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| 2007 Queensland Senior Amateur |
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Venue: Southport Golf Club
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Winner: Brian Sams (NSW)
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Runner Up: Michael Leitch (NZ)
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3rd Place: Grahame MacDonald (QLD)
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SENIOR SUPER STAR SAMS
WINS 2007 QUEENSLAND SENIOR AMATEUR
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NSW golfer Brian Sams has won the 2007 Queensland Senior Amateur Championship played at Southport Golf Club and in doing so has "raised the bar" to a new level for his fellow senior golfers. Brian practices regularly, travels to many Order of Merit events across Australia and his results are a fitting reward for his fine golfing talents.
This was Brian’s fourth championship title for the year with earlier wins in the Victorian Seniors, the West Australian Seniors and the West Australian Melville Glades Classic. His other tournaments results for this Order of Merit season have been a 7th in the New South Wales Seniors, a 3rd in the ACT Seniors and an 11th in the Australian Seniors.
Michael Leitch (NZ), who had finished 3rd in this event in 2006, improved one place to finish 2nd, 3 shots behind Sams. Leitch is a welcomed Kiwi competitor and hopefully he will return in 2008 and perhaps improve one more place. A single shot behind Leitch was Grahame MacDonald (QLD) who recorded his best performance in a senior tournament. MacDonald is certainly a player to watch as he intends to play in many of the Order of Merit tournaments in the 2007-08 season.
Round 1
Round 1 honours were definitely with the popular 71 year old Geoff Everett (NSW) who became the second Order of Merit player to equal his age. His par round gave him a share of the lead with Tony Kennings (NSW) and Peter King (QLD).
This trio had a one hot lead from Brian Sams (NSW), Phil Wood (VIC), Dave Morrison (QLD) and Kiwi visitor Hugh Harrison. A group of notable senior players were a further shot back on 73 - Michael Maher (Qld), Peter Terrace (Qld), Charles Alexander (NZ), Rodney Barltrop (NZ) and Alan Evans (Vic).
Round 2
Round 2 was a day of movement up and down the leader board. Queenslanders Peter King (84) and Dave Morrison (84) were unable to repeat their excellent Round 1 form and slipped down the list. Brian Sams maintained his usual reliable form and a second 72 gave him the lead on 144, a single shot ahead of Tony Kennings who followed his opening 71 with a solid 74.
Improvers in round 2 were two New Zealanders Michael Leitch (74-73) and Barry Shannon (75-72) and together with Sams and Kennings they made the final grouping for round 3.
Other players with strong chances with one round to go were the very consistent Doug Thorp (74-74), Peter Terrace (73-74) and Ian Read (74-75). Grahame MacDonald was another poised ready to pounce after impressive rounds of 76 and 74.
Round 3
With the final group containing four of the players who had competed in the Australia v New Zealand series a week earlier and two being Australian and two New Zealanders a day of exciting golf was expected.
The final round saw round one leaders Peter King and Dave Morrison return to their round one form and return scores of 72 and 73 respectively. Both will regret their errant second round scores that cost them possible victory. Nevertheless, both players have shown they are golfers to watch in coming events. Recent Australian representatives Ross Percy and Denis Dale also returned to form with final round scores of one over par 72 that saw them climb up the leader board.
In the leading group Michael Leitch began in a fury and threw everything he had at Sams, Kennings and fellow Kiwi Shannon. His trio of early birdies took him to 3 under after six holes and he held a two shot lead over Sams after the opening nine. Kennings watched his chances slip away with an out of bounds on the twelth while Shannon tried hard to find the elusive birdies he needed.
The final nine saw Sams move into top gear and his precision play coupled with several missed short putts by Leitch saw a change in the lead. Sams is always hard to beat over the closing holes of any tournament and once again he drove long and hit his irons straight to total a winning 4 over par tournament score of 217. This gave him a 3 shot victory over the gallant Leitch (220).
Several groups ahead Grahame MacDonald holed out for the round of the day (even par 71) and a total of 221 that saw him leap over many player and eventually claim 3rd place. “Mr Consistency” Doug Thorp (QLD) fired his third straight 74 and his 222 took out 4th place a single shot ahead of Barry Shannon on 223.
Queenslanders Peter Terrace and Michael Maher shared 6th place on 224. Maher’s high finish was a welcome return to form for the experienced Royal Queensland golfer while Terrace’s finish moved him into the top 10 on the Australian Senior Order of Merit. Terrace is well placed to make his way into the next Australian team to play New Zealand in a return challenge in 2008.
Eighth place was shared by Charles Alexander (Ashburton, New Zealand) with scores of 73-76-76 and Tony Kennings (NSW) 71-74-80. The final Top 10 for the 2007 Queensland Seniors Championship was completed by Ian Read (75-77-74), Ross Percy (77-77-72) and Philp Towle (75-75-76).
The International Teams competition was a very easy win for the local Queensland team of Ian Read, Chris Coats, Peter Terrace, Norm Way and Doug Thorp. They defeated the New Zealand South team (Charles Alexander, Rodney Barltrop, Ian Donaldson, John Roche, Barry Shannon) by 16 shots.
Southport Golf Club were the other winners with every competitor expressing their appreciation of the condition of the course, the very fair course setup and the superb presentation of the greens. The official presentation dinner capped off a great week of golf at Southport.
The 2008 Queensland Senior Amateur is expected to be held at Indooroopilly Golf Club.
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Final group - Barry Shannon, Michael Leitch, Brian Sams, Tony Kennings
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Brian Sams putts close on the 16th hole on the way to his 2007 Queensland Senior Amateur title.
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Michael Leitch watches a putt drop on the 17th at Southport.
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Ian Read congratulates his fellow winning team members - Norm Way, Chris Coats, Doug Thorp.
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Queenslander Grahame MacDonald drives on the final hole on his way to the day's best score of 71.
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New Zealand star Rodney Barltrop shows the style that has won him 2 Australian Seniors titles.
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Tony Kennings hits to the final green at Southport.
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Kennings and Shannon must believe in "plumbing" their putts!
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Queensland's Ian Read drives strongly for a Top 10 finish.
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Victorian Phil Wood has a long putt for birdie on 17. In the distance Geoff Everett is holding the pin.
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Evergreen Everett chips close at the 17th to make sure of the major prize in the 70+ division.
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