HAPPY DAYS: Four-time Wentworth club championship winner Craig Stojanovic
IT’S a hat-trick of wins ... sort of.
Craig Stojanovic has taken out the 2012 Wentworth Golf Club A-Grade Club Championship, defeating Travis Roweth 3 and 2.
It’s Stojanovic’s fourth title, having previously won in 2001, 2009 and 2010.
He was unable to play in last year’s competition, making it three victories from his last three attempts.
Second seed Stojanovic and eighth seed Roweth teed off at 8am on Sunday, with Stojanovic 1-up at nine holes and 2-up after the first 18.
Roweth made his move early in the second 18, winning the 1st, 2nd and 3rd to take a one-hole advantage as the overcast conditions turned nasty.
Stojanovic responded, winning the 4th, 6th, 7th and 9th, while dropping the 5th, to restore his two-hole cushion with nine to play.
Although Roweth won the 10th, Stojanovic claimed the 11th and 12th before squaring the remaining holes to take the title.
While obviously happy to claim the silverware, Stojanovic was dissatisfied with his performance.
“I wasn’t too happy with the way I played,” Stojanovic said.
“But the weather didn’t make things easy, especially the rain in the afternoon.”
“I’m just very happy to have won.”
The victor reserved some encouraging words for his younger opponent.
“Travis played really well. He kept pushing all the way to the end,” Stojanovic said.
“I’m sure he’s got some club championships in his future.”
Roweth lamented a couple of loose shots which cost him his chance.
“I had the whole course to aim at off the the tee on the 4th and I put it out of bounds,” he said, explaining the halt to his momentum on the third nine.
“I was 1-up at that stage, but Craig won that hole.
“Then my putter just went cold. I was hitting good putts but they just wouldn’t drop.”
In the finals of the other grades Gary Cornish accounted for Richie Venner 2-up in A-Reserve, Dennis Fardell beat Mario Mastronardi 5 and 4 in B-Grade, while in C-Grade Danny Ross completed a thorough 12 and 11 thrashing of Neville Seton.