Gail Richardson is the Narrabri Golf Club’s 2023 shootout champion after she outlasted 18 other golfers during the final of the annual competition last Sunday.
The shootout was introduced last year and was quite popular among the golfing community, and it has now found a place on Narrabri Golf Club’s calendar moving forward.
It was again a huge success in 2023, with a total of 70 players taking part in the nine qualifying rounds held across the past four months.
Several players tried their luck by playing in multiple qualifying rounds in an attempt to better their top score, with a total of 225 games being played by the 70 players across those nine rounds.
The cut-off for this year’s final was 37 stableford points and there were 19 players named to contest Sunday’s event.
With some qualifying players being unavailable on day, the 19 players who took part included the defending champion Peter Dewsbury, as well as Richardson, Riley Tout, Ben Finnigan, Nick Scott, Jye Manton, Lyn Shearer, Louise Penberthy, Bruce Pyke, Brock Smith, Jack Rae, Kate Pitman, Will Brooks, Ingrid Moulds, Bill Cameron, Rolland Eather, Jim Pitman, Travis Heffernan and Scott Lamb.
Only Jim Pitman, Dewsbury, Penberthy, Brooks and Scott had played a shootout final before, back in 2022.
The exciting event is organised by Narrabri Golfie Pro Shop’s Graeme Trew and Nicole Cooper. Trew told The Courier that Sunday’s final was an enjoyable one.
“It was a fun day,” he said.
“I’ve actually had a few people phone or text me saying that it was awesome and well done.
“The best thing was we had 15 new golfers this year, that had never played that format before.
“Gail went really well. She was very steady all day. She didn’t get into a lot of trouble and was only in a couple of chip-offs.
“It all goes fairly quick considering there’s 19 people teeing off the first.
“The first nine is a bit slower, but by the time we get to the back nine, we’ve lost nine people, and it starts moving pretty quick after that.
“We’re reasonably organised. I had Tony Meppem there helping me on scoring.
“By now, after that one, a lot of the club know what it’s all about.”
All 19 players teed off on the first hole just after 9am, and once again, it was quite a spectacle as players, officials and spectators made their way up the first fairway.
Rae had the lowest point score on the first hole and was eliminated.
The remaining 18 players then teed off on the second hole. Pyke, Tout and Moulds had the equal lowest points on that hole and went into a chip-off, and it was Moulds who was knocked out of contention.
The third hole went to a chip-off as well, this time between two players, and it was Lamb who survived as he eliminated Scott.
The remaining 16 players teed off on the fourth hole and again there was a two-player chip-off as Kate Pitman and Heffernan had the equal lowest points.
This time it was Pitman who was eliminated.
Manton then had the lowest points on the fifth hole and was eliminated.
Lamb went into his second chip-off on the sixth hole, this time against Finnigan, and his luck ran out as he was eliminated
Lamb’s departure saw 13 players line up on the seventh hole, during which there was another three-player chip-off as Smith, Tout and Dewsbury had the equal lowest points.
This time it was Smith who dropped out of the final.
There was another chip-off on the eighth, this time between four players as Pyke, Richardson, Tout and Eather all had the lowest score, and it was Pyke who was eliminated.
On the ninth hole, there was again a three-person chip-off, and this time it was between Penberthy, Finnigan and Shearer.
Penberthy was eliminated as the field was cut down to 10 players.
Jim Pitman had the lowest point score on the 10th hole and he was eliminated, and then there was a chip-off between Dewsbury and Cameron on the 11th, with Cameron being eliminated.
The 12th hole saw Finnigan go into a chip-off for the third time in the final, and he survived again as he knocked Brooks out of contention.
Five of the remaining seven players went into a chip-off on the 13th hole, which included Richardson, Eather, Finnigan, Heffernan and Shearer.
This time, Finnigan was eliminated after his fourth chip-off of the day.
The 14th hole saw a three-player chip-off unfold between Heffernan, Shearer and Eather, with Eather being eliminated.
That saw the field reduced to five players. One of those was defending champion Dewsbury, but he had the lowest point score on the 15th hole and was eliminated.
The remaining four players included Richardson, Heffernan, Shearer and Tout, one of whom would go on to be crowned the club’s newest champion in 2023.
They teed off on the 16th hole and it was Shearer who had the lowest points and was eliminated.
She finished the final in fourth place.
Tout and Heffernan were forced into a chip-off on the 17th hole and it was Heffernan who advanced as Tout dropped out and placed third.
In a nail-biting finish on the 18th and final hole, the remaining two players went to a chip-off, which was won by Richardson as she secured the 2023 shootout final victory, and her opponent Heffernan placed second.
The last remaining two players in Narrabri Golf Club’s 2023 shootout final, Gail Richardson (winner) and Travis Heffernan (runner-up) congratulate one another on the 18th on Sunday. Photo: Narrabri Golf Club
