CLASSIC WINNER: Marcus Grant putts for birdie on the third hole on Saturday.
Adam Scott may have dished up one of Australia’s worst ever sporting chokes on Monday morning but there were no such troubles for Marcus Grant and Gavin Fitzgerald at Moruya on Sunday.
The winning pair fired a second-round score of eight-under par (63) to claim the Moruya Winter Classic gross championship by one shot over defending champions Brent Hull and Andrew Heskett.
Both teams were even heading into the second and final round they each went seven under par on Saturday.
However Hull and Heskett failed to register a single birdie on the final seven holes and so they fell agonisingly short of back-to-back titles.
The blow was softened somewhat, though, when they were named nett champions.
Of course, the champions were pleased with the win but Grant insisted they could’ve produced an even better score.
“Our scores weren’t too bad. We could’ve gone a lot lower but we missed a lot of putts,” he said.
“I was amazed we won actually.”
Asked whether he was confident before teeing off, Grant hesitated slightly before replying: “Well Gavin is the club champion and we’re both the foursomes champions, so we thought we’d give it a good crack.”
The Moruya course held up “beautifully”, despite the heavy foot traffic. “It was a relief to get a couple of dry days in,” Grant said.
“It was nice because the last couple of years it’s been saturated.
“(The dry days) were nice, but it was also nice just to get a couple of days away from work!”
Grant described the Winter Classic as “getting bigger every year” and he insisted the large number of visitors was a welcomed sight.
“There were about 50 or so who came down from Canberra and we usually only get about 30 or 40.”
As Hull and Heskett finished shortly before the eventual winners, Grant and Fitzgerald had their nerves put to the test on the final hole.
However, Grant said there was no chance they were going to do an “Adam Scott”.
“Not at all. I’d still be drinking if I was that bloke,” Grant said of Scott’s British Open self-destruction.
“The poor bugger, he had an absolute shocker.”
Nett winner Hull said he and Heskett were overall happy with their efforts.
“It wasn’t too bad because we played quite well,” he said.
“It was a great weekend, we had a lot of visitors down and they really enjoyed themselves.”
HOW IT ALL FINISHED:
Gross winners: Gavin Fitzgerald and Marcus Grant with a score of 127 (total, two rounds)
Gross runners-up: T Baldry and J Campbell with a score of 131
Nett winners: Brent Hull and Andrew Heskett with a score of 124.5
Nett runners-up: P Collins and J Murphy with a score of 126.5
Total field: 132 players (56 visitors)
