Golf is ready, set and good to GO! across NSW this weekend, with the NSW Country Championship and Metropolitan Master Pennant Finals set to be run and won.
After months of lockdown due to COVID-19, the time-honoured NSW Country Championship will be one of the first sporting events in the State to be held and the first tournament of several on the Golf NSW calendar for the remainder of the year.
A field of 120 will descend on Forbes Golf Club in the State’s west on Saturday for the 36-hole championship, with the final round on Sunday morning. The winner of the NSW Country Championship is guaranteed a start in the 2022 Golf Challenge NSW Open next March.
Several of the State’s best regional golfers will be eyeing the main prize, including the defending Champion Jordan Ayre, NSW Representatives Jye Pickin and Harry Bolton, and Josh Fuller from the Hunter Valley.
The Honour Roll of past winners of the NSW Country Championship includes some of the great names of NSW and Australian Golf, including Dimi Papadatos, Dylan Perry, and Canberra’s Josh Armstrong who made a splash in just his third event as a professional earlier this year, taking out the $50,000 Murray Regional Open at Corowa.
Other names on the trophy include Bruce Devlin, Nathan Green, Paul Sheehan, Scott Gardiner, Lucas Parsons, and 17-time Japanese Tour winner Brendan Jones.
Also reaching its finale on Sunday is the Metropolitan Master Pennant, being held at Riverside Oaks Golf Resort.
With the competition all but completed in early June, and the extended COVID lockdown forcing the abandonment of several events, Golf NSW decided to complete the inter-club competition, especially with it at such an advanced stage.
Warringah and Springwood will kick off Sunday’s contests in the Division Four Final, while Camden plays The Coast in Division Three. Castle Hill and Cromer will meet in the Division Two final while Kogarah and Liverpool will battle it out for the major prize in Divisions One.
Also back on the calendar later in November are the Men’s and Women’s NSW Sand Greens Championships to be held at Nyngan Golf Club on the 21st and 22nd November (men), and Coolamon Golf Club on the 27th and 28th November (Women).
The NSW Regional Open Series, a series of six $50,000 events and a key lead-up to the 2022 Golf Challenge NSW Open, will also get underway at the end of the month.
The opening event of the Regional Open Series, the Murray Open, will be held at Murray Downs Golf and Country Club, getting underway on November 24th.
Tournament Two on the schedule will be held at Dubbo Golf Club beginning November 28th.
Olivia Wilson, Golf NSW Tournaments Manager, said she was pleased to see the return of some sense of normality to the State’s championship calendar.
“With the 90% vaccination mark within reach, we are thrilled to be resuming our tournament schedule this weekend.
“By ensuring events like the Country Championships go ahead, we are bringing some much-needed activity to several regional communities struck by COVID-19.”
