Ty Baker was crowned Wee Waa Golf Club’s open champion for the first time on Sunday when he edged out clubmate Jeremy Thorne by one shot at the 18-hole event that 62 golfers contested.
Baker, who is currently enjoying his first year as club captain, shot a two-over-par 74 to win the first North West District Open Day of the 2022 season.
The 29-year-old Wee Waa man was proud to have won not only his first Wee Waa Open but his first major individual event of any kind.
“I played pretty consistently all day pretty much,” he said.
“I didn’t have too many birdies, but I levelled it out during the day.
“It was good to get the win.
“I’d never won it before and never even come close, to be honest.
“That’s sort of the first big (individual) tournament that I’ve ever won.
“Dave (defending club champion David Avery) wasn’t there but there were a couple of other guys there from around the region who are low handicappers like Notty (defending Wee Waa open champion Troy Nott) and Adam Taylor (Narrabri Golf Club’s 2021 club champion).
“Then there were a few other guys from home who I thought would have shot a bit lower.
“I didn’t expect two-over to be the number when we came in, so it was a bit of a surprise, that’s for sure.”
Baker started the event on the first hole and shot birdies on the fourth, the seventh, the 11th and the 17th.
He had a strong finish down the home stretch after double bogeying the 12th. He parred the 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th holes and then birdied the 17th before finishing the day with a par on the 18th.
That saw him outscore 61 opponents to be crowned the 2022 Wee Waa Open champion.
To go with his on-course success, Baker is also doing great things off it.
He is currently relishing the role of joint club captain alongside David Avery and said he was pleased to see the club moving forward successfully.
“It’s good. I was only supposed to start off helping Dave, but we are sort of working well together and it has turned into a 50/50 thing, which is good,” Baker said.
“We are bouncing off each other pretty good.
“The club’s obviously opened back up, and we haven’t had a Sunday that’s been under 20 golfers for a while. We are averaging well over 20 golfers a week since the start of the year, which is unreal.”
Wee Waa Golf Club’s 2022 Open Day awards presentation event was run by the committee vice-presidents Steve Gleeson and Ben Russell, who both presented the winners and runners-up with their prizes.
A full list of award recipients is as follows:
Open champion:
Ty Baker with 74.
A-grade:
Gross winner – Jeremy Thorne with 75, A-grade gross runner-up – Luke Humphries, nett winner – Tom Fullerton with 69, nett runner-up – Kevin Baker.
B-grade:
Gross winner – Maxwell Smith Snr with 84, gross runner-up – Geoffrey Williams, nett winner – Maxwell Smith Jnr with 69, runner-up – Don Morgan.
C-grade:
Gross winner – Toby Nancarrow with 93, gross runner-up – Ian Egan, nett winner – Dan Haverhoek with 71, runner-up – Jim Hatton.
Nearest to pins:
Ninth – David Chomley, fifth/14th – Jeremy Thorne, 15th – Tom Fullerton.
Longest drive 12th:
A-grade – Toby Reynolds, B-grade – Don Morgan, C-grade – D Kennedy.
