WA junior representative Alice Tonts secured her first state title at the GolfWA Provincial Tournament at Moora Lake View Golf Club.
The 18-year-old Mount Lawley member overcome some changeable weather and her own unfamiliarity with sand greens to post a two-stroke victory in the 36-hole stroke play championship.
Two-handicapper Tonts had the class to adapt quickly to the unique challenges of sand greens golf and fired an 80 to share the first-round lead with four-time winner Marion Nelson (Denmark CC).
Saturday’s rains gave way to glorious sunshine on Sunday as the event became a four-way chase between Tonts, Nelson, Helen Oliver (Harvey GC) and Lisa Wake (Capel GC).
A double bogey for Tonts on her opening hole briefly saw her surrender top spot to Nelson but she bounced back to reach the turn in just 38 strokes to Nelson’s 41.
Playing in the group ahead of Tonts, Oliver matched her young rival’s front nine to establish herself as the likeliest challenger heading down the stretch – especially after a birdie on 10.
However, a costly double bogey on the 18th left the door ajar for Tonts, who carded a rock-solid par of her own to secure the title by two from Nelson and Oliver.
Wake, meanwhile, fired a joint-best-of-the-weekend 78 to race up the standings and claim outright fourth just a stroke further back.
Late call pays dividends
Tonts made a late call to enter the championship as she sought to cram in as much competitive golf as possible before heading off to play US college golf in August.
It was a move that paid off as she followed in the footsteps of Mount Lawley clubmate – now tour pro – Kirsten Rudgeley, who won this event in 2020.
“I’ve had such a good time,” Tonts told GolfWA. “All the ladies were so welcoming, Moora Lake View hosted a great event and I’m so grateful to be able to come here and win.
“This will be one of my last competitions before heading to the US and I’m excited to have won my first state title.”
On having to swiftly adjust to the challenge of sand greens golf, she added: “You might think it would be easy, but there’s definitely an art to it.
“It takes quite a bit of time to get used to scraping the greens and marking the ball, and you have to play a lot of bump and runs rather than flop shots.”
Although the stroke play championship was the main event, the Provincial Tournament once again opened with the traditional Canadian Foursomes event on Friday.
This was won by home-club favourites Denise O’Hern & Donna Keeris on a countback from Marion Nelson & Annette Harbron and Shirley Pascoe & Robin Higgins.
Provincial category winners
Gross winner: Alice Tonts (Mount Lawley GC)
Nett winner: Helen Oliver (Harvey GC)
Adele Ludman Trophy: Jeannie McCaffrey (Cuballing GC – pictured below)
Super Vets: Nyree Brown (Williams GC)
Canadian Foursomes Gross: Denise O’Hern & Donna Keeris (Moora Lake View GC)
Canadian Foursomes Nett: Shirley Pascoe & Robin Higgins (Wongan Hills GC & Gingin GC)
View all the final leaderboards here.
Cuballing GC’s Jeannie McCaffrey won the Adele Ludman Trophy for the best 36-hole gross score from a sand greens club member
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