WILD weather forced organisers to abandon round two of the Golf Victoria Country Championships yesterday in Melbourne.
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The 36-hole tournament was cut in half after winds gusting to 80km/h brought branches crashing to the ground at Riversdale golf course in Mount Waverley.
South-west trio Alistair Gillin, Nathan Robinson and Shane Gurnett figured in the top 20 after the first round at Settlers Run Golf Course on Monday.
Timboon’s Gillin and Warrnambool’s Robinson signed for rounds of 77 to be at five-under, while Port Fairy’s Gurnett was a shot further back at six under.
They trailed clubhouse leader Zach Murray, of Wodonga, by one shot. The 16-year-old fired a round of 71 to lead 113 other golfers.
Corangamite District Golf Association secretary John Snowden said yesterday the decision to abandon the tournament was commonsense.
“They’ve abandoned today’s round and just declared it an 18-hole event from yesterday,” he said.
“(The conditions are) pretty ordinary, there are trees coming down. It’s very dangerous ... it was a good decision, it was a safety issue.”
The 36-hole tournament formed part of Golf Victoria Country Week, which continues with day one of the teams’ competition today.
Corangamite is in division one. Its day one assignments are against Murray Darling and Bendigo at Victoria golf course, in Cheltenham.
The squad includes Gillin, Robinson, Gurnett, Ash Quick, Phil Beasley, Luke Smith, Troy Richardson, Chris Dunn, Jarrod Schill and Tim Farquharson.
“We’re looking forward to tomorrow. Hopefully the weather is a bit kinder,” Snowden said.
