Navigating Monash Country Club’s slick greens was the name of the game as Victorians Sue Wooster and Mark Allen added another Australian Senior Amateur title to their ever growing list of accolades.
For Wooster, it is the fourth time she has hoisted the women’s trophy, while Allen successfully defended his 2024 title, proving the first “wasn’t a fluke”.
It was a tight final day in both events, but the women’s was decidedly close, Wooster and her fellow Victorian Nadene Gole trading blows over the course of all 18 holes.
It was Gole who got the early jump with a birdie on the opening hole, unfazed however, Wooster stuck to her game plan of making as many pars as possible.
It wasn’t until the 16th hole that Gole relinquished her narrow lead, and the two former champions drew level again. A Gole double bogey on the last to Wooster’s par handing the trophy to The National Golf Club member for the fourth time.
Wooster finishing two shots ahead of Gole, while another Victorian Kim Morris was third.
“They’re ….. probably some of the hardest greens I’ve putted on in a tournament in Australia” : Wooster
“Super excited, super pumped, super proud of myself today,” Wooster said.
“It’s all about what happens on the greens here. They’re the hardest, probably some of the hardest greens I’ve putted on in a tournament in Australia.
“So many downhill putts and virtually 80 percent of the putts you stand over you saying to yourself, ‘Don’t three putt it’, it was a real test of patience for sure.
Wooster made a timely birdie on the 15th, holing a long putt which put the pressure back on Gole late in the round.
“It was like 20-feet above the hole and so I had a massive downhill putt with a bit of right-left break in it,” she recalled.
“I almost had to hit it off the edge of the toe virtually. It just kept trickling down and it had a bit of speed on it, to be honest with you, and it just caught the edge of the hole and went in.
“I only had two birdies for the tournament. I was the par queen out there.”
While not quite a two person shootout, the men’s final group certainly traded the lead several times on the final day.
Hailing from Drouin Golf Club in Gippsland, Allen snared the 36-hole lead after a terrific 2-over 74 on day two, but after just three holes, Monash local Douglas Cullam had drawn level, and by the fourth, he’d been leapfrogged.
The pair remained close for the rest of the round, and with a birdie on 15, the third member of the group Michael Lucas (WA) announced himself as a late threat.
“Doug was playing really well,” Allen said.
“He was up after nine. I thought, ‘Well, just keep going, see what happens’.”
“Then Michael (Lucas) was sort of sneaking along and then I thought, ‘I better look how he’s going here’.”
Allen made a birdie of his own on 15 however, and after almost holing his second into the par-4, all that was left to do was tap in for a successful defence, and second national title.
Allen, like Wooster, ran out a two shot winner, with Lucas two shots back in second, and Cullam in third another two shots back.
“It is very nice to go back-to-back,” he said.
“I suppose it proves a little bit that the first one wasn’t a fluke!”
For full scores from the week, CLICK HERE.
ORIGINAL STORY: Patrick Taylor | GOLF AUSTRALIA