Karl Hatfield is Narrabri Golf Club’s Open champion for the second year running following a two-shot victory on Sunday.
Sixty-five golfers lined up at the club’s 2024 Open event, and it was Hatfield who reigned supreme for the second time after he also prevailed in 2023. He won it with a par score of 71 last year and stepped it up a gear to go two under on Sunday to win the 18-hole Open with a score of 69, which is also his course-best score that he has shot on several other occasions.
Scott Smith finished two shots back with a par 71 to end the day as the runner-up, while Keith Flood was the A-grade nett winner with 70.
Hatfield started the tournament on the 10th hole and finished on the ninth, shooting birdies on both of those. Across the 16 holes in between, he registered three birdies, 10 pars and three bogeys.
The 32-year-old had not played any golf in the four weeks leading up to the tournament, rather spending his weekends playing rugby union for the Narrabri Blue Boars and coaching his son’s soccer team.
Hatfield played rugby on Saturday and was quite sore on Sunday, but he brushed that off as he produced some exceptional golf, especially with the putter on the green.
He told The Courier he was stoked to have won the event again and he thought he played well across the day.
“It feels awesome to win it, that’s for sure,” Hatfield said.
“There was a little bit of rust, but I was playing with a good, calm group, and I had a good start and just kept rolling from there.
“I felt like I played pretty well, and I putted unreal, which helped me on a lot of holes. There was a little bit of room for improvement, but shooting two under is not bad.
“I was one under coming into nine and I played a pretty poor drive but made a decent recovery shot and then made the birdie. I thought two under would be pretty close, considering last year I shot even, and it ended up being right.”
A list of results from the Narrabri Golf Club’s men’s open is as follows:
Open champion:
Karl Hatfield with 69.
A-grade:
Gross runner-up – Scott Smith with 71 nett winner – Keith Flood with 70, nett runner-up – Will Coldham with 71 (countback).
B-grade:
Gross winner – Steve Jones with 79, gross runner-up – Kane Voysey with 81, nett winner – Ashley Duncan with 69, nett runner-up – John Dawson with 72 (countback).
C-grade:
Gross winner – Michael Wilson with 93, gross runner-up – Jayden Hall with 94, nett winner – Adam Gordon with 60, nett runner-up – Glenn Rae with 71.
Nearest to pins:
Eighth – Michael Resch, 12th – Nigel Guest, 16th – Charlie Shearer.
Long drives:
A-grade – Will Coldham, B-grade – Blake Hilderson, C-grade – Nigel Guest.
The Narrabri Golf Club’s mixed open was played on Saturday. Gross winners were Sandy Cowell and Keith Flood with 29 points on a countback, and the nett winners were Leisa Eather and Kenny Nolan with 47 points.
Nett runners-up were Kate Pitman and Peter Greenaway with 44 points on a countback from the third-place-getters Sandra and Tony Nott, who also had 44 points.
Nearest to pins were Brock Smith (fifth), Keith Flood (eighth) and Paul Thomas (12th).
