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2018 Victorian Open and ISPS HANDA Australia Open
The 2018 Victorian Open and the 2018 ISPS HANDA Australian Open will be played at Rosebud Country Club on March 5/6 and March 8/9 respectively. Further details including entry forms are available under Coming Events.
NSW and ISPS HANDA Australian Championships Sydney October 2017
Blind Golf NSW staged its own NSW State championship as well as conducting the 2017 ISAPS HANDA Australian championships on behalf of Blind Golf Australia in Sydney in October 2017. Both events were a huge success and well attended - although our blind golfers found scoring on both courses difficult! BGA thanks BGNSW and its Board and members for making these events so successful.
2017 Vision Australia NSW Blind Golf Open - 36 hole stroke played at Bankstown Golf Club October 5/6
20 players from all mainland states of Australia plus overseas guests Carol Brill Ireland, Andy Sellars England and Kiefer Jones Canada completed this event. It is fair to say that just about every player had at least one hole they would prefer to forget. Playing very steady golf Rod Mills (NSW) and his caddy Mike Mills won the event with a net150. Kiefer Jones Canada won the best gross with an excellent score of 161 – playing off a 5 handicap. Ladies Champion was Jenny McCallum (WA) with net 158.
B1 net winner David Blyth (Vic), gross winner Doug Sloan (Vic), B2 net winner Stephen Mitchell (NSW), B2 gross winner Andy Sellars (England), B3 net winner Jeff Ellis (Vic), B3 gross winner Brad Carver (Qld).
All scores can be found under NSW Open results
2017 ISPS HANDA Australian Blind Golf Open 36 hole stroke event played at Royal Sydney October 8/9
This event was staged at the prestigious Royal Sydney Golf Club on Sunday/Monday October 8/9. The general comment from the blind golfers participating was that the experience was one to be had – but the course was a little difficult for most vision impaired golfers. BGA was delighted with the 29 players including 3 overseas entrants who entered this event.
After the first day’s play , new member Michele Watts NSW and Andy Sellars England were joint leaders with net 81, from Kiefer Jones Canada net 82 and Mark Eschbank NSW/Malcolm Elliott WA net 85. Michele continued her good form on the Monday scoring an excellent net 69 for a tournament total 150 to win from Kiefer Jones net 156, Deanna Minciullo WA 163, and Andy Sellars and Mark Eschbank net 171. Congratulations Michele – winning an Australian Open at your second try in a blind golf tournament is a great achievement.
All scores can be found under Australian Opens 2017 results
BGA Order of Merit
BGA's 2017/17 Order of Merit concluded with the 2017 ISPS HANDA Australian Open played at Royal Sydney on October 8/9. Order of Merit (OOM) Points are awarded for performance and participation in the 12 major events played throughout Australia over a 2 year period. The OOM is used as the major determinate to decide Australia’s team for the ISPS HANDA Biennial World Championships.
The OOM has been very close since the 2016 Victorian Open, the first event of the 2016/17 OOM. It is very pleasing to note that 37 players scored OOM points over the 2 years.
The winner of the 2016/17 OOM was that stalwart of blind golf in David Blyth Victoria who scored 89.33 points to win narrowly from David Wheatley Victoria with 87 points, and newcomer Brad Carver Queensland (who only commenced blind golf in July 2016) with 83.5 points. David Blyth was one of only 3 players (the others Gary Sargent NSW and Doug Sloan Victoria) who played in all 12 OOM events.
For the first time the BGA Board has awarded a medallion to the OOM winner - this will be presented to David in the near future.
All OOM scores are included under the Order of Merit Section.
2017 BGA Annual General Meeting
BGA's 2017 AGM was held at Bankstown Golf Club on October 5 2017. The main item of business was the election of the BGA Board for the current year. Rick Krolik decided not to renominate as a Director, and the members present thanked Rick for his services to blind golf. The new Board is Doug Sloan (Victoria) President, Rod Mills (NSW) Vice President, Peter North (Victoria) Secretary/Treasurer, and Board members David Martin (WA), Brad Carver (Qld) and Handicapper Geoff Walsh (Victoria).2017 Western Australian Open Championship
The Western Australian Blind Golf Open took place on September 7th and 8th at Collier Park Golf Course in Perth. 12 golfers competed for honours on two great days of golf. Brad Carver from Queensland followed up on his win at last year’s Australian Open held in WA with a win in the WA Open in 2017. Again, Brad was ably assisted by his grandson Josiah Gilbert as caddy.
Brad won the championship with a score of 75. Runner up was Dave Martin with caddy Chris Roberts on 71.
David Blyth with Gary McInnes as caddy won the B1 category on 64 beating his long-time rival Doug Sloan, President of Blind Golf Australia -Doug’s caddie was Jo Delaney.
In the B2 category John White with his caddie Ross Thompson were winners as they were in 2016 with a score of 68. Gary Sargent was runner up with his wife Eileen Sargent.
It was also kept in the family with Doug Burrows winning the B3 category assisted by daughter Lynley on 64.
| Event | Golfer | Caddie | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| B1 Winner | David Blyth | Gary McInnes | 64 |
| B1 Runner Up | Doug Sloan | Jo Delaney | 33 |
| B2 Winner | John White | Ross Thompson | 68 |
| B2 Runner Up | Gary Sargent | Eileen Sargent | 64 |
| B3 Winner | Doug Burrows | Lynley Burrows | 64 |
| Overall Winner | Brad Carver | Josiah Gilbert | 75 |
| Runner Up | Dave Martin | Chris Roberts | 71 |
Niciejewski wins 2017 Queensland Open
BGA played our second Queensland Blind and Vision Impaired Open at Virginia Golf Club on July 17/18 2017. BGA acknowledges the support of Vision Australia , Virginia Golf Club, Golf Queensland and the members of the Aspley Rotary Club in making this event a success.
BGA was delighted to have 15 players from 5 states compete in this event. For the first time 4 Queensland residents competed in a major blind golf event –and in the week Queensland won the Rugby League State of Origin, the "locals" excelled themselves by finishing in 4 of the top 5 places.
After the first day Glenn Niciejewski ( Qld, who is a B1 , totally blind) with his caddy Mark Tookey led with 40 points from newcomer Michael Maurice (Qld) playing his major event and his caddy Len Smyth with 38 points. Glenn started very nervously on the second day, scoring only 2 points on the first 4 holes-then proceeded to "shoot the lights" out with 46 points on the next 14 holes to finish with 48 point and easily win the event with 88 points . Glenn has been playing competitive blind golf since 2010 –and this was by far the best round he has ever had! Another newcomer in Raeann Shields (Qld) and her caddy Julie Anning by virtue of an excellent 43 points on the second day was runner up with 73 points. The B1 winner was David Blyth ( Vic) and caddy Gary McInnes, B2 was won by Gary Sargent (NSW) and his caddy Eileen Sargent and B3 was won by Michael Maurice ( Qld) and his caddy Len Smyth.
For full score and trophy winner details please go to "Results-Queensland"
Website Update
This website has been totally updated to eliminate duplication, delete irrelevant and out of date items and add new items which hopefully readers will find of interest. In particular we have added a totally new section on how to get started in blind golf in Australia including a copy of the sight certificate required, updated contacts and revamped all BGA policies governing blind golf played in Australia—the latter is important for current members to read—go to Policies.
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