With a second and two third placings in the past four years, 20-year-old Ben Duncombe has finally saluted in the 2024 Headland Men’s Club Championship. Leading from the opening round when he shot one-under 68, Ben (handicap -2) stormed home on Sunday to win by 11 strokes, finishing with a brilliant blemish-free four-under 30 on the back nine. Ben left the remainder of the talented Headland field in his wake, with a final round five-under 64 – including six birdies – giving him a four-round par-equalling total of 276 for 72 holes, and one of the most convincing victories in recent years.
“I am very relieved,” said Ben, who conceded he had struggled to ‘get the job done’ in the past after joining Headland from Coral Cove as a gifted 15-year-old, specifically to play Pennants. “That is by far the best I have played in the Championships, and today I felt in control of my game. The course is playing the toughest it has in my time here, with the new bunkering now making it more demanding from the tee. But thankfully, my accuracy with the driver has been my main strength lately, and that was again the case today.”
Ben shot rounds of 68,74,70, 64 to beat defending Champion Adam Rydwanski (73,72,71,71), and said the second-round conditions were by far the most difficult. He entered the final round on Sunday four shots ahead of two-time Champion Rydwanski, with Sean McGill a further two strokes in arrears. He immediately extended his lead with birdies at the third and eighth holes, with his only blemish a bogey at the par-three ninth (original eighth hole). Ben, who was Junior Champion in 2022, and the previous year won the Men’s Foursomes Championship with fellow junior Josh Holbrook, is currently employed at Twin Waters Golf Club and is contemplating his future, with a Pro Traineeship a possibility. He is the youngest Headland Champion since a namesake, Ben Wedmaier, won as 17-year schoolboy in 2008.
Brad Reed had to survive a two-hole play-off on Sunday to win the B Grade Championship, and in doing so collect $250 from his brother Tim. The Championship was sponsored by the Neubau Group, owned by Tim Reed, who also contested the Championship in C Grade, along with another brother, Nick. But Brad was the best performed of the trio, leading the B Grade field from round two. However, 2022 C Grade Champion Geoff Bland stormed home in the final round on Sunday with 78 to force a play-off with Brad, who carded 83. The pair squared the first play-off hole, but Brad parred the second (par-five third) to win his first Headland Championship.
Last year’s C Grade runner-up, Bruce Heseltine, went one better in 2024, winning the C Grade Championship, while Scott Bromfield has become back-to-back Senior Champion.
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Story by Tony Durkin
Picture by Sean McGill