| Brett Rankin Storms Home To Win 2010 Wayne Grady Cup |
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| Pacific's Brett Rankin (pictured above with President Chris Hunter) has produced a stellar second round to win the 2010 Wayne Grady Cup. On a day which saw plenty of high scores, Rankin shot 73-67-140 to win by two shots from Cameron Powell and Grant Lewis. |
| It's yet another win on the impressive resume of this 23-year-old. Rankin won the 2008 Queensland Men's Amateur Stroke Play Championship and topped the Angus Buchanan averages for the 2007-08 year. Others might remember him as the "unknown" amateur who was paired with Craig Parry and Stuart Appleby at the 2008 Australian Open (following the withdrawal of Adam Scott). Rankin was recently named as part of Queensland team to compete in the upcoming Australian Interstate Series for the fifth consecutive year. |
| Players were greeted with cool and windy conditions for their morning round. It was just 7 degrees when play began and many competitors could be seen rubbing their hands to warm up. Not a single member of the 78 man field broke their handicap in the morning. Following a tasty buffet lunch, things warmed up considerably in the afternoon. 8 sub par rounds were turned in and the scoring average improved by more than 2 shots. |
| Rankin's opening round of 73 saw him placed four shots behind the early leader. Teeing off the 10th in the afternoon, Rankin quickly made a move with a birdie on the 10th and an eagle on the 13th. He kept up the momentum with four more birdies (offset against three bogies) to finish with an afternoon score of 67. It tied the low round of the day and was good enough for victory. |
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Cameron Powell Pinches Second Place
Brisbane Golf Club's Cameron Powell moved into second place with a strong afternoon performance of this own.
After an opening round of 73, Powell produced three birdies and just a solitary bogey in the afternoon to post a 69. His total of 142 was enough to win the runner-up prize on a countback from Grant Lewis.
It was no surprise to see Powell amongst the winners given his own good form. In the past month, Powell has finished second at the Queensland Men's Sand Greens Championship at Boulia and won the Queensland Mixed Foursomes Championship with partner Courtney Massey at Burleigh.
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Joseph Webber Takes Nett Crown
17-year-old Joseph Webber from Wolston Park made the most of his 4 handicap to claim the 36-hole nett prize. Webber finished with nett scores of 72-69-141 to win by 4 shots. He was the only player to finish below his handicap over the two rounds.
Webber also took advantage of the calm afternoon conditions to make his charge. Teeing off the tricky 6th, he birdied 5 of his first 13 holes and it set the stage for a great round. |
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Alex Wall Holds Torch For Virginia
Virginia's Alex Wall was the 36-hole nett runner-up following a sensational comeback performance. After a disappointing 78 in the morning, Wall (starting on the 13th) kicked off his afternoon round with eagle - birdie - par - birdie to be 4 under after 4 holes. He made two more birdies on the front nine to shoot a 67 - his lowest ever round at Virginia.
Wall finished in outright 5th place for the tournament, just 5 shots behind Rankin. Ben Fletcher was the only other Virginian to finish inside the top 10 with scores of 79-68-147.
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Other Notable Peformances
Coming off his win in the Burleigh Cup three weeks ago, Grant Lewis from Robina Woods (pictured left) fired the only under par round in the morning with an impressive 69.
Recently selected in the Queensland team, Wynnum's Chris Wood (pictured right) shot the equal best score in the afternoon with a 67. His round included an amazing 7 birdies - including 4 straight between holes 10 and 13. |
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Another Hole-In-One? On The 9th? Your Kidding Me!
In last year's inaugural Wayne Grady Cup, Ryan Mulvany produced the shot of the day on the 9th with a hole-in-one.
Despite (1) the pin being tucked over the left trap and (2) the hole playing almost 200m in length, we had another hole-in-one this year. Dillon Hart from Emerald Lakes selected a 5-iron, took aim at the flagstick... and the rest is now history. |
| Special Thanks |
| Special thanks have to go to... |
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Andrew Halliday, Rowan Fletcher, Graham Tassle, Val McKellar and Karen Cooper for helping organise the event. |
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Our Course Superintendent, Barry Lemke, and his team for again getting the course in superb condition. |
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Matt Ryan and his catering crew for serving up a wonderful buffet lunch. |
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All the players for helping us create another worthy tournament in Queensland for top players to hone their skills. |
| Prize Winners Summary & Scores |
| For those interested, here’s a quick rundown of the prize winners... |
| 36-hole gross winner |
Brett Rankin (Pacific) |
73-67-140 |
| 36-hole gross runner-up |
Cameron Powell (Brisbane) |
73-69-142 |
| 36-hole nett winner |
Joseph Webber (Wolston Park) |
72-69-141 |
| 36-hole nett runner-up |
Alex Wall (Virginia) |
78-67-145 |
| 18-hole AM gross winner |
Grant Lewis (Robina Woods) |
69 |
| 18-hole PM gross winner |
Chris Wood (Wynnum) |
67 |
| 18-hole AM nett winner |
Ricky Esteb (The Grand) |
71 |
| 18-hole PM nett winner |
Lachlan Wall (Surfers Paradise) |
69 |
| NTP – 3rd hole |
Warwick Oxenford (Brisbane) |
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| NTP – 9th hole |
Dillon Hart (Emerald Lakes) |
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| NTP – 12th hole |
Steve Thompson (Windaroo) |
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| NTP – 14th hole |
Alex Phillips (Burleigh) |
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| A full list of all the final scores (for the 78 players in the field) can be found by clicking here. |
| A few photos from the day can be found below. We hope to see you again next year! |
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