There was thunder, lightning, rain, and rapidly approaching darkness but none of these elements stopped the 6th running of the Meriton Sydney Invitational reaching a nail-biting finish.

Clear skies and brilliant sunshine along with thirty degree temperatures greeted the morning players at St Michaels on the fourth and final day of this year's tournament. These glorious conditions quickly changed with mid-afternoon thunderstorms, and lightning strikes in close proximity resulting in the players being called from the course with only holes to play.

For the next 20-30 minutes while sitting in the clubhouse wondering if play would resume the 128 players discussed and calculated where they stood in the various competitions that run simultaneously in the four days event.

Matthew Ecob and Anthony Summers realized that they needed a quick-fire of birdies if and when play resumed, but they found the task a little too difficult on the testing St Michaels layout. When play did resume, Andre Stolz, Peter Shaw and Michael Wright had a narrow lead and held their nerve to finish victorious in a three-way tie for the title.

Bad light stopped any chance of a play-off to determine a sole tournament victor and so all three players were proclaimed tournament champions and they split the prizemoney accordingly.

Andre Stolz had a bitter-sweet feeling as his second shot into the final hole stopped agonizingly close to the cup, and hung on the lip without falling in for an eagle two. Two centimetres further and victory was his alone, but the last hole birdie was similarly good enough to have his name etched on the crystal alongside Peter Shaw and Michael Wright.

As fate would have it, one of the other victors, Michael Wright only found himself in the event as a last-minute entry but made the most of his chances and played solid and entertaining golf all four days with his three amateur partners.

So final victory in the PGA event went to Andre Stolz, Peter Shaw and Michael Wright with a score of 151 stableford points (7 under par). The ALPG section of the Meriton tournament was a little more cut and dry with Cherie Byrnes playing quality golf all four days with scores of 39, 38, 37 and a steady 35 points on "money day" for a five shot victory. Defending champion, Joanne Mills was playing catch-up golf after day 2 at NSW golf course and settled for second place.

The Team Nett and Team Scratch events, while hotly contested by all 256 players, saw one-sided results with Team Shaw (Nett) and Team Downes (Scratch) recording 7 and 6 point victories.

Peter Shaw's great play provided a solid platform for his amateur team mates (Bill Blair, Joe Vitanza and Walter Devecchis) to post scores of 89. 85, 95, 90 for a 359 total. Their runaway seven point victory was all the more impressive because as defending champions from 2008 they had a 10% handicap reduction before play began, and further remarkable because they lost further shots off their handicap during the tournament because of great scores.

The Team Gross event saw a new champion. A "seedy" start at Terrey Hills on day 1 saw Team Downes record an even par score of 72 points, before Nathan Leslie, Trent Barry and Michael Dunn turned on the after-burners to streak the field with scores of 78 points at NSW, 77 points at Macquarie Links and ensuring their victory with another impressive score of 78 points at St Michaels. Their score of 305 (equivalent of 17 under par) is a tournament record and will be hard to beat (and the challenge has been set).

The Meriton tournament is unique because it is the only event in Australia where the amateurs help their professional win prizemoney. The Irish 4BBB format ensures that the amateurs are under pressure to assist their pro at all times.

The individual amateur event saw long-time supporter, Denis O'Callaghan (Team McIntosh) play magnificent golf each day and win the crystal and Victorinox watch from Phil Banister (Team Lambert) by a single point. Both Denis and Phil played exceptionally at Macquarie Links for 40pts and 41pts respectively but Denis utilized his home-course experience to the upmost with Denis signing for 37 points at St Michaels to Phil's 33pts for the narrowest of victorys.

The ladies individual event was lopsided this year, with Queenslander Joyce Jamieson opening with 40 points at Terrey Hills to open a commanding lead and then recording scores of 31, 31, and 34 for an eleven shot victory.

