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GEM KIDS SPACE PAGES 22-23
BAIRNSDALE • PAYNESVILLE • LAKES ENTRANCE • METUNG • SALE
Where Community Matters 90TH EDITION DECEMBER 15, 2023
LOCALEVENT AMASSIVEHIT
NENTS ALEXHADTHEEDGEOVEROPPO
WINNER WITH 6-UNDER
BIG TURNOUT FOR BIG GARAGE GOLF TOURNAMENT
O
N Sunday 10 December, 45 professional golfers from all over Australia, descended on Bairnsdale Golf Club to compete in The Big Garage Subaru Pro-Am — the biggest professional golf event in East Gippsland, and the biggest single fundraising day for the Club. “Players come and compete for a prize pool of $13,500,” explains Jeff Graham, General Manager (GM) at Bairnsdale Golf Club. “This year, we had 38 local businesses sponsor the event, which was a record for
us. The naming sponsor is The Big Garage and Subaru, along with East Gippsland Shire who is also a cosponsor.” The two-day event kicked off with a junior competition on Saturday, where local children played nine holes alongside some around a dozen of the professional players. “The idea is to give kids a taste of what it’s like to play at a professional event alongside golf professionals. We've been doing it for three years now, and it’s continuing to grow
bigger and bigger every year.” “In order to take part, the kids need to be able to finish 9 holes, so it’s not for brand new players; but otherwise, any child is welcome to participate. We advertised it far and wide, and we ended up with around 26 kids on the day, which was great — and it went really well.” “We don't generally have any age limits, but this year the youngest was around 7 and the eldest was 15.” “Unfortunately, the weather
wasn’t the best, but everyone persevered through and it ended up being a really great day. The overall winners were Maddison Kelly and Kaitly Boers, and they played with professional golfer, Wade Lowrie. Of course, it's not about winning but we do give them a couple of little prizes as a token of their success.” “On Sunday, we had the 45 golf professionals, representatives from the 38 sponsoring businesses, and 53 local golfers who entered as individual players — which saw
over 180 total players!” “Alex Edge from NSW was the overall winner, with a score of 65, which is 6 under the card. This put him just one point clear of runner up, Gavin Fairfax (QLD).” “We also ran the Super Nearest To The Pin (Super NTP), which sees the professional who gets closest to the pin on the eighth hole win $1,500. This year’s winner was Reuben Lal (VIC).”
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