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What a great day for the QLD State Long Drive Championships at Esk. A great 400+ metre grid, great weather and wonderful support from the locals at Esk. This was the first event at the Esk Golf Club and it was a big success. Competitors did a great job mingling with the crowd and during the lunch break gave a talk / demonstration on their experiences with long drive and how to hit the ball further.
Down to business and the competition was high class.
In the Junior Category (14 years and under Girls) Jasmin McCurdy set a new Australian Record with a wonderful 154.0 metres. Jasmin has a great swing and was a real crowd pleaser. It was great to see her do so well. She has a lot of promise in both golf and long drive.
The Super Senior division was very closely contested. With only the top 2 competitors making it through to the final Ben Van Dijk and Kerry Devenish had a close tussle all day to make it into the final and go up against an in form Brendan Gorman. Ben managed to get through by a mere 2 metres but then couldn't quite match Brendan in teh final. Brendan is a world class competitor having come 3rd in the world. This year he had to drop back a division to Super Seniors as the older Grand Champion division is no longer competed.
The Senior Men competition had defending Australian Champion up against long hitting Mark Sanford. With only a metres between them in qualifying, Mark broke through and won the state championship with 278.0 metres.
In the Open Division we had a host of elite competitors. 2 of them had finished top 20 in the world and the others were all in the ball game. Nathaniel Barnes had made the long trip from WA. He has been South African Long Drive Champion and finished 15th in the world. Brent Kearney has fiinished 16th in the world so they were always going to have a good battle. Brendan Moylan, Jason Atkins, Anthony Donovan and Julian Conlan all hit well and were all very close behind. Newcomers Ryan Massingham, Grant Hunter, John King, John Van Shyndel, Chris Wheeler and Rob Ward also hit well and could all easily make their mark in Long Drive.
In the "Last Man Standing" eveyone was out quickly except for long driver Jason Atkins and Esk Club Champion Mathew Robson. After seveal "playoffs" neither had faltered so they shared first place! Well done.
A big thanks to the locals at Esk who made the day such a relaxed, friendly and well supported day. Michael Shields in particular worked tirelessly leading up to and during the event. Thankyou also to the competitors who competed on the day manny of whom had to travel large distances. They were true ambassadors for the sport and it was great to see such professionalism.
| Place |
Category |
Competitor |
Qualifying Dist. |
Final |
| 1 |
Men's |
Brent Kearney |
308.8 |
330.0 |
| 2 |
Men's |
Nathaniel Barnes |
308.3 |
290.0 |
| 3 |
Men's |
Brendan Moylan |
297.6 |
|
| 4 |
Men's |
Jason Atkins |
284.4 |
|
| 5 |
Men's |
Anthony Donovan |
282.5 |
|
| 6 |
Men's |
Julian Conlan |
280.9 |
|
| 7 |
Men's |
Ryan Massingham |
276.4 |
|
| 8 |
Men's |
Grant Hunter |
272.0 |
|
| 9 |
Men's |
John King |
268.1 |
|
| 10 |
Men's |
John Van Schyndel |
264.3 |
|
| 11 |
Men's |
Chris Wheeler |
246.9 |
|
| 12 |
Men's |
Rob Ward |
217.5 |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| 1 |
Senior's |
Mark Sanford |
279.8 |
278.0 |
| 2 |
Senior's |
Graeme McCurdy |
278.4 |
270.0 |
| |
|
|
|
|
| 1 |
Super Seniors |
Brendan Gorman |
260.7 |
270.0 |
| 2 |
Super Seniors |
Ben Van Dijk |
252.3 |
230.0 |
| 3 |
Super Seniors |
Kerry Devenish |
250.0 |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| 1 |
Juniors <=14 |
Jasmin McCurdy |
155.2 |
154.0 |
| |
|
|
|
|
| 1 |
Juniors 15-17 |
Stormy Hema |
0.0 |
0.0 |
| |
|
|
|
|
| 1 |
Wheelchair |
Dave Sawtell |
150.0 |
150.0 |
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