The Vintage’s Liz White has won the Hunter River District Championship played at Cypress Lakes today.
In tough, boggy conditions and slick greens, White battled it out with Hunter Valley’s Tania Hutchins, eventually shooting an 11 over par 83 to defeat Hutchins by two. White also took home the Closed Championship (open to all HRDGA members) for the fourth time.
“Tania and I had a really good battle, after nine holes she had a one shot lead but I just tried to play as solid as I could,” Liz said.
“A couple of pars helped early on the back nine and then I just tried to play as consistently as possible.
“I loved how quick the greens were and given how much rain we have had, I thought the course played really well. It was just a bit tricky in some of the boggy lies, not really knowing how the ball was going to come out.”
In Division Two, Hunter Valley’s Isabel Skeates fired off a 25 over 97 to win by a shot over Pacific Dunes’ Lynda McDougall.
“I was so suprised,” said a shocked Skeates, who also won the Nett championship with an impressive 70.
“I was reasonably happy, I had some shockers but I also had some reasonably good shots too, so it luckily all came together. My drives were good, I normally slice but they were going straight down the middle and chipping, I think I played well with these two strokes.”
For the vanquished, McDougall, she was left to rue an 8 on the first hole making a Championship three peat a dififcult ask.
“Hmm I’ll be thinking about that for a while,” she laughed.
In Division Three, it was a golfing newcomer, Helen Nicola who took home the Stableford event with 37 points, a one shot winner over local Suzie Harrington who took home the Closed Championship.
Nicola is a member of Shortland Waters and took up the game less than a year ago so she could spend more time with her golfing parents.
“It certainly paid off all that time playing with my parents, I could hear Dad in my head all day saying: ‘take the smart shots rather than the tricky ones,” she said.
“It was just great to win on a course I have never played before and I am trying to play on as many courses as I can. I love golf.”
Suzie Harrington from the Vintage was thrilled to be the Division Three Hunter River Closed Champion.
“I had some lucky shots, I was very happy with the result and amazed that I won my division,” she said.
The second day of the championships, The Ladies Foursomes, will be contested at the Vintage Golf Club tomorrow.
HRDGA 2024 Champions From l-r Suzie Harrington, Liz White and Helen Nicola
Hunter Valley’s Divison Two Champion (Open and closed) and Overall Nett Champion Isabel Skeates