Warrnambool Golf Club’s veterans championship runner-up and 75-years-plus category winner Alan Anderson, 92.
GOLFER Jeff Earl was quick to shift the attention from himself after claiming the Warrnambool Golf Club veterans’ championship yesterday.
The focus of his praise was runner-up Alan Anderson, a man still swinging clubs at 92 years of age.
“I don’t think he’s been around there for a long time, but he regularly plays every Tuesday with the veterans,” Earl said.
“It’s great for us, a bit of inspiration for us young fellas to keep going.
“There are three or four guys over 90 who play and 20-odd over 80.
“They’re unbelievable, some of these old buggers, and some are playing on quite low handicaps in the mid-teens.”
Earl, 72, shot net rounds of 68 and 67 to post a two-round score of 135 across two Tuesdays at Warrnambool Golf Club.
The former Warrnambool Golf Club manager finished one shot ahead of Anderson, who fired consecutive rounds of 68 for 136.
Earl, who plays off 12, said clutch-putting across the two rounds, combined with a drier golf course, lifted him to victory.
“Because the ball is running a bit further it makes it easier to get to the holes,” he said.
“The greens are running well as well, I holed a lot of putts. I holed a couple of seven or eight-metre putts today.
“I seemed to line them up and they went in the hole,” he said.
“I was only one over after nine (holes) today.
“I fell away on the back nine — I lost the ball on the 14th. I could’ve been better.”
The 2012 veterans’ championship adds to the title Earl won in 2010.
He is also a former club B grade champion and a three-time winner of the Victorian golf club managers’ championship.
Anderson didn’t leave Warrnambool Golf Club yesterday empty-handed — he took out the 75-years-plus category.
Earl won the 70-75 years category and Barry Sullivan won the 55-60 years category.
About 80 golfers competed across all age divisions.
afawkes@standard.fairfax.com.au