2006 - ASIA PACIFIC SENIOR AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP
Moonah Links Legends Golf Course 
November 21-23, 2006
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NZ in CLEAN SWEEP of 2006 ASIA PACIFIC
Asia Pacific 2006 -  Full Results
Golf Australia were the host organisers for the 2006 APGC Seniors Championship held at the impressive Moonah Links Legends course, a companion course to the Moonah Links Open Course (venue for the 2003 and 2005 Australian Opens).
The event attracted a very large field with balloting needed to restrict the competition to the best 120 golfers from the Asia Pacific region. The Championship consists of a much coveted Teams Championship played over 36 holes (the best 2 scores each day from a 3 man team are counted) and an individual championship played over 54 holes.
Each participating country was allowed a maximum of 2 teams of 3 players and Golf Australia nominated two teams based on performances in the 2005-2006 Australia Senior Order of Merit.
Australia 1 - Denis Dale (NSW), Doug Thorp (QLD), Chris Coats (QLD)
Australia 2 - Brian Sams (NSW), Bill Banks (ACT) and Tony Kennings (NSW)
The proud Australian teams were presented with their Australian blazers and uniforms on Sunday evening when they arrived to spend a week as the guests of Golf Australia in the on course accommodation, a beautiful 5 bedroom home overlooking both courses and a stroll from the Moonah Links clubhouse.

Round 1
Excellent course conditions and perfect weather conditions saw some great scoring on Day 1 of the Championships.
New Zealander Rod Barltrop had the round of the day with a sensational four under par 68. Australia’s Doug Thorp followed with a very impressive two under par 70. Australian legend Tony Gresham, current New Zealand 55+Champion Alistair Nicholls and Australian team member and regular Order of Merit campaigner Tony Kennings, were all tied for third place on one under par 71.
In the Championship Teams event (best 2 scores to count) Australia 2 and New Zealand 2 were tied for the lead with a total of one under par 143. This gave them a one shot lead from the Australia 1 team on level par 144. 
An International Teams Event was also held for players not selected in the national teams. The very strong team of Tony Gresham (NSW), Alex Cleave (WA) and Max Robison (TAS) were the round one leaders in this event with a total score of 147

Round 2
Following a night of gale force weather the winds that everyone anticipated for Day 2 threatened early in the day but did subside noticeably by early afternoon.
Individual honours for the day again went to Rodney Barltrop and Doug Thorp who returned 2 under par rounds of 70 to be placed at 6 under and 4 under par respectively. These two golfers had opened a good break on the rest of the high quality field.
Tony Gresham and Alistair Nicholls fired steady rounds of 74 to hold down third place on 145 with Victorian Ross Percy who continued his recent good form with a second round 73 to also total 145.
The standout round of the day was a 5 under par 67 by New Zealander Neale Pitches (who was also celebrating his birthday).

Round 3 – the Final Round
Again the weather was generally favourable with the wind and the more trying conditions arriving mainly for the leaders who played later in the day.
New Zealander Rod Barltrop gave no one else a chance and his 74 gave him a total of 212 (4 under par) and a very well deserved 6 shot margin over fellow NZ’er Alistair Nicholls who closed with the equal best round of the day in 73.
Barltrop has won 2 of the last 3 Australian Senior Amateur Championships and earlier this year also won the Queensland Senior Amateur to lay claim to the title of the best senior golfer in Australia and New Zealand.
Australian team member Doug Thorp ran into a few bad bounces and missed putts and fired a final round 80 to share 3rd place with Australia’s Tony Gresham on 4 over par 220.
Brian Sams (recent winner of the Victoria Senior Championship) again performed consistently and made up the Championship Top 5 with a total of 221 (5 over par).
70 year old Australian golfer Frank Musgrave played great golf for the 3 days and his closing 73 was the equal best round of the final day. Musgrave shared 6th place with Ross Percy and Peter Terrace, both from Australia. Defending champion Iggy Clavecilla (The Phillipines) recovered from an opening round 79 to finish in equal 12th place on 226.
Rod Barltrop holes the winning putt as Tony Gresham and Doug Thorp move in to congratulate the winner of the 2006 Asia Pacific Senior Championship.
The New Zealand 2 team collecting trophies as winners of the 2006 Asia Pacific Teams Championship.
Australian legend, Tony Gresham, drives smoothly at the 15th.
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