McFarlane celebrates victory at Women's Country

Bundaberg’s Kate McFarlane has won the 2019 Queensland Women’s Country Championship over defending champion Sheree Hasson (Mackay).

Bundaberg Golf Club and Bargara Golf Club played host to this year’s championship from 13–15 May with both courses presented in immaculate conditions.

This year’s numbers exceeded expectations with a capacity field of 352 ladies competing in the singles event and 174 pairs contesting the Foursomes with players from 55 clubs making the trip from as far north as Cairns, to south as Murwillumbah. The week of golf started with the Foursomes Championship on Monday, concluding with the individual Championships on alternating courses on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Bargara hosted Divisions 1 and 2 on Tuesday with defending champion Sheree Hasson establishing a two shot buffer after returning an opening one-over-par 74 round. One half of the recently crowned Qld Women’s Foursomes champion team, Jo Malone (Bribie Island) was positioned nicely in second positition, with 13-year-old local McFarlane a further shot back.

A commendable 86 from Gladstone member Youlanda Taylor saw her atop the Division 2 leaderboard after the first round, but with the second round to be held at Bundaberg, the local knowledge of the chasing pack would still prove to be important.

Over at Bundaberg, perennial contender Halina Beale (Gladstone) signed for 37 points and a single point lead in Division 3, with event stalwart Jennifer Barrett (Half Moon Bay) leading Division 4 after a sensational 40 points.

McFarlane got off to a great start in her second round at Bundaberg and despite a few nervy bogeys early on the back nine, eventually claimed a nail-biting one shot victory at the 2019 Queensland Women's Country championship. Hasson, with rounds of 74-79, finished with a 36-hole total of 152. Maroochy River’s Kimberley Crawley finished in third but may look back at this year as the one that got away, with a succession of drop shots, after opening with a birdie, putting the pressure on McFarlane.

Helen Fraser’s (Headland) three shot improvement from her first round was enough to claim Division 2 with scores of 92-89, followed by Lindel Forsyth (Maroochy River) with 94-89.

As scattered showers plagued the players at Bargara, it was Hazel Coombs (Yeppoon) who handled the conditions best after a second round score of 39 points coupled with an opening 34 at Bundaberg saw her claim the Division 3 title. Beale’s combined 71 points was enough to finish runner up, with Joy Plowright (Gladstone) emerging from the pack with a 42 point final round to finish in third place.

It was contrasting fortunes for the top two Division 4 contenders. Juliet Hall stormed home with 40 points to pip overnight leader Barrett by a solitary point. Consistency paid off for Lyndal Krupa as a pair of 35 points saw her finish in third place.

Foursomes

City Golf Club duo Margaret Richards and Megan Dimond won the Foursomes event at Bundaberg with a round of 84, defeating reigning State Foursomes Champions, Malone and Tam Reid (Peregian) by two shots.

Avid Women’s Country attendees Jeanette Skuja and Sandra Reibel signed for a 97 at Bargara to win Division 2A, on countback from Wendy O’Hare (Cooroy) and Jenny Dewar (Surfers Paradise), who only met 30 minutes before teaming up.

Golf Australia would like to extend a sincere thanks to host courses Bundaberg Golf Club and Bargara Golf Club for staging this year’s event. Each club’s administration, bar staff and ground staff are to be commended on their superb hospitality. Special mention to both clubs’ ladies committees and volunteers who put in countless hours of work to coordinate the smooth running of another successful Women’s Country Championship.

In 2020, the Women's Country Championships will head south to Bribie Island and Caboolture Golf Clubs.

Full results available here: https://bit.ly/2Xyu4ov