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Naturally, non-one knows who will win the 2016 Isuzu Queensland Open, and can confidently predict the winning score. But one apparent certainty is that a new course record at The Brisbane Golf Club will be set during the October tournament.
Queensland professional Ryan Haller currently holds the course record of 65, set in September of 2009 during the club’s annual Pro Am event. But because of recent renovations to the course, including the redesign of some holes, that record is now obsolete.
And TBGC Club Captain, Stephen Deane, said the new low mark will almost certainly be set during the Isuzu Queensland Open from October 20-23.
“I would be very surprised, given good conditions, if someone doesn’t shoot in the low 60s on one of the first two morning of the tournament,” he predicted. “With players hell bent on making the cut, they will be keen to take on the course and shoot something really low. I doubt they will smash the record mind you, but before the wind gets up on Thursday or Friday morning I think 63 or 64 is possible."
Renovations to the new home of the Queensland Open for the next three years were completed in October last year and TBGC committee decided that the lowest score in the intervening 12-month period would be the new record.
“We didn’t want to be changing the honour board every time someone shot a low score from the championship tees, so we agreed that that the best score over a 12-month period would be our new record,” Mr Deane said.
The best score to date has been 69, returned by club champion Cameron Powell in the first round of the club championships last month (May). Apart from adding Champion greens to the course, recent renovations have included the re-design of the eighth and 15th holes, minor changes to the fifth hole and reconstructed and re-shaped 14th and 16th greens.
“The course is not massively different, but it has changed enough we believe to make the former record obsolete,” Mr Deane said.
Ryan Haller has no qualms about that decision and says he will be doing his very best to regain the record.
“I was a member at Brisbane for almost a decade and really like the course. And personally, I’m glad the Open has gone back there,” he said. Currently working as a teaching pro at Royal Queensland while the Australasian Tour is in recess, Haller said his game was in good shape.
“And who knows, if everything comes together on the day I just might be able to get that record again,” he said.
The Brisbane Golf Club hosted the first Queensland Open in 1925 and has staged the tournament 18 times since, the last in 1991. Stuart Appleby won the tournament that year.