A field of more than 90 from throughout the region and beyond contested the event held in decidedly warm and blustery conditions. 

At the end of 18 holes, just after 4pm, there were four players tied with gross scores of 78 – Doherty, Brad Allan, Peter Simpson and Geoff Proctor. 

After the first three holes of the required playoff, Doherty and Allan were even par and Simpson and Geoff Proctor were one and two shots respectively off the pace. 

In the following hole-by-hole sudden death playoff, Doherty and Allan both took a par for the first hole of the playoff.

Doherty followed this with a par on the next to Allan’s bogie to claim the open title.  It was a worthy end to a great day of golf at Taree. 

In the associated net competitions, Ray Webber took the day in A-grade with a score of 73 on a countback from Geoff Proctor (73).

B-grade winner was Michael O’Keefe (69) two shots ahead of Gary Woolcock who needed a countback on 71 for second place.  John Grills from Tamworth won the C-grade competition with a score of 71 and Allan Gillard was second on 72 by virtue of a countback. 

The women’s competition was won by Jo Stinson whose 71 was three shots clear of Topsy Yeark (74) in second place.

Nearest-to-the-pins went to Max Russell at the 12th; Holly Innes at the 14th and Alex Gourlay at the 16th. Long drives on the 18th hole were won by Judy Fuller, Mark Farrow, Darren Bithrey and Alex Gourlay.

One particular feature of the open this year was the availability to all golfers good enough to hit a hole-in-one on the first hole a Mazda 3 valued close to $25,000 courtesy of Nick Brooks and his team at Manning Valley Automotive. 

The weather conditions won the day however and the view from the first green during the event showed only six or seven golfers good enough to hit the green in the blustery wind.

There were much more who had to take a penalty after engaging too closely with the lateral water hazard to the right of the green and the out of bounds fence to the left and rear of the green.  

An unfair chronicler might be tempted to report three golfers recorded more tee shots OB than were recorded hitting the green … and staying there. 

The club and the major event sponsors, CRT – Taree and Wingham Produce, were delighted with the interest excited by the availability of the hole-in-one prize. (More golf page 19).