The deluge Orange copped last weekend forced Wentworth Golf Club to abandon the 2017 Atlas Copco Open, but club professional Todd Brakenridge was pleased to confirm it has been rescheduled for early next year and is “100 per cent going ahead”.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Wentworth Open is now locked in for January 13 and 14, with the course basically booked out and the holiday season approaching, Brakenridge said finding the first available weekend in 2018 was the most logical choice.
“This period’s pretty busy on the golf scene with the Holden Scramble next week, Christmas Cheer Days and parties and that sort of thing,” he said.
“So it would’ve been tough to find a weekend in the next couple of weeks to play it, and you don’t want to bump those competitions off the course obviously.
“So we’ve locked it in for January 13 and 14 and we’ll have another crack at it then, it’s 100 per cent going ahead.”
Putting a line through the event was never seriously considered anyway, Brakenridge said.
“We were always going to reschedule,” he said.
“When you consider things like sponsors and that sort of thing, you need to respect and honour their commitment to the club, and obviously it’s a big event for the club so we always want it to go ahead.”
We’ve locked it in for January 13 and 14, we’ll have another crack at it then.
- Wentworth professional Todd Brakenridge
Simply, the course wasn’t playable last weekend.
Saturday’s opening round was called off early that morning, the open reverting to an 18-hole competition as a result. But the second round was ultimately cancelled at around 6am on Sunday morning.
“I took a cart out as soon as I got to the course, but even before I’d found the greenkeepers I knew there was no chance,” Brakenridge said, suggesting an ark might’ve been a more appropriate mode of transport.
“We would’ve had to take bunkers out of play and that sort of thing, which we didn’t want to do.
“We’re pretty confident we’ll be able to get it done in January.”
Matt Findlay
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
