Led by an inspirational, two-day performance from Mudgee’s Mark Hale, Central West District Golf Association claimed their first Golf NSW Country Championship teams title since 2004 last weekend, doing so in emphatic fashion.
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Individually Hale had six under across the two days to finish fourth, with his rounds the highlight of CWDGA’s combined, 36-hole tally of seven under – from six-strong teams, the four best individual scores from each day are combined to decide the championship.
With that tally, CWDGA finished a whopping eight shots in front of their nearest competitor, a remarkable margin given the format.
“It’s unbelievable, we’re just over the moon,” Duntryleague’s Robert Payne, the side’s player-manager, said.
“We had a really strong side and I came away very confident, but it’s great we’ve brought home the bacon.”
Payne heaped praise on Hale, who shot one under on Saturday’s opening day at Goulburn before producing a stunning, five-under score of 65 in Sunday's second round.
But he also, very quickly too, made a point of how important the rest of the side’s contributions were.
Payne, Duntryleague’s James Conran, Mudgee’s Josh Campbell and Dubbo duo Nick Coggan and Lachie Jones all had scores count to the overall tally as well.
Considering that, it wasn’t surprising to see all six of the stars finish inside the top 30 individually. Conran and Jones both finished inside the top 10 as well, carding one under and square respectively.
“Mark Hale shooting five-under [on Sunday] was obviously a massive highlight, that really brought us home,” Payne said.
“Everyone contributed, all six players had a score count over the two days and that’s a big thing, it was just a massive team performance.”
You need look no further than the top of the individual leaderboard for proof of how important that overall contribution was too, considering Canberra’s Josh Armstrong and Jordan Ayre finished one-two individually and shot 15 under between them.
“That’s the funny part of it I guess, it shows how crucial everyone contributing is because they’re from the same district, so the rest of their teams’ combined scores must have been eight over or more,” Payne explained.
Central West were sitting second after the first day’s play, with Conran (68), Hale (69), Jones (70) and Payne (72) combining to give the side an overnight tally of one under.
They built on that in a big way on Sunday, Hale’s stunning round of 65 being combined with Coggan’s two-under score of 68, Jones’ even-par 70 and Campbell’s one-over 71 in a day two round of six under.
“We picked up three individual awards as well, Mark Hale won the overall handicap and Lachie Jones finished second while Nick Coggan won the best scratch score on day two, you can only win one trophy a day,” Payne said.
He went on to say how promising the result is for the district, considering the tournament will be hosted by Bathurst for the next three years.
“It sets us up really well for the next couple of years, definitely,” Payne said.
“I’ve warned them all they’ll need to be on their game too, being that it’s virtually a home ground at Bathurst.”
CENTRAL WEST’S FULL RESULTS
TEAMS CHAMPIONSHIP
DAY ONE: 279, one under (James Conran 68, Mark Hale 69, Lachie Jones 70, Robert Payne 72)
DAY TWO: 274, six under (Mark Hale 65, Nick Coggan 68, Lachie Jones 70, Josh Campbell 71)
TOTAL: 553, seven under
COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIP
MARK HALE: Fourth (69, 65 – 134)
JAMES CONRAN: Seventh (68, 71 – 139)
LACHIE JONES: Ninth (70, 70 – 140)
JOSH CAMPBELL: 20th (73, 71 – 144)
NICK COGGAN: 26th (77, 68 – 145)
ROBERT PAYNE: 29th (73, 72 – 145)
Matt Findlay
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
