Troy Robinson and Aileen Buckley are the men’s and ladies club champions at Yarrawonga Mulwala Golf Club Resort for 2025.
After some 15 years of close finishes including fives time as runner-up, Robinson finally broke through to win his first title.
“It’s a massive relief,” he said. “I finally got it. Jay Ar (Martin) ‘belted me’ five times.”
The 51-year-old assistant manager at Reece Plumbing in Yarrawonga recorded rounds of 78, 73 and 75 to finish with a 10 over par total of 226, nine shots clear of runner-up Mitchell Davis who led after the first round with a 75. In third place was Mark McInerney with 241.
Aileen Buckley had to come from seven shots behind second round leader Kirri Davis to win her inaugural club championship.
After round 2, it appeared the possibility of history repeating itself at YMGCR with Kirri and son Mitchell Davis claiming the club championships - in 1987, Karen Droop and son Evan won the two titles.
But Aileen and Troy had other ideas. In a massive swing on the leaderboard, the eventual ladies winner fired a superb last round 77 to Kirri’s 86, to win by two strokes. An impressive Dot Brodie finished third.
At the club presentations, an emotional 12-handicapper and left-hander Aileen said of the result: “Who would have thought? I played the best round I’ve ever played, and Kirri (off 6) didn’t have her best day.”
Aileen expressed her thanks to husband Steve for his inspiration, particularly come the final day and to head professional Evan Droop for fixing her previous bad slice.
“Steve’s always believed in me and fortunately for me it worked beautifully today.”