WHEN Kelvin Cooke put his playoff hole tee shot at the Bathurst Golf Club Men’s Foursomes Championship into the water he thought his winning chances had been shot down.
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However, thanks to a superb approach from teammate Bradley Cooke the pair were able to secure the A grade championship over Adam Hodges and Glenn Gardiner.
The two teams came into the playoff after finishing all square at 121 through 27 holes of golf, extending what had already been a busy weekend of play even further.
It’s the first victory in the tournament for the Cookes.
Kel Cooke said it was surprising to come away with the win.
“We went in there just to have a bit of fun. It was a bit of a shock because we didn’t know how competitive our score would be at the end of the day,” he said.
“Brad and I play pretty similar – quite erratic. We scrambled through the day and it was pretty tough. We had a couple of double bogeys on the short holes.”
Cooke wasn’t surprised to see who his playoff opposition was.
“I knew Adam Hodges had been playing really well and that’s who we played in the playoff,” he said.
“We didn’t really have any expectations going in but it was great to win it.
“The conditions were pretty tough out there and you could see some high scores throughout the grades.”
Foursomes can be a format which can test relationships, as you have to rely on your teammate’s previous stroke, but the winning duo made it through the weekend unscathed.
“I think Brad carried me throughout most of the day. He drove really well all day and we both didn’t miss too many putts, which was good.”
John Young and Ben Hobbs just missed out on joining the playoff action, finishing two back in third overall on 123 strokes.
The pair still took away a great consolation prize with the handicap winners award (111), one stroke clear of Hodges and Gardiner.
B grade was taken out by Norm Matheson and David Rogers in another close contest.
The winning pair finished on 126 strokes, which included an equal best 37 for the nine hole portion of the competition.
That overall score was just one clear of Brian Walsh and David Rogers.
Handicap winners for B grade were John Rogers and Kenneth Welch.
The most comfortable win across all division went to the C grade pairing of Nick Winterton and Shannon Ryan.
Four strokes separated the winning duo, on 141, from Paul Barne and Bernard Woldhuis.
Sam Macpherson and Jason Walsh finished in third on 146 strokes but didn’t leave empty handed as they came away with the grade’s handicap honours.