The event concluded at Dockside Cockle Bay with a Gala Charity Dinner. The evening had many highlights, but without any doubt, the highlight was the entertainment provided by the Noll Brothers. While Shannon is a house-hold name, his similarly talented brother, Damien, along with Shannon entertained the 320 guests. Their brilliant harmonies and melodies put the crowd in a great mood and the evening saw many wonderful charity items auctioned and silent auctioned with all money raised being donated to the Westmead Children's Hospital. Major sponsor and tournament patron, Rhonda Triguboff presented a cheque for $50,000 to the Westmead representatives on the night.

The tournament organizers would like to thank Harry and Rhonda Triguboff, and the Meriton organization, along with all the sponsors, players and guests for helping to make the Sydney Invitational - "A tournament with a difference".

Male Professionals

NAME Code Rnd 1 Rnd 2 Rnd 3 Rnd 4 Total Prizemoney

T-1st Stolz, Andre PGA 41 29 43 38 151 $10,559.90

T-1st Shaw, Peter PGA 38 37 38 38 151 $10,559.90

T-1st Wright, Michael PGA 36 41 38 36 151 $10,559.90

4th Summers, Anthony PGA 42 35 35 37 149 $4,419.18

5th Ecob, Matthew PGA 38 32 41 36 147 $3,691.53

T-6th Downes, Chris PGA 34 40 34 36 144 $2,711.85

T-6th McIntosh, Brad PGA 35 37 37 35 144 $2,711.85

T-6th Barnes, Kurt PGA 32 41 37 34 144 $2,711.85

T-6th Townsend, Aaron PGA 31 37 43 33 144 $2,711.85

T-6th Stedman, Edward PGA 40 35 39 30 144 $2,711.85

11th Paddison, Gareth PGA 32 36 37 37 142 $1,810.27

12th Jones, Brendan PGA 39 36 35 31 141 $1,597.30

T-13th Scott, Grant PGA 38 33 32 37 140 $1,260.09

T-13th Martin, Andrew PGA 36 36 33 35 140 $1,260.09

T-13th Draper, Scott PGA 38 33 35 34 140 $1,260.09

T-13th Laycock, Scott PGA 34 38 34 34 140 $1,260.09

T-13th McKechnie, Leigh PGA 37 33 37 33 140 $1,260.09

T-18th Nolan, Peter PGA 30 35 34 39 138 $1,017.54

T-18th Price, Terry PGA 35 33 36 34 138 $1,017.54

T-18th Forrest, Max PGA 43 32 29 34 138 $1,017.54

T-21st Lane, Josh PGA 34 34 32 37 137 $922.88

T-21st Lambert, Tristan PGA 34 34 35 34 137 $922.88

22nd Page, Nathan PGA 32 31 39 34 136 $869.64

T-23rd Arnold, Jamie PGA 31 35 32 36 134 $816.40

T-23rd Gallichan, Richie PGA 32 38 29 35 134 $816.40

T-25th McGill, Christian PGA 29 34 31 39 133 $745.41

T-25th Davis, Scott PGA 35 33 35 30 133 $745.41

T-27th Rex, Toran PGA 28 30 40 34 132 $643.35

T-27th Lambert, Michael PGA 32 38 29 33 132 $643.35

T-27th Doyle, Martin PGA 30 35 36 31 132 $643.35

T-27th Jeffress, Steven PGA 36 33 35 28 132 $643.35

T-31st Myers, Steven PGA 31 33 32 35 131 $576.81

T-31st Hall, Ashley PGA 33 31 36 31 131 $576.81

T-33rd Welden, Peter PGA 34 24 38 34 130 $532.43

T-33rd Johnson, Brett PGA 34 31 31 34 130 $532.43

