Over the past month or so, 16 year old Nick Bender has been the form golfer at the Lithgow Golf Club.
He carried this form into the Lithgow Automotive Shortcourse Challenge and emerged as the winner.
Bender, who has put a lot of time into his game, has cut his handicap down to nine and judging by his improvement, he is sure to go much lower.
The Shortcourse Challenge saw golfers hitting off tees that are usually reserved for the Lady Golfers cutting a considerable distance off the course.
The handicap event was the main trophy with the event being held over 36 holes (Saturday and Sunday) with Nick setting up his win on the Saturday with a magnificent 60 nett.
On the Sunday, he played late in the day and had to contend with gale force hot winds, but he held on to record a 67 nett and give him a 36 hole total of 127 nett.
Hot on his heels was Bob Charlton who played early in the day and was the club leader for the majority of the day, but was edged out by one shot with Charlton’s 128 nett leaving him as runner-up.
The scratch event was also hotly contested with Gary Wallace shooting a 36 hole total of 146 to edge out his playing mate Ross Harrington on 148.
Both shot 73s on the Saturday and it was a good tussle over the last 18 holes as both players were playing in the same group and it was like a match play situation.
A Lady’s event was held over 18 holes and the major winner was Anne Doohan with a very good 66 nett.
Doohan finished two in front of runner-up Judy Moore on 68 on a count back from third placed Barbara Watters.
In the men’s 18 hole events results were:
DAY 1
Handicap winners and runners-up were A grade Nick Bender 60 and Scott Hamment 64 nett; B grade Gary Marshall 61 nett and Col Quince 62 nett on a count back; C grade Geoff Wheeler 61 nett and Peter Haley 66 nett.
Scratch winners and runners-up were A grade Ross Harrington 73 ocb and Gary Wallace 73; B grade Dylan Banning 77 and Bob Charlton 78; C grade Geoff Brooks 84 and Paul Johnston 88.
Nearest the pins: Tom Jennings (2), Paul Bosman, Ray Thompson, Arch Ryan and Barbara Watters.
Balls in the ball competition cut out with those that carded 67 nett and better.
DAY 2
Scoring was again sensational with the best nett score of the two days coming from Darren Thompson (son of Ray) with 59 nett.
Thompson took out the A grade 18 hole division from Mitch Luka on 63 nett.
B grade: Josh Hanrahan 63 and Ray Thompson 65 nett on a count back.
C grade: Harry Bender 60 and Trevor Williams 63 nett.
This was a great effort from young Harry who only played on the Sunday.
He would have been kicking himself for not playing in the first round instead of playing junior cricket in the morning and senior cricket in the afternoon.
Scratch results: A grade Gary Wallace 73 and Ross Harrington 75; B grade Al Seymour 80 ocb and Bob Charlton 80; C grade Tom Jennings 85 and Paul Bailey 89 ocb.
Nearest the pin awards: Peter Newham, Tom Jennings, Harry Bender, Roy Hill and Michael Bennett.
Balls in the ball competition went to those with 68 nett on a count back and better.
At the presentation club captain Max Nightingale thanked all the automotive businesses that supported the Challenge and heaped special praise on Chris Upton who each year drums up the sponsors to make the Challenge the success it has come to be.
Once again the club thanks Brakepro Undacar, Dent Tech Dent Removal, Col Hatton Mechanical Repairs, Hicks Automotive and Exhaust, Kables Auto Electics, Lean and Bennett Toyota and Holden, Lithgow Paint and Panel, R and B Lorimer Motor Repairs, Stoffels Mechanical Repairs, Style Smash Repairs, MJ and CL Taylor, Welch’s Highway Smash, Western Autoquip and Sports and Geoff Wilson Mechanical Repairs.
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