NEW Murray Downs golf captain James McLean came from behind to claim his third consecutive men’s club championship at the weekend.
McLean entered the final two rounds trailing club vice-captain Luke Merritt by three strokes, but a round three score of 73 was enough to claim the A Grade championship with a total of 305.
The final margin could have been greater but for a wobbly finish by McLean, who closed out his round with a 9, 5 and 6 on the last three holes.
“It’s a very nice feeling to be fortunate enough to win three on the trot,” he said.
“It’s always something that you go into wanting to win.
“Luke (Merritt) is a very, very good player. He unfortunately had a few blow-outs early in the round, which sort of gave me a bit of room to breathe.
“I was hoping to run with it from there, but unfortunately for me I got it a lot closer at the end than it should have been.
“It was really pleasing to see that we had some great competition out there, we had contested championships across the grades.”
McLean said his first win as club captain had kept him on his toes both on and off the course.
“It’s a bit of a different feeling this year,” he said.
“You sort of don’t get as much time to celebrate the win as before, you’re a bit more focused on making sure the stuff behind the scenes gets done.
“Thankfully some of the guys were willing to help me set that up in the morning.
“Luke is the vice-captain as well, and he did some great work to make sure the barbecue was all set up for me as well.”
While he once dreamed of playing professionally, Mclean said he was happy for golf to be a pastime.
“Back in the day I would have loved to have gone a lot further than I have,” he said.
“I did play some tournament stuff in Melbourne a while back, but now with two young girls and everything, golf is just a hobby.
“I go out there to have fun, if the scores are good, then good, if not then ultimately I’m not getting paid. I’m just out there for fun and to have a good laugh with the guys I’m playing with.
“I just love playing golf, and Murray Downs is by far one of the better courses around. We are very spoilt with what we have here in Swan Hill, and I think a lot of people don’t actually recognise the quality of the golf course.”
McLean said he was looking forward to helping Murray Downs attract more young golfers to the club.
“I just want to see the club grow and do as well as it can,” he said.
“Obviously we’ll try to get some bigger tournaments here in the future and play my little role to do whatever I can to assist that.
“I want to help some of the younger guys, the guys like Noah Starr and young Lleyton (McLean) who won B Grade to take the reins and to see how far they can take their golf.
“It’d be great to get a few more young ones out there.”
Lleyton McLean claimed B Grade honours with a total of 328, Jason Perry scored 356 to win the C Grade championship and Darryl Domaille stormed home to win D Grade with a total of 379.
The junior competition was won by Noah Starrs, while Robert Forster and Ross Kenyon won the Seniors and Veterans competitions respectively.
