The recently opened course at Eastern Golf Club was the site of today’s Mazda Vic Fourball qualifying round, the second last city venue to host the event this year. The Greg Norman designed layout, which was relocated to the beautiful Yarra Valley from its previous home in Doncaster, was highly praised by the players, many of whom were seeing the course for the first time.
With weather warnings being sounded from as early as yesterday afternoon, it was always going to be a wet day on the course. Luckily the heavy clouds dispersed late in the morning which allowed the majority of the field to finish the second half of their rounds without any falling rain.
The best score for the day came from men’s pair Matthew Cutler & Grant Murray of Maffra. The pair combined superbly for a score of 43 points, narrowly securing a spot in the state final over runners- up John Wicks & Enzo Cirone (Yarra Valley). Second and third places were separated by a countback on 42 points, with third place honours being awarded to Stephen Wright (Commonwealth) and Dean Jones (Peninsula-Kingswood).
In the women’s section, Heather Harley & Debbie Gorrin from Kooringal led the way with 35 points. Following closely behind was the two pairs from Mansfield who had to go to a countback to split them, seeing Sue Parsons and her partner Andrea Marsden take second place, having a better last nine holes, than third places Linda Terry and Margie Franke-Williams.
The mixed section was similarly as close, winning and taking a place in the final was Susan Park (Waverley) and Jason Kim (Eastern), with a total of 38 points. Coming in a close second place was Robert Fankauser (Mansfield) and Anne Canty (13th Beach), 3 shots ahead of Michelle Ahern and William Hutchings of Cranbourne with 34 points.
Limited places are still available at the final city qualifying venue at Woodlands GC on February 16, along will all country venues except for Barwon Heads, Trentham and Portsea. This Monday, Barwon Heads will host one of the most sought after events on the four-ball calendar, kicking off a week-long golfing extravaganza on the Bellarine Peninsula in the lead up to the Oates Vic Open.
Click here for full results from today and more information.