The fields are full, the forecast is good and the courses are in phenomenal nick, so all signs point to another outstanding edition of the City of Orange Golf Championships this weekend.
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And if you ask tournament director John Cook, the two players to watch are undeniably the reigning champions.
Duntryleague’s Robert Payne and Killara’s Jan Crichton, the 2017 men’s and women’s champions respectively, will both be on deck for this weekend’s three-day, 54-hole tournament, which begins at Duntryleague on Saturday.
Considering the way they both won last year, by seven and five shots respectively, Cook says they have to be considered the favourites.
“Payney is the obvious choice, the logical favourite in the men’s competition,” Cook said, the 16-time champion is in form too after winning the Dubbo Open just last week.
“He’s playing some pretty good golf at the moment too so I wouldn’t like to back against him, but there is a lot of good players in the field too.
“Someone like Craig Stojanovic is always a chance if Payney puts a foot wrong, and these single-figure and scratch markers play off those handicaps for a reason, so you can never rule anyone out in this kind of event.
“Jan Crichton is coming back and she’ll be pretty hard to beat I think, but again there’s a lot of single-figure lady golfers playing this year that i think will be in the mix.
“More than anything I think there’ll just be some really good golf played, if anyone’s interested in coming out for a look.”
Crichton’s task of defending her title will be made somewhat easier by the fact Alison Seib, who won six titles on the trot between 2010 and 2015, won’t be teeing up this weekend.
Payne and his fellow contenders’ chances will also be boosted by the fact 2015 men’s champion James Conran won’t be in the bumper field, which has more than 220 players taking the course each day.
“There’s about a 75-25 split of men to women in that field. We did have a few more last year but even so we’re really happy with the field and it’s just such a good event for the city,” Cook said.
Saturday’s first round is at Duntryleague, while Wentworth hosts Sunday’s second round and Monday’s final round is at the Country Club.
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.