T-33rd Hyndman, Daniel PGA 31 36 34 29 130 $532.43

Others not listed please refer pga.org.au results section

Female Professionals

NAME Code Rnd 1 Rnd 2 Rnd 3 Rnd 4 Total Prizemoney

1st Byrnes, Cherie LPGA 39 38 37 35 149 $3,500.00

2nd Mills, Joanne LPGA 39 31 38 36 144 $1,900.00

3rd Fleming, Jody LPGA 38 30 31 36 135 $1,400.00

T-4th Polias, Marousa LPGA 29 34 31 36 130 $950.00

T-4th Park, Sunny LPGA 35 33 28 34 130 $950.00

T-6th Kirby, Tanya LPGA 36 27 31 34 128 $650.00

T-6th Jarochwicz, Katy LPGA 34 32 27 35 128 $650.00

$10,000.00

Amateurs

NAME Code Rnd 1 Rnd 2 Rnd 3 Rnd 4 Total

1st O'Callaghan, Denis M 37 35 40 37 149

2nd Banister, Phil M 37 37 41 33 148

3rd Whalan, Luke M 32 36 36 40 144

4th Blair, Bill M 32 38 37 36 143

5th Vitanza, Joseph M 33 32 40 36 141

6th Cortazzo, Frank M 34 35 36 36 141

7th Tsaousidis, Kon M 33 34 36 37 140

8th Kontis, Kon M 30 32 34 41 137

9th Woodrow, John M 37 34 27 39 137

10th Brady, Tom M 34 29 38 35 136

11th Clement, Richard M 31 30 32 39 132

12th Anderson, Mark M 35 32 33 31 131

13th Lemon, Chris M 35 32 31 32 130

14th Sarau, Jeff M 38 33 25 33 129

15th Seers, Greg M 27 33 37 31 128

16th Williams, John M 28 34 26 38 126

17th Chapman, Matt M 32 32 34 28 126

18th Walsh, Cameron M 37 28 33 28 126

19th Tosich, Tom M 32 36 33 25 126

20th McLeod, Trevor M 29 23 34 39 125

21st Verebes, George M 33 24 31 37 125

22nd Harvey, Des M 28 32 30 35 125

23rd Forrest, Mark M 32 28 34 31 125

24th Hurwitz, Andrew M 28 38 28 31 125

25th Katz, Jonathon M 32 32 31 30 125

26th Beetson, Jason M 27 30 34 33 124

27th Sudarma, Peter M 31 25 39 29 124

28th Foate, Paul M 34 26 37 27 124

29th Sims, Craig M 34 25 39 26 124

30th Vantol, Ralph M 26 30 33 34 123

31st Johnson, Kevin M 31 30 29 33 123

32nd Plunkett, Steven M 26 34 36 27 123

33rd Beutum, Robert M 29 25 31 37 122

34th Leslie, Nathan M 26 34 32 30 122

35th Peppitt, Damian M 27 34 31 30 122

36th Kabos, Mark M 37 27 30 28 122

37th Walker, Peter M 28 36 31 27 122

38th Hronopoulos, Angelo M 27 29 34 31 121

39th Balmer, Carl M 32 30 30 29 121

40th Revell, Shane M 36 27 29 29 121

41st Laidlaw, Andy M 35 29 28 29 121

42nd Barry, Trent M 28 28 29 35 120

43rd Harris, John M 34 23 29 34 120

44th Dial, Scott M 28 31 27 34 120

45th Hillier, Rick M 23 36 28 33 120

46th Campbell, David M 28 25 37 30 120

47th O'Toole, Michael M 38 24 31 26 119

48th Perkins, Craig M 31 32 30 26 119

49th Cox, Stuart M 29 35 22 32 118

50th Browne, Stuert M 28 33 23 33 117

51st Finn, Joseph M 30 31 23 33 117

52nd King, Michael M 26 27 34 30 117

53rd James, Brendan M 36 26 25 30 117

54th Murphy, Benn M 28 28 32 29 117

55th Fleeton, Warren M 23 24 33 36 116

56th Sanders, Matt M 28 30 25 33 116

57th Inglis, David M 29 26 29 32 116

58th Bentley, Kristian M 33 27 26 30 116

