What a great time

The 4 round World Schools Golf Challenge held in Adelaide, April 14-17, was a resounding success.

Unlike the 2007 event in Christchurch where local teams seemed to have a distinct advantage, the awards this time around were distributed widely with strong performances from all countries.

There were some notable firsts for the event.

The first hole in one at the WSGC was recorded by Jake Fatton-Lewis from Como Secondary College in Perth. Playing off an 11 handicap Jake aced Adelaide Shores 157m par 3 fifth hole.

Another first was also courtesy of a Como player – George Stead. George’s “first” was a broken bone in his hand after the first round. After the initial disappointment George became the number one cheerleader for all the Como teams and also caddied for some of his teammates.

Andrew Namkoong was the first repeat winner, successfully defending his title in Division One Gross. Andrew’s previous success in Christchurch came while attending St Bede’s College (NZ) and was then playing off 1. This time Andrew stepped out for St Andrews College off a Plus 2 handicap. His 4 round scores were a very impressive 76, 71, 70, 71.

We also welcomed our first Northern Hemisphere school when Millfield School based in Street, Somerset, arrived with 6 teams. Comprising 4 boys and 2 girls teams.

The 24 extremely competent golfers featured prominently in the results beginning with a first round 68 from Ben Taylor. Ben finished the week second in the Gross, one shot behind Andrew Namkoong.

Millfield had 3 players in the Boys Division 1Gross top 10. Joe Boardman second in the Division 1 Nett, Haydn Parker second in Division 2 Gross and Nett, Rebecca Gibbs first and Melissa McMahon second in the Girls Gross, Denise Orenstein first and Rebecca Gibbs second, Girls Nett.

Millfield’s most impressive effort, however, was in the team’s results. The 2 girls teams prevailed in both Nett and Gross and Millfield 1 won by 5 strokes from the Millfield 2 team in the Boys team Gross.

Other teams results saw St Andrews College win the Mixed Teams Nett and Gross titles.

Other individual results saw Brad Spaven from Henley High in Adelaide win both the Gross and Nett in Division 2. Billy Burley, Palmerston North Boys High (NZ) repeated this effort in Division 3 as did Yasteel Maharaj, Westville Boys High School (Sth Af) in Division 4.

The girl’s individual competition saw Millfield’s Rebecca Gibbs win the girls gross by 3 shots from her schoolmate Melissa McMahon.

Rebecca also featured in the Nett where she came second to another schoolmate Denise Orenstein.

The four round event was played at Flagstaff Hill GC, Riverside GC, Adelaide Shores and North Adelaide Golf Links with 60 teams (23 schools, 236 players) from England, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia playing.