She’s been close before, but Kim Burke finally broke through for a memorable claim to fame today at the Australian Women’s Senior Championship in South Australia today.
Burke, of Shelley Beach Golf Club on the New South Wales Central Coast, rallied to become medallist on a countback from overnight leader Sue Wooster and dual champion Jacqui Morgan.
Kim fired the equal best round of the day, alongside Victorian Lynne Brown, with their three-over 77s two of just three rounds to break 80 on an otherwise tough day for scoring at Sandy Creek in the beautiful Barossa Valley.
It left Burke, 58, to carry top seed into the start of match play tomorrow, with Morgan (78) and Wooster (81) second and third respectively on countback.
By no means was it a shock for Burke to have landed this mini milestone given she has already won the NT, Queensland and Victorian senior titles this year.
In her fourth year at national seniors level, she already has been runner-up once and lost twice in the semi-finals overall, but it didn’t stop Burke from feeling a few nerves today.
“I was nervous at the start and was three over early in my round, but a birdie on the ninth steadied the ship and gave me some momentum into the back nine,” said Burke, who opened yesterday with a 78 that left her T3 overnight.
“I thought the course played a little easier today with some gettable pins and less wind.
“I’m thrilled to be the medallist … it’s an unbelievable achievement.”
But, with so many previous winners and in-form golfers who’ve also qualified to match play, Burke was by no means getting carried away.
“There is still a lot of golf to play and all the qualifiers are very good players.”
Her efforts today, along with Morgan (78) and legendary seven-time champ Sylvia Donohoe (83) enabled New South Wales to rally past Victoria to pip the team of Wooster, Brown and Helen Pascoe by a single stroke to win the interstate team event.
The top 16 into the match play phase are: Burke, Morgan, Wooster, Brown, Pascoe, Jane Wall, Robyn Puckett, Robyn Boniface, Brigit Holford, Sharon Dawson, Donohoe, Jill Morgan, Tammy Hall, Alex Belonogoff, Debbie McCallum and Shirley Van Der Brugghen.