Here’s Barry Mitchell proudly showing off the pistols after taking line honors over 72 holes in the much-anticipated former Carlton footballers’ 20th Annual World Cup Golf Tournament recently held on the Sunshine Coast.
Included in the group were old teammates Tom Alvin, Craig Bradley, Adrian Gleeson, Milham Hanna, Matthew Hogg, David Kernahan, Stephen Kernahan, Andrew McKay, Paul Meldrum, Simon Minton-Connell, Dean Rice, Rohan Welsh and Greg Williams.
Competitors took to the challenging greens over four days at the Noosa Springs, Palmer Coolum and Pacific Harbour Resorts. Watching on was one Kernahan S. - the game’s longest-serving captain who didn’t swing a club by virtue of recent shoulder surgery.
Considering himself “something of a tournament regular” having committed to eight of the 20 World Cups so far, McKay was a late arrival to Noosa and so only competed on Saturday and Sunday – which clearly contributed to his inconsistent form.
As he said: “I played terribly on the first day and played okay the second”.
Staged in Stableford format with Hanna the designated handicapper, Barry Mitchell took the coveted trophy on aggregate from Rohan Welsh.
Left to right: Tournament runner-up Rohan Welsh, handicapper Milham Hanna and World Cup winner Barry Mitchell at the final hole. (Photo: Supplied)
“It was neck and neck between Barry Mitchell off a handicap of 36 (two shots a hole) and Rohan Welsh,” McKay said.
“‘Welshy’ closed in on the final day until he found the trees on the second last hole, then blew it with his approach.”
Mitchell joins previous winners including Bradley, Rice and Williams. Mackay, the resident Carlton General Manager Football Operations, is still yet to greet the judge and has resigned himself to the fact that in terms of World Cup participation he’s just making up the numbers.
“I suspect I’m destined never to win it,” he lamented.
Gleeson, a current Carlton director and one of five World Cup organisers (together with Bradley, Hanna, S. Kernahan and Williams) noted that the World Cup had now been held in each of the Australian states, as well as in New Zealand, with either Tasmania or Hong Kong the backdrop for the much-anticipated 2016 event.
