In what professional Todd Brakenridge calls a “fitting tribute” to Steve Roach the winner of the Epiroc Wentworth Open will claim a newly-established memorial trophy named after the club stalwart, who died in March.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Roach was a former Wentworth president and a long-serving committee member as well, but more importantly he was “just a bloke who loved his golf”.
“It’s a nice little nod to all the work he did, and the effort he put in,” Brakenridge said.
“He was president here and was on the committee for a long time too, but he just loved his golf. Even during that really wet winter in 2016, he was a guy who showed up every Saturday for a hit.
“They’re the kind of people that really make your club so being our biggest tournament of the year we thought it’d be a good way to honour him.”
The race for the inaugural trophy has one clear favourite in Duntryleague’s James Conran, considering he’s won all but one of the Central West District Golf Association opens he’s played this year.
But he can be beaten, Brakenridge says. No one’s unbeatable, after all.
“The way he must be playing at the moment he’ll be very tough to beat, but he definitely can be beaten. (Duntryleague’s) Robert Payne has won 12 opens up here so he’s an obvious one who can challenge,” Brakenridge said, with reigning champion Craig Stojanovic an obvious hopeful as well.
“I’d dearly love to see a Wenty player win it, obviously.”
Brakenridge highlighted the likes of 2018 club champion Jordan Clark and perennial contenders Craig Coles and Jamie Newman as potential local hopes.
“You have to put Jordy in there, being the club champion and guys like Colesy and Jamie Newman have both shot under par at different stages this year,” Brakenridge said.
“The thing is they might have to, or probably will have to, do that two days in a row with guys like James and Payney playing really well at the moment.
“They can definitely win, but they might have to have their best weekends of the year to get into the conversation.”
This weekend’s final open of the CWDGA season will welcome a massive field, the best of any so far this summer.
“We’ll have 200ish playing on Saturday and another 170 or so on the Sunday, which is good for the club, it’s good see so many people coming in to play in these big events,” Brakenridge said.
DO YOU WANT MORE ORANGE SPORT?
- Receive our free newsletters delivered to your inbox, as well as breaking news alerts. Sign up below …
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.
