Date: December 07, 2006
Author: Alistair Hogg

Kulacz triumphs at The Dunes

By Alistair Hogg at The Dunes Rick Kulacz has convincingly won the 2006 Dunes Medal by seven strokes ahead of Golf Australia team mates West Australian Michael Foster and Tim Stewart of New South Wales. The 21-year old led at the half-way mark of the tournament and maintained his form throughout the final day as a third round 67 set him up for the win which he claimed by firing a two-under 70 in the fourth. It didn&apost come easy for the West Australian though as he battled hard to maintain his buffer. He dropped three strokes early in the back nine during his final round but recovered beautifully. His tee shot on the par four 11th went well right to end up buried in scrub. However his sublime recovery left him a four metre putt which he duly sunk for an unlikely birdie. Then on the par five 15th Kulacz went right again off the tee. The ball fell in such a position that he couldn&apost see the green from where he was standing, but the 21-year-old somehow found a way to guide the ball down on to the green for another birdie opportunity which he snapped up. From this point it was smooth sailing for Kulacz. A series of pars finishes his round and the tournament as he claimed victory by the significant margin of seven strokes. Michael Foster and Tim Stewart finished equal second to complete a Dunes trifecta for the National Squad. In fact, six of the seven top finishers were National Squad members with Josh Younger, Ray Beaufils and Rohan Blizard all posting strong scores on the final day to move clear of the field. Foster also took out the honour of shooting a tournament best round of 66 on Thursday. The girls also performed strongly with Kate Combes finishing in fourth position, four strokes behind the winner. Kristie Smith was a further ten shots back and was disappointed with her scores of 79 and 77 on the final day. Ebony Heard won the ladies event after holding off a late challenge from Inhong Lim to finish two shots clear. Final scores from The Dunes Medal (mens par 72) -10: Rick Kulacz 69 72 67 70 -3: Michael Foster 70 74 66 75, Tim Stewart 75 73 67 70 -1: Brett Rankin 71 71 72 73 +1: Josh Younger 77 70 73 69 +3: Ray Beaufuls 71 75 70 75, Rohan Blizzard 72 72 74 73, Alex Hamilton 74 72 72 73 +5: Matthew Griffin 71 74 72 75 +6: Richie Gallichan 73 75 72 73 Final scores from The Dunes Medal (ladies par 72) +10: Ebony Heard 76 73 77 72 +13: Inhong Lim 73 81 73 74, Claire Choi 78 81 70 71 +14: Kate Combes 76 78 73 75, Stephanie Brennan 75 79 75 73 +17: Jody Fleming 76 76 75 78, Elisabeth Whitehouse 79 76 74 76 +24: Kristie Smith 76 80 79 77 +31: Michelle Coetzee 73 84 84 78 +33: Courtney Gay 74 82 82 83