HEADLINE writers around the country jumped for joy on Sunday afternoon when Peter Senior took out the Australian Open by one shot over former Eurobodalla man Brendan Jones.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Funnily enough, Senior, at age 53, became the oldest ever Aussie Open champion.
It was simply meant to be.
And he had to fight for every shot, too. Gale-force winds wreaked absolute havoc at Sydney’s The Lakes course during Sunday’s final round and play was forced to come to a three-hour halt!
The wind was so bad, even TV reception was hard to come by so thousands (including myself) had to follow the final stages online.
I could only imagine what Jones, who was the clubhouse leader for around an hour, was going through as Senior made his way up the back nine.
The nerves and tension would’ve been just about unbearable. While it would have been nice from a Eurobodalla point of view had Jones won, it’s hard to begrudge Senior his second Open title.
He comes across as a genuinely nice guy and he was simply all class during his trophy presentation speech on Sunday (which took place in darkness after the massive hold up).
Englishman Justin Rose was my pick before the final day’s play, as I thought he would have been able to handle the UK-type conditions the best. However, he faded late on to finish in a tie for fourth, while Adam Scott also disappointed throughout.
RED DEVILS TO TOUCH DOWN IN SYDNEY
Manchester United, arguably the biggest “brand” in world sport, will be in Sydney next July as part of the club’s pre-season tour.
Now, I can’t stand Manchester United – in fact, I loathe them – but this is exciting news.
Most of the time when clubs agree to these sorts of things, they only do it half-heartedly and take B-grade squads with them on their travels.
This won’t be the case in Sydney.
Manchester United’s full-strength line-up is expected to take the field at ANZ Stadium against an A-League All Stars team.
Wayne Rooney, Robin Van Persie, Ryan Giggs and even the one and only Sir Alex Ferguson are all expected to be there.
It cost the NSW Government a cheeky $3 million to attract the current English Premier League leaders to town, but with an 82,000 crowd all but assured and the average ticket price at $107, the tour will earn back at least three times that amount.
The July 20 match will round out a busy few days for Sydney’s Olympic Park – the third State of Origin will take place at the same venue on the preceding Wednesday!
BIG BASH LEAGUE GOES OFF WITH A, UM... BANG?
So version 2.0 of the Big Bash League got underway on the weekend and you’ve got to say the opening round was a bit hit and miss.
Sure, there were some good games – like the ones in Perth and Brisbane – but the two derbies, in Melbourne and Sydney, seemed a little underwhelming to me.
I’m not sure if the gloss from season one has worn off already, but the crowds in both cities were well short of what organisers hoped for.