REECE Hodson might be favoured to win his third A grade Dunwright Matchplay Championship crown this Sunday, but in order to do so he will have to overcome the experienced Mick Locke.
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The duo not only had to rank in the top eight of the Bathurst Golf Club’s A grade club championship to make the matchplay decider, but overcome some stiff opposition in two rounds of sudden-death golf.
Number eight seed Locke beat club championship winner Ben Cummings in the first round before getting the better of fourth seed Darren Small to earn a shot at one of the club’s major crowns.
“It’s the old stager against the young gun,” Bathurst Golf Club’s general manager Brad Constable said of the final.
“Mick – when you’ve got an old, solid head on your shoulders he’s shown just how far you can go. He faces an uphill battle to beat Reece, but you never know what can happen.
“He’s been a prominent handicap player as long as I can remember and while he’s never won the club championship, he’s been up and about. This would be the highest thing for him if he can win it.”
Hodson, the number two seed, beat Lance Williams and Todd McIntosh on his way to another matchplay final.
“He’s the red hot favourite,” Constable said of Hodson, who is also a three-times A grade club champion.
“If he plays to his ability Mick will be hard pressed to beat him. Reece, he loves this big time stage, he’d be firing on all cylinders for this.”
If Locke is to spring an upset, Constable believes he will need to produce his typically accurate brand of golf and show good touch on the greens.
“Mick is a very steady golfer, he doesn’t miss the middle of the fairway too much," Constable said.
“He’s obviously the shorter hitter of the two, but if he can hit it up the middle of the fairways and knock it onto the greens, you never know.”
In B grade, Norm Matheson will take on Matt Ryan in a contest that Constable feels is too close to call.
Qualifying as the number one seed thanks to winning the B grade club championship, Matheson beat Peter Ward then John Rodgers to reach the final.
Number two seed Ryan joins him in the final thanks to wins over Peter Morgan and Kevin Burke.
“That will be an absolute ripper, it will be a ding-dong battle, you could flip a coin to pick a winner in that one,” Constable said.
“They are both experienced golfers and they’ve got through what was a pretty strong field initially. It should be a great battle.”
In the B1 grade final Sam Cross will take on Danny Ross while David Clews and John Bradshaw will meet in the C grade decider.
“Sam is a bit of an unknown entity to me, he’s a newish member. Danny has been playing very well and he’s been around the traps a few times,” Constable said.
“Clewsy has really taken to golf, he’s loving it. He’s always played periodically over the years, but he’s gotten right into it now. John is another newish member, so he’s also a bit of an unknown quantity.
“The course at the moment is pretty hard and fast and the greens are phenomenal at the moment. I’d say the greens are probably to best I’ve seen them in years to tell you the truth.”