Conditions were tough for the opening day of competition in the 2018 Craw’s Nest Tassie, with winds of up to 30mph lending to a mixed bag of scores across both courses.
As is the norm, qualifying rounds were played over the Championship and Buddon Links courses.
The best score on the Championship Course was a solid 73 from Steven Brooks of Blyth Golf Club with Stuart Marriott of Birstall Golf Club and St Annes Old Links Golf Club’s Adam Griffin just a shot back after rounds of 74. Last year’s Tassie runner-up Remco Zinken, of Royal Limburg GC carded a 78.
On the Buddon, New Taymouth’s Scott Nicoll led the way with a brilliant round of 66, two shots ahead of Thomas Cummings of Dunscar Golf Club who carded a 68. Current Links Champion Dan Lawrence finished a shot further back on 69.
However, the most impressive achievements of the day were hole-in-ones on the Buddon Links Course for current Links Champion Dan Lawrence and Mat Roche of Baildon Golf Club on the 15th and 17th holes respectively.
In the Longest Drive Competition held in our state-of-the-art Foresight Simulators throughout the day, Remco Zinken led the way with an enormous 338.6yds drive, Arron Williams finished second with 321.5yds and Scott Mann was in third with 311.7yds.
Players switch courses for the second qualifying round before the tournament splits into two sections of 64 players who will compete in matchplay format for the Craw’s Nest Tassie and Maulesbank Trophy respectively.
LEADING SCORES
Championship
Steven Brooks 73
Stuart Marriott 74
Adam Griffin 74
Robert Sluming 75
Robin Lee 76
Steve Sansome 76
Jonas Wenell 77
Remco Zinken 78
Steve Adkins 78
Darren Durose 78
Stuart Butler 78
Leif Lindstrom 79
Joe Whittaker 79
John Jones 79
Andrew Webster 79
David Parker 79
Buddon Links
Scott Nicoll 66
Thomas Cummings 68
Dan Lawrence 69
Mauritz-Jan Oosterhof 69
John Williams 71
Daniel Teece 71
Austin Siggers 71
Daniel Johnson 71
Andy Fyfe 72
Rick Hessing 72
Adam Moore 72
Richard Buck 72
Scott Mann 73
David Abbott 73
Craig Taylor 73
Nigel Hunter 73