December 8, 2023
The amended final pre qualifying event to be held at Wollongong Golf Club today has been called off.
With rain continuing to fall overnight and large swathes of the course unplayable, officials had no choice following a pre-dawn inspection.
If conditions improve, completion of the final qualifying may take place on Tuesday.
Players who wish to withdraw may do so by contacting olivia.wilson@golfnsw.org.au
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UPDATE: Adjusted Tee Times for Tomorrow’s Final Qualifying for the NSW Open can be found by clicking on this link:
AMENDED PRE QUALIFYING TEE TIMES
Due to the extreme weather, changes to tomorrow’s Golf Challenge NSW Open Pre Qualifying at Belmont, Liverpool and Wollongong have been made.
Belmont and Liverpool Golf Clubs will remain closed, and as a result, Pre Qualifying will not be played at these venues.
Wollongong Golf Club at this stage will be open, and subsequently, all players previously allocated to Liverpool will be reassigned tee times from 7:30 am to 1:30 pm, all from the 1st tee.
Players originally allocated a tee time at Wollongong should not assume their tee time will remain the same.
Golf NSW and the PGA are still assessing options for the Belmont field to play at a venue on Tuesday, and will communicate with players when we have further details.
A draw is currently being formulated for Wollongong, however, should a player wish to withdraw and receive a refund, they can do so by 5 pm today.
Please email olivia.wilson@golfNSW.org.au if you wish to withdraw.
The revised draw for Wollongong tomorrow will be available by 6 pm.
Golf NSW and PGA Tour of Australasia appreciate your patience in these exceptional circumstances.
Lynwood Country Club resembles a lake as the Hawksbury River continues to rise, risking land and property near Pitt Town.
With the Warragamba dam now spilling over, several towns are at risk of flooding, including Richmond and Hawksbury.
The NSW Government has warned thousands of residents of western Sydney to be prepared to evacuate.
Natural disaster areas have been declared across the state, and there are currently 16 evacuation centres operating along the Northern NSW coast and through northwest Sydney.
Several centres have recored triple-digit falls in the 24 hours to 9.00am this morning, including:
Taree 128.6mm
Mangrove Mountain 127.2mm
Terrey Hills 112.6mm
Golf NSW has made the difficult decision to cancel tomorrow’s inaugural Golf Challenge Teams Championship at Concord Golf Club.
With no sign of the tempest currently hammering the eastern seaboard easing, officials were left with no option but to put the event on ice.
General Manager of Golf and Tournament Director, Graeme Phillipson said the decision was inevitable in the current circumstances.
“Even though there would have been three days before the start of the NSW Open, we felt it best to ensure the course would still be at it’s best.
“The hard working green staff will be facing an enormous challenge as it is over the next few days, and we felt it appropriate to ensure the integrity of the course and championship is maintained.”
A decision on re-staging a the challenge for the lucky 18 winning teams will be made at a later date.
Several clubs along the northern NSW Coastline have become evacuation centres as a deepening low-pressure system continues to hammer the eastern seaboard of New South Wales.
WIngham Golf Club has become an evacuation centre, with the town noe completely cut of by floodwaters. People are urged to avoid travel in the region.
Further south, clubs have remained closed since Friday. Port Macquarie Golf Club has become an emergency evacuation centre for community residents impacted by rising waters.
Late on Saturday the club put a call out on social media desperate for dry clothes and bedding to support evacuees.
Club Taree, an evacuation centre during the 2019 bushfires, is again being used as an evacuation centre after the Manning river broke its banks.
Nambucca Heads recorded an astonishing 567 mm in the 48 hours to 9 am Saturday, inundating the township and leaving the Nambucca Heads Island Golf Club all but entirely swallowed by the Nambucca River.
Rainfall figures supplied by the bureau of meteorology over the past 48 hours tell the tale with several areas particularly affected.
Courses closer to the Sydney Metropolitan area have fared little better, with many now closed indefinitely.
Marrickville Golf Club recorded one of Sydney’s highest rainfall levels, with over 70mm falling from 9.00 am till 4.00pm Saturday.
