Gunnedah Junior Open Day – Sunday 2nd August
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Whilst the Northern Inland Order of Merit Series (NIOOM) is conducted across 12 different New England, North West and Central North District golf courses, not all players from clubs across the vast geography are able to compete in every event. However, in the 7 events conducted in 2015 season to date, one young player (and her parents) have ventured to ALL of the NIOOM events. Annabelle Abrahamson, a 10-year-old young girl from Moree, is leading the way in the Cadet Girls division and on Sunday at Gunnedah shot a fantastic score of 38 shots on the modified 9-hole layout. Annabelle recently competed in an Australian Junior event at Yeppoon and the quality of her golf game continues to improve.
Golfers from Coonabarabran, Moree, Tamworth, Walcha, Muswellbrook, Nelson Bay, Narrabri and the host club converged on a course rated by many as one of the better layouts in the North West. The greens were fast and the fairways tight but some great scores were recorded.
In the Junior Boys division, we were pleased to welcome back a visitor from previous years – Khan Gallagher from Muswellbrook Golf Club. Khan shot a fine 2 over par 72 to play to his handicap and take out the major trophy. Andrew Brennan (Walcha) was the best of the locals with a score of 75. In the Junior Boys Nett division, a local boy from host club Gunnedah, Sam Elphick and an improving Bailey Milford (Coonabarabran) took out the nett prizes with scores of 71. Harry Cleare (Nelson Bay) also recorded a great score of nett 72. Andrew Brennan looks to have a solid lead in the NIOOM Junior Boys gross division. However, only 2 points separate Bailey Milford, Matthew Felton (Inverell) and Zak Kelly (Coonabarabran) in the Junior Boys nett division. It looks like that will go all the way to the final event before we find a winner.
The Junior Girls division was again only a small field with Breanna Purse (Moree) taking home the gross prize from Zoe Tomlinson (Narrabri) and Matilda Chapman (Coonabarabran). Zoe was successful in the Junior Girls nett division.
The Cadet Boys Order of Merit competition has become really interesting, with Jack Marshall (Tamworth) shooting a great score of 49 shots to fly up into second place, only 2.5 points behind Luke Devney (Moree). With less than 10 points separating the top 5 boys in this competition, the final result will probably go down to the final event at Glen Innes. Jack’s winning score on Sunday was only 1 shot better than Brendan Scott (Tamworth) and a further few shots back was newcomer Rhys Butler (Narrabri).
As identified earlier, Annabelle Abrahamson’s score of 38 shots in the Cadet Girls division was better than ALL the boys.
The next event in the Northern Inland Order of Merit Series will be held at Uralla on Sunday August 23rd. We look forward to seeing you there.
Gerard Wilkinson
JNJG Territory Manager
Mobile: 0419 708 676
