By Peter Owen
If there’s been a positive to the pandemic that has gripped the globe over the past two years it’s that it led Gabriella Latham-Callcott to discover the game of golf.
“I’m a Covid golfer,” bubbly Gabriella said this week. “If it wasn’t for the virus I’d never have taken it up.”
Gabriella relocated to Noosa from Sydney with her parents three years ago, never giving a thought to playing golf.
When coronavirus pretty much closed everything but golf in 2020, she persuaded her dad Mark to take her with him one day while he practised.
“That was it,” she said. “I hit a few shots and I was hooked.”
Gabriella borrowed a set of clubs, had a few lessons and decided to join Noosa Springs as a member.
After a few games she gained a handicap of 32, couldn’t play to it, and watched as it crept out to 36.
Gabriella simply continued to play and practice, took lessons with Peter Heiniger and, when her 21st birthday rolled around last October, bought herself a brand new set of clubs.
She even got a job working at the Noosa Springs Golf Shop.
Commitment like that deserves its own reward, and it wasn’t long before Gabriella’s results started to show real improvement. Her handicap began to shrink.
Last Wednesday, Gabriella won the women’s competition at Noosa Springs, tallying 37 stableford points.
“I hadn’t played any competition golf for about six weeks, so I was really pleased with myself,” she said.
It cost her another stroke from her handicap, but Gabriella doesn’t care.
Indeed, she has her own goals – and they don’t include remaining on a 17 handicap.
“I want to get really good at golf,” she said. “I’m prepared to work hard and my goal is to be on nine or 10 by the end of the year.”
She’s fallen hopelessly in love with the game, plays two or three times a week and speaks passionately about the lovely people she’s met, the thrill of learning new skills, and the satisfaction of continually improving.
On Friday she drove to Brisbane to watch the second round of the Australian PGA Championship, and was further motivated by watching the play of some of Australia’s best golfers.
“It was super exciting,” she said. “My only regret is that I didn’t take up the game as a young child. I had to wait until I was 20.”
Peregian star’s future shines brightly
She’s still only 19, but Cassie Porter is already a legend at Peregian Golf Club. And that was before her impressive top 10 placing in the women’s Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland at the weekend.
Making her debut as a professional, Cassie shot rounds of 72, 73, 74 and 71 in a performance that promised greater things for the teenager. Her $3200 prizemoney will come in useful, too.
She’ll next appear in the WPGA Melbourne International at Latrobe Golf Club in Victoria on Monday and Tuesday, before contesting the Webex Players Series at Rosebud and the Victoria Open at 13th Beach in early February.
Cassie is also a confirmed starter in The Athena, at Sandy Golf Links, from February 26 to 27.
The Athena is an innovative concept that showcases the skills and personalities of Australia’s best young female golfers, and will be broadcast live on Fox Sports and Kayo.
In addition to $30,000 prizemoney and an endorsement contract for 12 months from Adidas Golf, the winner of the Athena will receive playing exemptions to the 2022/2023 Women’s Australian Open and 2023 Vic Open.
Better luck next time for George
Noosa’s George Giblett was slightly off his game when he competed in the Master of the Amateurs at Melbourne’s Victoria Golf Club last week.
Giblett fired rounds of 79, 82 and 74 on the tight sandbelt course – not enough to qualify for the fourth and final round of the elite amateur tournament.
Harrison Crowe was the winner, with rounds of 68, 70, 72 and 72. Another Sunshine Coast player, Headland teenager Ben Duncombe scored 87, 76 and 80 to also miss the 54-hole cut. Rhianna Lewis (74, 78, 75, 72) was seventh in the women’s division.
Bright new star bursts on the scene
He plays like a young Greg Norman and looks like Lleyton Hewitt, and Brisbane’s Jed Morgan is on the verge of a sporting career that may equal those two Aussie legends.
In a performance reminiscent of the barnstorming entry to big-time golf by Norman back in the 1970s, Morgan easily won the Australian PGA at the weekend.
Along the way, he set a string of records, including:
• The greatest winning margin in Australian PGA Championship history (11 strokes),
• Equal-lowest score in relation to par in championship history (22 under),
• Lowest score in championship history (262), and
• Youngest winner in history of Australian PGA stroke play championship (22 years, one month, 18 days)
It was just the fourth professional tournament for the young man who is coached by Sunshine Coaster Grant Field.
Morgan is now almost assured of a DP World Tour card at year’s end, and his cheque for $180,000 will ease any financial worries for the rest of the year.
Brief comeback for Karrie
Karrie Webb, statistically the best Australian golfer who ever lived, is planning a comeback to LPGA Tour golf – nearly two years since her last appearance in a tour event.
She’ll line up in the Gainbridge LPGA event at Boca Rio next week.
But the World Golf Hall of Fame member said the main reason for competing was that the course was close to her home. Besides, she wants to see if she’s still capable of competing.
“We’ll see how it goes, but if I’m not going to play in a tournament when I can stay in my own home, then I’m probably not going to play anymore,” she said.
Webb told the ABC she had endured a wear-and-tear neck injury in recent years and she wanted to test it under pressure.
But she dismissed any notion of playing full-time golf again. “I don’t really see any sort of full-time or part-time schedule, really. It’d just be a handful of events here and there, events that I like.
“And obviously I want to play again in Australia. That’s definitely on the schedule for sure. Other than that, nothing set in stone at this stage.”
The seven-time major winner last played full-time in America in 2017. She played a limited schedule in 2018 and 2019 and just three events, two of them in Australia, in 2020.
The inaugural Karrie Webb Cup will be presented to the winner of the Fortinet Australian WPGA Championship at Royal Queensland on Sunday.
Club competitions
NOOSA SPRINGS
Monday, 10 January
Men’s stableford: Bob Layton 37c/b, Robert Joske 37, Douglas Oates 35; women’s: Sandie Tregaskis 35c/b, Rowena Faerch 35, Lianne Wamsteeker 33c/b.
Tuesday, 11 January
Men’s stableford: Luke Cummings 36c/b, Tony Carabetta 36, George Cummins 35; women’s: Beryl Rowan 33, Molly Kelly 20.
Wednesday, 12 January
Men’s stableford: James McCulloch 38, Vince Green 37c/b, Simon Cotton 37; women’s: Gabriella Latham-Callcott 37, Amanda Harburg 36, Jen Carr 35.
Thursday, 13 January
Men’s Black Tee stableford: Ben Kearney 43, Josh Constable 38, Finn Boyle 32c/b.
Saturday, 15 January
Men’s stableford: Michael Hitchcock 41c/b, Tony Carabetta 41, Terry Gee 39; women’s stableford: Dorothy Marlow 39, Wendy Hopping 38, Shard Lorenzo 37.
Sunday, 16 January
Men’s Sunday Series, stableford: William Coman 38c/b, Martin Scollon 38, Michael Holmes 36.
