On course for glory Consistent golfers get spoils in club titles
AFTER a string of runner-up finishes in 2019, Matt Spilsbury and Erina Williams both got the monkey off their back to claim the men’s and women’s A grade titles at the Cairns Golf Club’s club championships.
For Spilsbury, who entered the second weekend of the four-round tournament with a monstrous 12-shot lead, to come away with the win was a relief after falling short at the Cairns Open and City of Cairns tournaments.
“I’ve come close a couple of times this year so it was really nice to get over the line,” he said.
“I was pretty confident with that lead – it’s not a normal thing to have a big lead like that – but I was actually probably more nervous than I normally am, just with the fear of somehow losing it with such a big lead.”
It was Spilsbury’s second club championship victory at Cairns, but his 10th overall, with previous wins on courses in Mackay and Townsville.
His score of 285 was a championship record on the new course at Cairns.
“I came into a bit of form just before the City of Cairns,” he said.
“I’ve been hitting the ball nice and it’s just continued on from there.
“I was just happy that I kept it in play all day. I didn’t have to play aggressive golf, I was just trying to stay out of trouble and, luckily, I did.”
In the women’s A grade, Erina Williams came from four shots behind Jennifer Spilsbury, Matt’s wife, to claim the title in the final round, thwarting any hopes of a rare husband-and-wife championship double.
“I had a very solid putt to get my par early in the day and that just set me up confidently on the greens for the rest of the day,” Williams said. She said this year had been arguably her best on a golf course.
“I’ve got my handicap down to 2.4, which is the lowest I’ve ever been,” she said. “I’ve come runner-up to a different junior in every major event this year – the FNQ Championships, Cairns Open and the City of Cairns.
“We had another junior on course today and I just thought ‘I’m not going to let that happen again today’.
“I said to myself, ‘you don’t have to have a par round, you just have to have the best round of anybody else’.”