Stewart and Pullinger claim wins at Newman’s Fortescue Open 50 year anniversary

Sixty nine golfers from across the Pilbara and beyond converged on the Fortescue Golf Club in Newman on the weekend for their 50 year anniversary open championships. On day one, Newman golfer Ryan Mitchell lit up the course, signing for the day’s best stableford score of forty-three points to lead the B-Grade field from Stephen Delaney, also from Newman, with 39 points. The A-grade men’s field was led by returning veteran, and course record holder, Victor Kemp, with a net score of 69, with Karratha’s Christopher “Chef” Stewart leading the gross scores with an even par 72. In the ladies’ competition, Hedland’s Helen Pullinger led the seven strong field on Saturday with a gross score of 89 from Karratha’s Marie Nottle with a score of 94. Blaine Cattan led the ladies B-Grade competition with 40 stableford points, eight points clear of Jenni Peters and Wayan Kusniati. Stewart maintained his Saturday form on the second day to claim the open champion title this year with a final score of 145 strokes, three over par for the weekend. Dustin Kemp improved on Sunday by five strokes to finish runner up, and claim the prize for best gross score, with younger brother winning the best net score in A-Grade with a score of 141 strokes, just ahead of his father Victor (142). In the ladies A-grade, Pullinger was crowned the gross winner for the weekend with a score of 17 strokes, with Karratha veteran Marie Nottle claiming the best nett score prize with 149 points. The B-grade champions were Blaine Cattan from Karratha Country Club in the ladies’ competition with 70 stableford points, and Fortescue Golf Club’s Ryan Mitchell with an outstanding 86 points across the weekend. In the C grade men’s competition, Lyndon Rolton completed the weekend as the only golfer “in the red” with 73 points to win from Fortescue Golf Club President Keith Williams (69 points).