Curtis Luck of Cottesloe Golf Club and Minjee Lee of Royal Fremantle have taken out the prestigious Paxton Average and Ivie Temperley Consistency Trophies in 2014.
The Paxton Averages (Men) and Ivie Temperley Consistency Trophy (Women) are regarded by some as the holy grail of Western Australian Amateur golf. The trophies are awarded to the players who return the lowest average for scores achieved in all state and national events and those club open events which have been awarded Paxton Average status from August 2013 through to July of 2014.
The previous winner list reads like a who’s who of Western Australian Golf, with luminaries such as Terry Gale (6 times), Roger Mackay (5 times), Stephan Leaney (3 times), Michael Sim (Twice), Craig Parry (Twice), Greg Chalmers, Brett Rumford, Stephen Dartnall, Matt Jager, Rick Kulacz and Brady Watt all lofting the famous Roy Paxton Trophy.
Minjee Lee’s average score of 65.72 in 2014 is without precedent, eclipsing her 2013 winning average of 66.20. While the method of calculating the of the women’s averages was changed in 2012 to match the men’s system, Lee’s incredible past 12 months is undoubtedly the best season of amateur golf in WA’s history.
This year was Minjee Lee’s third straight averages win, while Curtis Luck has won his first.
Since 1970, only three golfers have broken an average below 69 in Kim Felton in 1999 (68.75), Michael Sim in 2005 (68.52) and Brady Watt (67.50). Curtis Luck’s average of 69.35 is the fifth best Paxton Average season on record, putting him ahead of Brett Rumford (69.84, 1997), Stephen Leaney (69.57, 1992), Greg Chalmers (69.79, 1994) and Craig Parry (70.41, 1985).
