Peter Senior was the highlight act when the Legends Tour visited Northern this week. With Peter were 60 other professional golfers including many who we might have seen in the Masters or Australian Opens played on our golf course. The field included Peter Fowler, Mike Harwood, Terry Price, Lucien Tinkler and many others who were Australia’s touring pros and in the fields when we followed the likes of Greg Norman, Craig Parry and Ian Baker-Finch around Huntingdale and Royal Melbourne in years past. The Herald-Sun described the field as the best collection of Aussie golfers assembled in many years. 

Northern was the premier course in the Victorian leg of the tour which also took in Mandalay, Portsea and Portarlington, Settlers Run and Gardiners Run. The Legends Tour is quite competitive with the old guys out to prove they’re not done yet and OOM is key for many just to get a game. However the winners still seem to be those who won in years gone by. 

Heath and the Pro Shop team put together a packed field of 165 amateurs including sponsors and their guests for the am and pm events. Many Northern members took up the opportunity and enjoyed the day with the pros and may have got some tips along the way.

Patrick Crabb was the best in the morning with 41 points, Ken Pengelly 40, Phillip Lane 39 and Laura Everett 39, and Kerry-Lee Biesboer beat all the men with the longest drive on the 13th. Greg Fagan 36 was best of the Northern players in the afternoon which was won by Matthew Hodgkiss from Kyneton with 37.

The 6th hole drew most attention for the day with a Mazda up for the hole in one prize and a camera-man there to film every shot. Everyone played from the Men’s tee with the flag at the back. No pressure on your shot with 15 or more watching closely and only one shot came close. The Mazda man took his car home again. Maybe next year.

Brad Burns and Peter Fowler played best in the windy conditions and were joint winners with 68s, Ben Jackson and Lucien Tinkler 70s and Peter Senior was among three others on 71. Peter Fowler speaking on behalf of the players congratulated Superintendent Greg Burgess on the quality of the course. Ray Bonnici and his team did a pretty good job with the meals too. Another successful Pro-Am at Northern.and special thanks to Bryan Milligan who ran the event.