Q Golf - Official online magazine for Golf Queensland Summer 2016 | Page 6

Davidson claims Dunes Medal
Karis Davidson (Sanctuary Cove CC) has taken out the
2016 Dunes Medal, played at The Dunes Golf
Links course.
Heading into the final 18 holes, the contest was open
with a number of players still in contention. Davidson
entered the final round with a one shot lead over New
South Wales’ Elizabeth Elmassian after rounds
of 73-72-79.
Davidson managed to real off an excellent finish of
eagle, birdie, birdie to fend off Elmassian by a single
stroke, with Victoria’s Stephanie Bunque a further seven
shots back in third.
Junior Rihanna Lewis displayed a notable performance
producing rounds of 78-79-79-77 to finish T7 with
Queenslander Gennai Goodwin.
In the men’s section, overnight leader and
Queenslander Shae Wools-Cobb was unable to maintain
his one shot advantage over Western Australia’s Haydn
Barron, both succumbing to the course on the final day.
Wools-Cobb produced a closing +1 (73) for a two shot
deficit to Victoria’s Frazer Droop.

Karis Davidson, pictured with Frazer Droop

Louis’ rise, anything but uniform
By Mark Hayes
A father and daughter approached Louis Dobbelaar
after he won the New Zealand Amateur Championship.
The young Queenslander later estimated she was eight
years of age.
“It was amazing. They were both polite and the dad told
me that she had been really inspired by watching us
play the tournament and that she was so honoured to
meet me,” Dobbelaar said.
“He just said that she would go out and practise what
she’d seen and that was really cool. I’ve never had
that before.”
No. And there’s a fairly good reason why.
Dobbelaar, whose victory at Royal Wellington Golf Club
made him the youngest person to ever have won the NZ
national title, turned 15 on August 31.

Feeling old? Well spare a thought for poor Louis.
“I just don’t even know what I was doing at that age,”
he said in reference to his young Kiwi fan.
“But it wasn’t golf. That’s really cool that she enjoyed it
like that. Very cool.”
They’re the words of someone far older in thought than
the numbers on his birth certificate.
Dobbelaar was asked by eager Kiwi journalists after his
remarkable 2&1 triumph over former professional Peter
Spearman-Burn whether it stood him in good stead for
a return to Royal Wellington next year when the famous
old club becomes the first New Zealand club to host the
Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship.
His response confirmed his impressively perceptive
thoughts on his standing – and the amount of
improvement he believes remains in his game.

If you’re contemplating that date, it’s not quite a year
after Cathy Freeman won gold in Sydney.

6

Q Golf Summer 2016

www.golfqueensland.org.au