Last Saturday four men who once played top grade hockey contested the Bathurst Golf Club's annual Jimmy Johnson Trophy matchplay final and in the end it was Kel Cooke and Beau Fitzpatrick who sealed victory on the 18^th hole over Wayne Wright and Mark Gunning.

"It was a bit of a shock, but it was good fun. It was nice to win, there is a pretty good history with the event and it's good because all the players are in the one grade," Cooke said.

"Because it is handicapped it gives everyone a chance."

While Cooke has previously found success in major competitions such as the Foursomes Championships and Leeholme Cup, this year was the first time he had managed to win the Jimmy Johnson.

"I'd played in it a couple of times with Josh Toole, but we'd only ever made it to the second or third round," he said.

"Obviously because it's handicap-based it can be a bit random, there's a lot of luck involved. It's just sort of who goes better than they normally do on the day."

Cooke and Fitzpatrick play golf together on a regular basis and decided to unite for this year. They sprung a number of upsets on their path to the decider.

They eliminated fourth seeds Pieter Bunning and Justin Hadley in round two then fifth seeds Chris and Hugh McIntyre in the quarter-finals.

Their semi-final against Rob Shannon and Dave Mansfield was a close contest, with Fitzpatrick and Cooke sealing victory on the 18th hole.

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That was August, the COVID-19 lockdown regional New South Wales then putting the final on hold. Both teams were eager to get on the course when restrictions eased.

"We couldn't play in a group of four because of lockdown, so the final was a long time in coming," Cooke said.

"Wrighty and I were sort of ringing each other every week or two to try and organise it and keeping an eye on all the restrictions."

While Cooke plays off a handicap of four and Fitzpatrick is a 12 marker, both had their moments in the decider.

"We won a couple of holes each and it was the same for Gunno and Wrighty, everyone contributed some good holes and some shocking holes," Cooke said.

"It came down to the final hole. It was all square after 16 holes and we won the 17th and then we tied the last hole to hold on."

As for who won the banter battle, Cooke conceded Wright probably took that honour.

"There was plenty of banter, especially from Wrighty. I haven't played with him too much but I always see him up there, we are always sledging each other no matter what we're doing, whether it's hockey or golf, we never take things too seriously," he said.

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