelis secured the runner-up position with Andrew Jeffreys & Marcus Lane (Southern) finishing in third place.
The next qualifying round will be held at Sanctuary Lakes GC on Thursday 14 January, followed by Spring Valley GC on Friday 15 January. Entries are still open for the Sanctuary Lakes event within all three categories whilst six positions are still available within the field for the Spring Valley event.
Please note: Pairs may compete in more than one country qualifying event.
Click here for further information & full results of today’s event along with the results of the first country event at Wangaratta GC which took place on Sunday 10 January.