Mercury (Hobart)

Northern on winning run

- STUART EATON

NORTHERN Golf had a successful weekend winning the men’s Thyne Trophy and the women’s North versus South Plate at the Launceston Golf Club on Sunday.

The Northern team of Brett Churchill, Ronan Filgate, Greg Longmore, Matt Marston, Josh Molendyk, Isaac Roberts, Mitch Van Noord and George Waller proved to be too strong and finished undefeated for the tournament.

Northern Golf comfortabl­y defeated Southern Country 5-2 in Saturday’s afternoon round and followed up with a tight 4-3 win over North West Golf Tasmania on Sunday morning.

The confident Northern Golf outfit secured the 2022 Thyne Trophy title on Sunday afternoon when it had a hard-fought 3.5-3.5 draw with 2021 champion Golf Southern Tasmania.

North West Golf Tasmania finished second and Golf Southern Tasmania third in the final standings. Southern Country was fourth.

Best players for Northern Golf were Longmore, Molendyk and Van Noord, who all finished undefeated for the tournament.

Meanwhile, the Northern ladies dug deep and convincing­ly defeated their Southern counterpar­ts 12 matches to three in the North versus South Plate.

Leading in all five matches after the first day of foursomes at Launceston, the 2019 and 2021 champion looked unbeatable in Sunday morning’s singles.

Final standings (Thyne Trophy): Northern Golf 2.5-12.5, North West Golf Tasmania 2-11.5, Golf Southern Tasmania 1.5-11.5, Southern Country Golf Associatio­n 0-6.5. Final Standings (North v South Plate): North 12, South 3. THE SECOND round of the 2022 North versus South Junior Match Play Series was conducted last Friday at the Pittwater Golf Club.

The round was halved with five matches a piece to both the Northern and Southern teams.

For the South, Royal Hobart’s Hunter Gillard narrowly defeated Riverside’s Isaac Roberts 1-up in the number one match.

The South continues to lead the overall series with 1.5 contests and 12 match wins to the North’s .5 contest and eight match wins.

Rounds three and four of the series will be conducted at the Longford Golf Club on October 7 and Pittwater on October 10.

TASMANIA has named a strong, eight-member team for the return of the Australian Interstate Teams Matches at Sorrento Golf Club on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula.

The women’s four is Jorjah Bailey (Launceston), Sarah Johnstone (Ulverstone), Hallie Meaburn (Royal Hobart) and Mackenzie Wilson (Tasmania). The men’s quartet is Joey Bower (Royal Hobart), Ronan Filgate (Prospect Vale), Hunter Gillard (Royal Hobart) and Mark Schulze (Tasmania).

The mixed gender teams, a first for Australia’s premier amateur teams championsh­ip, are littered with amateur champions. Teams will play each other once in the round-robin team matchplay format before the champion is decided in the final.

The Australian Interstate Teams Matches will be played at Sorrento Golf Club from May 10-12.

IN A WORLD FIRST for golf, the Men’s Australian Open and Women’s Australian Open are joining forces.

The marquee events will be played at the same time and at the same venues. The event will be held on the world famous Melbourne Sandbelt from December 1-4.

Victoria Golf Club is the primary host venue across all four days of the event and Kingston Heath Golf Club is to host play on the first two days. The men’s event will headline the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasi­a, while the women’s event will be sanctioned by the WPGA Tour of Australasi­a.

This year’s Australian Open will also feature the third edition of the Australian All Abilities Championsh­ip, which assembles the top 12 players on the World Ranking for Golfers with Disability (WR4GD).

IF YOU have a news item to contribute to this column, please forward to gtadmin@ golf.org.au.

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