David Avery was full of pride on Sunday afternoon when he was crowned the champion of the 2025 Wee Waa Open.
The 31-year-old Wee Waa man has enjoyed countless successes on his local course, winning the past six straight club championships and last month’s 2024 monthly medal final.
He had also claimed the past three Bingara Opens as well as the Narrabri Open and Coonabarabran Open once each.
However, the Wee Waa Golf Club’s annual open had always eluded him until Sunday.
The club captain lined up in a field of 67 golfers and started the day on the sixth hole with a par.
He ended the 18-hole event with a birdie on the fifth to finish with a one-over-par score of 73, which saw him win by just one shot from two former champions Ty Baker and Luke Flood.
Baker and Flood both shot 74 and they went into a playoff hole to decide who would finish second overall and claim the A-grade gross winner prize. It was Baker who prevailed on the 18th as the hometown golfer outshot the Narrabri visitor.
Avery had three birdies, four bogeys and parred 11 holes all up on the day on his way to winning the annual tournament.
He told The Courier that he did not play his best golf on the day and did not expect to be the winner as he left the course, but he was proud to have finally gotten the job done.
“I struck the ball well but I didn’t score the best,” he said.
“It definitely wasn’t one of the best games I’ve played lately. I didn’t think I was going to win it, to be honest.
“It was good to win it but. It was a really good feeling to finally get one.
“It was a tough field out there. There were a few guys out there who play good golf, and I reckon there were about four or five of them who could have taken it out on the day.
“We had 67 playing all up. That’s a great number for us.”
Golfers travelled from Narrabri, Moree, Bingara, Coonabarabran and Coonamble to join the local Wee Waa golfers at the event.
The hometown club was proudly well-represented on the leaderboards, with Avery and Baker placing first and second, John Galagher and Ray Nixon the B-grade nett winner and runner-up, respectively, Rob Downey the C-grade gross runner-up and Dick Crutcher the C-grade nett runner-up.
A full list is as follows:
Open champion – David Avery.
A-grade gross winner – Ty Baker, runner-up – Luke Flood, nett winner – Steve Jones, runner-up – Lachie Smith.
B-grade gross winner – Blake Hilderson, runner-up – Doug Orman, nett winner – John Galagher, runner-up – Ray Nixon.
C-grade gross winner – Charlie Milthorpe, runner-up – Rob Downey, nett winner – Rob Briggs, runner-up – Dick Crutcher.
