ANOTHER year has gone by without a Bathurst golfer hoisting the Bathurst Open trophy, but there were still plenty of high finishes for those playing on their home course over the weekend.

The top Bathurst finish in the 2014 edition of the Bathurst Open belonged to both Phil Campbell and Ben Cummings. 

They finished equal fifth and seven shots behind winner Andrew Campbell of Orange’s Duntryleague Golf Club, who carded a six-over 148 from his two rounds.

Darryl Bourke and Jarryd Bird were the next best for Bathurst as they finished another shot back in equal seventh.

Phil Campbell said a tough Saturday hurt his chances.

“I had a pretty bad first round. I triple bogeyed the third hole and didn’t get off to the best start and it made things quite difficult. The greens were nice and fast, but I was just a bit off,” he said.

“It was tough. You’ve got to really have your A game ready and I didn’t have that.

“Today [Sunday] I hit more fairways, which is a big thing at Bathurst. 

“If you get out of position it makes things very difficult. Greens were hard and fast, so getting up and down was difficult. It was a really good test of golf.”

Campbell’s quest to take out his home competition will have to wait for another year, but he is at least hoping he can enact a little piece of revenge at the Duntryleague and Wentworth Opens.

“I would really like to win it [Bathurst Open]. I’ve gone well for one round but there’s two rounds and I haven’t done both of them well,” he said.

“It’s always good getting all these golfers to come here and play, especially the guys from Orange. I’m going to try to go up to Orange now and reverse things around. 

“It’s good to see Andy winning it because he’s a great player and like I said, it’s great to see those guys come over here and take on our Open.”

There was better news for Bathurst in B and C grade.

Adam Hodges and Brian Walsh each shot identical rounds of 85 and 81 and were forced into a play-off for the B grade title. It was Hodges who took the spoils.

The B grade handicap was taken out by Kelvin Price over Damian Bourke.

Craig Windus will have regretted his triple-digit opening round on Saturday as his Sunday recovery – firing an 89 – left him two strokes shy of fellow Bathurst player Matt Lester, who shot 94 and 93 to win C grade