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They're two long-time friends who thought they’d give the Bathurst Men’s Foursomes Championship a go and now Todd Buckley and Adam Lavelle have come away winners from the annual tournament.
Buckley’s first attempt at the foursomes competition at the Bathurst Golf Club, and only Lavelle’s second, proved fruitful on Sunday as their net score of 100 from their 27 holes gave them a comfortable victory.
Kelvin and Bradley Cooke came home in second 10.75 adrift.
With foursomes requiring team-mates to alternate shots, both players have to be on their game to take the title.
It clearly didn’t matter that Buckley and Lavelle hadn’t had much experience in the format before.
On the back of a great start, Buckley said it looked like it was going to be a great day on the fairways.
“We started off pretty well and we just kept it going throughout the day. We just fed off one another and combined really well, that was the main thing. The last hole we had a bit of a mishap, but it didn’t matter in the end,” he said.
“That was my first time playing this and that was Adam’s second time. I’ve been a member here since I was 15 and I’ve never played it before now.
“We were pretty relaxed today. We didn’t put too much pressure on ourselves and it turned out really well.”
Lavelle said in a format that can put friendships to the test there was nothing to fear on a day where Buckley and himself had their eye in from the first hole.
“I put Todd in a lot of trouble throughout the day, but he’s still talking to me, so that’s nice. We’ve been friends for 35 years and that won’t be ending today with a win,” he said.
“I was best man at Todd’s wedding and depending on how today went he might not have got the guernsey at mine. He’ll still be best man at mine next year.
“We had seven birdies in the 27 holes which is great because you could go through all those holes without a single birdie. We definitely combined well.
“The 15th we had a double bogey on and then the final hole, the ninth, we double bogeyed as well. It turned out we had done enough to get the job done.”
Buckley and Lavelle were also winners on scratch with 112, once again 10 strokes clear of the Cookes. The B grade champions were John Perfect and Scott McMah with their net total of 100.25, while C grade went to Andrew Short and Graham Simpson on 110.5 net.