Standing on the 18th tee at Noosa Springs last week, 41 stableford points already safely tucked away, 15-year-old Freddie Newing was contemplating a round for the ages – something he could boast about to his mates at school.
Not even an errant tee shot on that final hole dimmed his dream.
So, despite his dad Shaun’s advice to take his medicine, play safe, and take advantage of the two shots the 26-handicapper had on the hole, Freddie went for broke.
You don’t need me to tell you what happened.
Freddie hit it into the trees, took two to get out, then lost the next shot into the forest. When he added it all up, it was a 10 – zero points under the stableford scoring method.
“Perhaps I was a little over-confident,” a rueful Freddie conceded after the round.
Not that it mattered a jot. Freddie’s 41 points was good enough to win the Wednesday competition – and it certainly ignited the teenager’s interest in a game that, until now, has played a distant second fiddle to cricket.
Freddie Newing and his family are on holiday in Noosa.
He lives in Melbourne, is a member of a golf club at Wollongong, where his grandparents live, and loves nothing better than visiting Noosa, where dad Shaun is a corporate member of Noosa Springs.
They’re here for another week, and Freddie plans to play golf most of those days.
His heroics last week cost him three strokes from his handicap, but Freddie doesn’t care. He wants to cut it to single figures by the end of the year, and is already planning lessons from a pro when he returns to Melbourne.
Until now his sporting passion has been cricket. He’s an all-rounder with Youlden-Parkville’s A Reserve side in Melbourne’s Mercantile Cricket Association – not bad going for a 15-year-old.
When he gets home he’ll be starting Year 10 at Melbourne Grammar School.
Right now, though, he’s loving playing golf alongside his dad – a handy 15-handicapper – and learning a little more about the management side of the game and how to finish off a great round.
Scott puts his money on Europe
Don’t plan on catching a glimpse of Adam Scott around his Sunshine Beach home anytime soon.
The 2013 US Masters winner and his family are now basing themselves at their alternate home in Switzerland, and Scott is reacquainting himself with the DP World Tour – known until late last year as the European Tour.
It’s a far cry from 2020, when Scott bunkered down for much on the year on the Sunshine Coast as Covid raged throughout the world.
He returned to the US towards the end of 2020 and, ironically, was one of the first members of the US PGA Tour to contract the virus, from which he quickly recovered.
Scott’s career suffered, however. Shortly before the world was put on pause, he had won the Australian PGA Championship and the Genesis Invitational, and climbed to number seven in the Official World Golf Rankings.
He went winless for two years after that, and began his 2022 campaign last week at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship ranked number 51 in the world.
It was a good move. Scott played four solid rounds – 70, 72, 68 and 72 – to finish 10th after contending midway through the final round.
Scott, 41, had not played in the Middle East since 2009, but the region held positive memories for the Queenslander, a two-time winner in the desert.
“A change in the schedule, a fresh start – it all feels really good for me,” said Scott, who will contest this week’s Dubai Desert Classic for the first time in 20 years.
“It was a frustrating year and that was following on from getting a bit better balance given the circumstances everywhere around the world.
Scott’s plan is to compete this year on both the DP World Tour and the PGA TOUR, while remaining based in Europe.
The Scottish Open, Barbasol Championship and the Barracuda Championship will now count towards both money lists and provide players such as Scott with greater flexibility in building their schedule.
“There’s obviously been many challenges for everyone the last few years, and not letting that get you down and remembering that every time you get to the golf course is a great opportunity,” he said.
It’s unlikely Scott will get to enjoy Noosa life until at least the end of the year – and even that will depend on how the world is then coping with Covid.
Golfers dig deep for surf lifesaving
Nearly 120 golfers gathered at Noosa Springs last week – to enjoy a game of golf, to be sure, but also to raise money for surf lifesaving and to keep swimmers safe.
It was the annual charity golf day for Sunshine Beach Surf Lifesaving Club – an event that organiser Michelle Burnett has worked hard over recent years to turn into a major fund-raising occasion.
This year the golfers helped raise $18,500 which will go a long way towards making our beaches safer.
“It’s the biggest day we’ve ever had, and the most money we’ve ever raised,” Burnett said.
The day’s competition was won by the team from sponsor Scientific Games.
Slow start no bother to Quayle
Despite a terrible double-bogey on the first hole, Gold Coaster Anthony Quayle hung on to score a two-stroke victory in the weekend’s Queensland PGA Championship at Nudgee.
Leading by six strokes when the final round began, Quayle won from NSW’s Daniel Gale, with Louis Dobbelaar, third. Dobbelaar is coached by Sunshine Coast-based Grant Field, whose protégé Jed Morgan won the Australian PGA the previous week.
Best of the Sunshine Coast pros was Shae Wools-Cobb whose last round 68 took him into a share of 22nd.
Club competitions
NOOSA
Monday 17 January
Women’s stableford: A grade – Barbara Daly 37, Paula Jeffery 36, Cynthia Duco 35c/b; B grade – Alice Cumming 37, Heather Birt 36, Jane Peterson 35.
Tuesday 18 January
Men’s stableford: A grade – Steve Grey 38, Michael Napier 37c/b, Mark Trevanion 37c/b, Alan Holley 37c/b; B grade – Murray Joseph 39, Graham Dacombe 38, Mike Dehnert 37, Peter Wright 36; C grade – Neil Bickley 39, Barrie Cooper 38c/b, Michael Breid 38c/b, Adrian Ward 38c/b.
Wednesday, 19 January
Vets stableford: A grade – Graham Farrell 38, Alastair Kerrison 37c/b, John Bennett 37; B grade – Graeme Caffyn 38, Phil Grieve 37c/b, Bob Foster 37; C grade – Evan Millar 38, Ralphe Rickman 37, Allan Emery 35c/b.
Thursday 20 January
Women’s 4BBB stableford: Bronwyn Dean & Gail Murden 44c/b, Cynthia Duco & Karen Haynes 44, Gwen Steel & Pamela Lavender 41c/b.
Saturday 22 January
Men’s 2-ball aggregate stableford: Strid Brendon & Michael Brennan 75, Greg Smith & Roger Waters 72, Alan Meredith & Mark Skiperdene 69c/b; women’s: Jess Fleming & Tash Baker 67, Paula Jeffrey & Jan Smith 64, Cindy Lawson & Noreen Flood 63.
NOOSA SPRINGS
Monday 17 January
Men’s Senior Medal, stroke: Peter Cordukes 68c/b, Robert Joske 68, Jeff Forbes 69; women’s: Tereza Holley 71c/b, Sally Simmons 71c/b, Carol Moloney 71.
Tuesday 18 January
Men’s stableford: James Boyle 39, Andrew Blonk 38, Martin Scollon 36c/b; women’s: Carole Blonk 35, Berenice Holmes 34c/b, Diana Goss 34.
Wednesday 19 January
Men’s stableford: Fredderick Newing 41, Chris Coombe 40, Vince Green 37; women’s: Diana Foulsham 37, Karen O’Brien 36, Tereza Holley 35.
Saturday 22 January
Men’s stableford: Brian Clark 41, Christopher Harrold 37c/b, Fergus Legh 37c/b; women’s: Debbie Healy 39, Lee-Ann Hay 38, Amanda Harburg 37.
Sunday 23 January
Men’s Sunday Series, stableford: Mike Angus 38, Phil Harrison 37, Bruce McCleary 36; women’s: Dana Angus 31, Elizabeth Wadsworth 28c/b, Leilani McDowall 28.
