A frosty and very chilly start to the final stroke play round of the 2015 Victorian Women’s Country Championship greeted the field as many of the state’s finest women country golfers headed out in pursuit of this year’s Glenelg Cup and Betty Kernot trophies.
At the conclusion of round one, the scene was set for a thrilling finish in the Betty Kernot trophy with a jam packed leaderboard ensuring a host of players had a strong chance of taking home the stroke play honours for this year’s event.
Likewise in the Glenelg Cup, little separated to top positions after round one, setting the scene for both championships to go right down to the wire.
At the conclusion of play, Maffra’s Linda Thomas emerged from the pack to take this year’s Glenelg Cup by the slimmest of margins, a single stroke. Thomas headed out early in the final rounds most difficult conditions. As the temperature gage hovered as low as one degree and the fairways remained icy, Thomas remained cool under pressure firing a final round of 75 nett from a handicap of 26 to go with her opening round of 71 nett to finish with a two round nett total of 146.
The Woodend duo of Cheryl Garner and Loretta Matthews kept Thomas honest finishing in second and third place with two round nett totals of 147 & 148 respectively. Mattthews finished strong with the final rounds best nett score of either field a fine 68 nett from a handicap of 23.
As the leading players made the turn in the Country Championship, the Betty Kernot trophy was still up for grabs with little separating the players within the final groups. Over the final holes, it was round one joint leader Jessica Pickwick (Kilmore) who emerged from the tight leaderboard with a timely birdie at the 13th hole followed by a clutch birdie on the 17th to take her second state title in as many months.
Pickwick claimed the recent Victorian Women’s Par 3 Championship and will now start a warm favourite to take this year’s Country Championship when the knockout match play rounds begin on Thursday morning after her strong finish over the back resulting in a two round total of 152 and more importantly the momentum of finishing top qualifier
In second place was Cobden’s Deborah Rix who shared the first round lead with Pickwick but fell narrowly short of sticking with the Kilmore local for the duration of the stroke play event finishing on 153. Jo Flaherty (Warrnambool) finished in third place on a two round total of 155 with Helen Pascoe (Buninyong) finishing in fourth place on 156 and defending Betty Kernot champion Casey Wild (Wodonga) finishing fifth with a 36 hole total of 157.
Louise Briers (The National), Janelle Brown (Neangar Park) & Georgia Macklan (Yarrawonga) make up the remaining three players of the top eight stroke play qualifiers who will now do battle for this year’s Women’s Country Championship.
Golf Victoria would like to extend sincere thanks to Tocumwal Golf Club for staging this year’s event. The Tocumwal ladies committee, members, volunteers and club and ground staff are to be commended on their superb hospitality.
To view full results of both the Country Championship & Glenelg Cup, click here.