20 Sep 2024 | Amateur golf |
Queensland trio triumph at Gary Player Classic
by Patrick Taylor
Three Queenslanders have finished on top in one of their state's most prestigious junior boys tournaments today, with Dallas Douglas, Chase Oberle, and Taj Egea triumphing in their respective age groups at the Gary Player Classic at Pacific Golf Club.
After finishing runner-up at last year's event, Oberle from Brisbane Golf Club made sure he had two hands on the trophy this time, running away as the winner in the 16-17 category by 11 shots, highlighted by a career-best 9-under-par 63 final round.
"Played pretty well for the first couple of rounds, didn’t play my greatest in the third round," said Oberle. "Managed to have a pretty solid final round though."
Falling just one shot short of the course record at Pacific, Oberle looked as if he might blow it out of the water, playing his front nine in 6-under.
"It was unreal, putter got hot early and a lucky chip-in on seven which always helps. Managed to keep it going on the back-nine but just fell a couple short (of the record)," he said.
Oberle finished at 16-under, with Sanctuary Cove's Alfie Ward runner-up at 5-under.
Wolston Park's Egea took out the 18-20 category by one shot over Virginia Golf Club's Ethan Anderson.
Finishing at 2-over for the week, Egea's highlight was a 4-under 68 in the second round.
"I just tried to not have any blowout holes, I was trying to keep it in play because it's the sort of course that you can have a few difficult pins," said Egea.
The 15 & under category saw another substantial winning margin, with Douglas from Charters Towers managing 15-over for his week, six shots ahead of joint runners-up Jarvis Millar and Thai Ngo.
"My game was really solid this week," said Douglas. "I felt like the course was in really good condition.
"I made it a bit hard on myself, but in the end I held on and got the job done."
All three players thanked their parents after the win, acknowledging they couldn't have done it without their support (and packed lunches!).
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