seniors
NATIONAL
Australian Seniors enjoy Australia’s
best courses
Denis Dale
[email protected]
T
he most recent of the sixteen
tournaments that make up the
Australian Senior Ranking System
calendar were The National Masters and
the NSW Senior Classic. In keeping with the
growth of senior amateur golf across the
nation these two events were played on
some of the very best courses in the country.
The National Masters is played at the same
time as the US Masters and on courses that
would rival the legendary Augusta layout. The
tournament is played across all three courses
that make up the 54-hole golfing complex
at The National Golf Club on the Victorian
Mornington Peninsula. All three are rated
inside Australia’s Top 30 courses with The
Moonah Course ranked 8, the Ocean Course
10 and the beautiful Old Course ranked 30.
In keeping with the Masters tradition
the winner receives a green jacket and the
worthy winner this year was Victorian Barry
Tippett. In a very consistent display Tippett
handled the demanding courses and some
inclement weather to record successive
scores of 75 on each of the three courses. His
54-hole total of 225 gave him a two stroke
margin over West Australian Ian McPherson
(76-77-74) and another Victorian Gordon
Claney (76-77-74).
This was Tippett’s first win in an Australian
Senior Ranking event and he must now be
closer to selection in an Australian Senior
representative team. Tippett has also won
several recent events on the Victorian Senior
Order of Merit calendar and is very much the
Australian senior golfer of the moment.
The next event was the 2014 NSW Senior
Classic over 54 holes on three of Australia’s
top rated venues. The Lakes Golf Club is rated
number 14 in Australia and was the venue
for the 2011 and 2012 Australian Opens. The
Australian Golf Club (rated 15) has recently
been redesigned by Jack Nicklaus and will host
the 2014 Australian Open while the beautiful
tree-lined Avondale (66) is considered by many
as the best on Sydney’s north shore.
In a dominant display the clear winner
was NSW senior Paul Maslen with rounds
of 77 (The Lakes), 71 (The Australian) and
73 (Avondale). Maslen had the second best
score on the opening day and was alone
with the best score on both following days to
record a 9-stroke winning margin.
Tom Yates from Bexley Gold Club in Sydney
had shared the round one lead with Paul
Day (Kooindah Waters) after the opening
round at The Lakes with scores of 75. At the
end of play they played off for The Lakes
Senior Medal with victory going to Yates.
Both of these players are over age 65 and
demonstrated that age is not a barrier to
good golf and success on the Australian
senior amateur circuit.
Day two was The Australian Golf Club and
the course was presented in magnificent
condition. The recent changes have given
the historic course a new lease of life and it
will certainly be a wonderful venue for the
Australian Open later this year. It is very likely
that some of the world’s best professionals
would take the one under par round recorded
by Paul Maslen. This was an outstanding score
on a world-class golf course and saw Maslen
easily win The Australian Senior Medal and
also move him into the overall lead with a
four-stroke margin.
The final day was at Avondale Golf Club and
the field of over 100 senior golfers enjoyed
another great day of golf on a great golf
course. Paul Maslen continued his high quality
golf and again had the best score of the day
– a one-over-par 73. He was a worthy winner
2014 The Lakes Medal - Paul Day and Tom Yates
2014 NSW Senior Classic - Mick Asami,
Roy Vandersluis, Paul Maslen, Greg Smith
of both the Avondale Senior Medal and the
overall tr