One of the challenges faced with playing an outdoor sport is adapting to ever changing weather conditions, particularly in the home of four seasons in one day, Victoria. The unpredictable nature was highlighted today at the Mazda Victorian Four-Ball Championship qualifying round played at Cranbourne Golf Club.
Weather warnings were sounded early across the state, with imminent weather travelling rapidly across from the North West. Conditions were relatively calm at 7:45am as the round commenced, however this was to be short-lived. At 8:40am play was suspended for half an hour after lightning struck nearby in Brighton and Geelong, which kept the clubhouse coffee machine going at full throttle. In true Melbourne fashion, the lightning clouds appeared to dissolve, weather cleared and birds came out from hiding to produce soggy but calm conditions for players to re-commence play at 9:40am.
Best score for the day came from local women’s pair Gina Smith & Vikki Templeton of Cranbourne. The pair combined perfectly for a score of 48 points, convincingly securing a spot in the state final over runners- up Joan Hegedus & Phillipa Freund and third place pair Dawn Sleightholm & Susan Dawson.
In the mixed, Heidi Haringcaspel & Andrew Haringcaspel from Settlers Run led the section with 43 points. Following closely behind was Pervez Rahman & Yuni Kim of Cranbourne and David Higham & Valerie Higham, runners-up and third place respectively.
Standout pair in the men’s section with the second best overall score of the day was Chris Mansour & Steve McConville. The pair from RACV Cape Schanck and Centenary park finished on 46 points, 2 better than runners-up Riversdale members Aidan White & Peter Damyon. A 3-way countback on 43 points was needed for third place with Colin Hill (Rosebud) and Peter McBeth’s (Devilbend) strong back 9 securing them the prize.
Places are still available at Eastern GC next Friday, along will all country venues except for Barwon Heads, Trentham and Portsea. This Sunday, the four-ball touring crew will make their way up to Horsham Golf Club where hopefully one (or more) players will be zooming home in a brand new Mazda 2!
Click here for full results from today and more information.