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Briggs fulfils childhood dream H
BY MICHAEL SCALZO
orsham-based professional golfer Jordy Briggs has set a new Horsham Golf Club course record at the club’s weekly Saturday competition.
Briggs shot his record-breaking score of 63 at the course on Saturday, besting the previous lowest score, 64, shot by professional golfer Bryden Macpherson in 2021. Briggs broke the course record with a 25-foot putt on the 18th hole. Briggs said he had wanted to break the course record since he started playing at the course when he was 10. “I used to see the course record up in the clubhouse and I wanted to be the one to have my name up on the wall with my scorecard, having shot the lowest score ever,” he said. “Sixteen years later, to officially say I have done it, makes me very proud. “A lot of hard work has gone into it. I sat down in December to plan out some goals for myself, and one of the first was to break the course record at Horsham. “I have worked very hard in Canberra during the past three years to prepare myself for that putt.” Briggs shot his 63 off the blue-marked tees, the toughest set up the course offers its players. He said he was scheduled to compete in several Pro-Am tournaments across the next few months, however he said it was ‘great’ to be back in Horsham as the club marks its 125th year. “The year has been off to a really good start. I just signed a contract with Puma, who will support me this year. I am proud to accomplish that support, and I am proud they have acknowledged the work I have put in across the past few years. They have been a great help so far,” he said. Briggs returned to Horsham at the end of last year, after he completed his three-year Professional Golfers Association-traineeship at Royal Canberra Golf Course.
BEAT THAT: Horsham’s Jordy Briggs said breaking Horsham Golf Club’s course record at the weekend was an achievement he had thought about since he was 10 years old. Picture: PAUL CARRACHER
Horsham golfers qualify for state finals Nearly 100 golfers from clubs across Victoria gathered at Horsham Golf Club on Sunday for an amateur Victorian four-ball championship qualifier. The event, open to all amateur golfers across the state with a men’s handicap below 36.4 and women with a handicap below 45.4, culminates in a 36-hole state final on March 21. Horsham Golf Club hosted 94 players from 28 clubs at its qualifier, with mixed pairs, women’s and men’s pairs competing. David Cameron and Geoff Holcombe of Mooralla Golf Club won the men’s division
with 48 points on countback from Sandhurst Golf Club’s Craig and Marcus Allen, also with 48 points. Horsham Golf Club players Pamela Watkins and Lisa Jakobi won the women’s division, also on countback with 41 points. Jakobi’s 13th hole, hole-inone was a particular highlight of their qualifying win. Nick Thompson and Maggie Clark, also of Horsham Golf Club, won the mixed division, also with 41 points. The three pairs will head to Portsea and Moonah Links golf clubs for the two-round state final.
HOLE-IN-ONE: Horsham’s Lisa Jakobi retrieves her ball after she scored a hole-in-one on Horsham Golf Club’s 13th hole during Sunday’s four-ball state amateur qualifier.
Course ranking on rise
Horsham Golf Club is continuing its march back into the forefront of Australian golfers’ minds, after winning top 100 Golf Australia recognition last week. Golf Australia magazine’s biennial top-100 public-access Australian courses has become an industry standard for the national golf-course ranking system that considers all Australian courses that have offered tee times for non-member golfers at least five days a week. Horsham Golf Club was ranked the 74th best course in the nation out of 1500 public-access courses across Australia. The club has climbed 17 spots since the magazine’s previous ranking two years ago. Golf Australia rankings judge Craig Smart said Horsham’s course had ‘improved noticeably during the past few years and it must now be considered as offering one of the best value-for-money rounds in the country’. Horsham Golf Club president Gerard Bardell said it was ‘wonderful’ to see the course back within Golf Australia’s top-75 ranked courses. “There are opportunities for the club to push the course into the top 50 across the next few years,” he said. “We have had a strong focus on the quality of our course during the past five years, but it has always had a quality layout. “The club has a strategic plan to keep growing, and we are following that through. It was nice to see that plan recognised by these reviewers.” Mr Bardell said there was still ‘plenty of work to do’ for the club to have its course become a mainstay of the ranking’s top 50, and the club had spoken with course architects about ‘simple’ and ‘inexpensive’ changes that could help with the club’s rankings rise. “It will always be a team effort at the club, and our members, sponsors and staff, have all pitched in to grab these amazing results,” he said. Golf Australia rated Cape Wickham Links at King Island, Tasmania, the number-one course nationally.
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