Forbes has a new golf champion, Peter Dawson, or to his many sporting mates ‘Ecky’.
The win wasn’t a complete shock to the many who followed the last seeded group last Sunday, at times round the 50 mark.
In the end it was a victory for one of Forbes’ finest sporting identities who will cherish the win for a long time.
“I’ve been runner-up a couple of times. It’s usually the Betlands and understandable when it comes to the talents of John and Steve," Peter said on Monday.
“It’s good to win one and see my name in gold.
“I never found any real trouble all day on Sunday except my drive on the 17th into the trees but I was able to get close to the green for a par. It was only then that I realised I was in front,” Peter added.
The win will now see our most current champion tee-up looking for more success with the Country Championships scheduled to be played in Parkes in the next few weeks while the rich Forbes Nissan Classic is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday November 2 and 3.
“I’m hitting ‘em well at present and I hope it continues. There’s plenty coming up,” Peter said.
How did it all come about with the hits and misses over the final 18 holes on Sunday in the 72 hole championship.
Entering Sunday’s play Steve Betland held a slender one shot lead on 220 strokes over his brother John while Peter Dawson was third on 224 with junior Reggie Murray best of the rest on 229.
You could say it all started for Peter on 1st with a chip in birdie two while his playing partners all finished with pars.
Pars were matched to the 4th where Peter dropped his first shot to trail again by four. In an unusual scenario the leading trio all dropped shots at the easy par four 5th before it became ‘game on’.
Peter went to post birdies at the 6th and 7th holes to record one under par 35 for the front none. In contrast Steve also birdie the 7th for 35 while John went wayward on the 7th posting a disastrous eight to finish with 39 for the nine to now be five off the lead. Reggie also scored 39 to be out of contention, 13 behind.
The back nine had plenty of drama with Peter displaying a cool nature from tee to green under championship pressure.
The next three holes changed the picture. Peter birded the 10th a 12th holes with a par in between while Steve had bogies on the 10th and 11th to now only lead by one.
John remained in contention with par figures but was running out of holes to really threaten.
Both Peter and Steve parred the 13th, 14th before drama hit Steve on the 15th where his drive found the fairway trees forcing a chip out and consequence score of seven while Peter posted a par five to now lead by two. Pars on the run home for 34 and overall 69 sealed a two shot victory while Steve had to settled for four over par 40 for a total 75.
Leading scores – Peter Dawson 73, 78, 73, 69 - 293; Steve Betland 73, 74, 73, 75 – 295; John Betland 73, 76, 72, 76 – 297; Reggie Murray 73, 78, 78, 78 – 307; Brad Ashton 77, 75, 83, 73 – 308; Shane Sallaway 80, 77, 76, 75 -308.
A Reserve (handicaps 7-12) champion is Phil Duke with scores of 87, 88, 86, 83 – 344 from Steve Uphill 84, 88, 87, 86 – 345 while B grade (13-19) champion is Paul Kay 87, 86, 86, 91 – 350 from Niel Duncan 85, 86, 92, 88 – 351.
C grade (20 upwards) champion Nick James Morrison 97, 96, 94, 94 – 381, r/u Nathan Roach 93, 98, 97, 94 – 382. Veterans champion Peter Dawson 293, r/u Phil Duke 344. Junior champion Reggie Murray 307, r/u Archie Quirk 388.
Brianna Duncan ‘stole’ the ladies championship on Sunday with a superb round of 78 off the stick to go with earlier rounds of 90, 88, 95 for a 351 total winning by seven from Heather Davidson 84, 92, 91, 91 – 358. In Division 2 it was Sally Perry 94, 102, 107, 107 – 410 victorious from Ann-Maree Gaffney 107, 101, 103, 101 - 412.