Queensland’s Lachlan Wood overcame stubborn resistance from Cameron Pollard to clinch the WA Open All Abilities Championship at Joondalup Resort & Country Club.
The 36-hole All Abilities Championship for golfers with physical impairments was played over Saturday and Sunday at the same time, on the same course and in the same conditions as the WA Open itself.
Ten players contested this year’s event, with NSW’s Pollard looking to complete a ‘three-peat’ after winning the past two iterations of the championship.
Wood, however, proved a tough nut to crack. He lead Pollard by a stroke after the first round, but an ugly double-bogey on the par-five fourth – allied with a Pollard birdie – saw him drop two shots behind his key rival.
Lesser players might have wilted, but Wood showed great poise and focus to draw level with a birdie at the 13th, before parring his way home.
Pollard, meanwhile, dropped three shots on holes 16 and 17 and despite a magnificent birdie at the last, had left himself too much to do, allowing Wood to make a comfortable par and secure a two-stroke victory and +6 for 36 holes.
Having made history earlier this year by becoming the first All Abilities-category player to win on the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series at the Tin Can Bay Pro-Am, Wood was thrilled to add another title to his growing list of accolades. You can view his post-match interview with GolfWA below.
Although Pollard and Wood were always expected to be the runaway leaders, there was plenty of hot competition elsewhere in the field with WA’s Nicholas Carroll the best of the rest, claiming third place on +25. Wearing pink for breast cancer awareness, Carroll edged out fellow WA player Gary Burgess to claim the final rostrum place.
WA was further represented in the event by Mark Mosbach, Nick Panos and Frank Gaudin. You can view the final leaderboard here.
The All Abilities competitors gather to congratulate champion Lachlan Wood