59th Inglis, Graeme M 29 27 31 29 116

60th Burns, Ronnie M 26 33 29 28 116

61st Dunn, Michael M 27 23 30 35 115

62nd Abutta, Chris M 23 22 36 34 115

63rd Coudounaris, Chris M 32 27 24 32 115

64th Rylands, Jimmy M 27 26 32 30 115

65th Moussa, Amin M 26 28 32 29 115

Female Amateurs

NAME Code Rnd 1 Rnd 2 Rnd 3 Rnd 4 Total

1st Jamieson, Joyce F 40 31 31 34 136

2nd Norman, Sue F 24 35 34 32 125

3rd Beecher, Robyn F 27 39 23 33 122

4th Mollica, Leola F 28 33 27 29 117

5th Bakarich, Olivia F 21 26 25 33 105

6th Finke, Gisela F 28 21 26 30 105

7th Tinoai, Elizabeth F 30 25 28 18 101

8th Buckley, Lyn F 23 23 25 28 99

Team Net

NAME Rnd 1 Rnd 2 Rnd 3 Rnd 4 Total Prizemoney

1st Shaw 89 85 95 90 359 $4,000.00

2nd Ecob 91 78 93 90 352 $2,500.00

3rd McIntosh 89 83 91 87 350 $1,600.00

4th Davis 90 87 86 87 350 $1,600.00

5th Lambert, T 81 83 90 95 349 $1,100.00

6th Downes 81 89 89 89 348 $1,000.00

7th Forrest 90 85 84 88 347 $850.00

8th Wright 85 88 86 86 345 $750.00

9th Martin, A 85 87 83 87 342 $700.00

10th McGill 83 83 88 86 340 $600.00

11th Dastey 86 82 88 84 340 $600.00

12th Lambert, M 82 90 83 83 338 $500.00

13th Jones 91 81 88 77 337 $475.00

14th Arnold 86 75 89 85 335 $450.00

15th Cochrane 85 83 81 84 333 $425.00

16th Swift 75 83 87 87 332 $400.00

17th Lane 87 76 82 84 329 $375.00

18th Stolz 85 67 88 88 328 $325.00

19th Townsend 70 83 89 86 328 $325.00

20th Parsons 82 85 76 85 328 $325.00

21st Gallichan 84 84 79 80 327 $250.00

22nd Johnson 86 84 72 84 326 $225.00

23rd Jeffress 73 86 84 83 326 $225.00

24th Draper 80 78 81 86 325 $200.00

25th Doyle 85 83 90 67 325 $200.00

26th Officer 82 77 85 80 324 $20,000.00

27th Polias 83 83 77 80 323

28th Stedman 81 77 83 81 322

29th Summers 80 76 80 85 321

30th Haynes 84 81 76 80 321

31st Laycock 74 82 81 82 319

32nd Habgood 77 74 87 81 319

33rd Paddison 77 74 81 85 317

34th Sando 80 68 92 76 316

35th Scott 82 71 81 81 315

36th Treisman 80 81 81 72 314

Team Gross

NAME Rnd 1 Rnd 2 Rnd 3 Rnd 4 Total Prizemoney

1st Downes 72 78 77 78 305 $2,000.00

2nd Shaw 74 73 77 75 299 $1,250.00

3rd Scott 74 70 76 78 298 $1,050.00

4th Lambert, T 70 73 76 76 295 $900.00

5th McIntosh 72 68 77 73 290 $800.00

6th Wright 70 74 74 71 289 $725.00

7th Arnold 73 65 75 74 287 $625.00

8th Stolz 75 56 77 78 286 $525.00

9th Kenny 76 68 68 66 278 $450.00

10th Townsend 58 69 77 71 275 $350.00

11th McGill 67 69 68 71 275 $350.00

12th McKechnie 73 65 72 65 275 $350.00

13th Officer 71 64 71 68 274 $212.50

14th Ecob 68 58 78 68 272 $212.50

15th Davis 70 68 67 67 272 $200.00

16th Sando 69 61 75 65 270 $10,000.00

17th Barnes 64 71 70 65 270

18th Lambert, M 64 75 64 66 269

19th Forrest 72 67 64 66 269

20th Jones 72 63 73 61 269

21st Swift 59 65 74 70 268

22nd Harrison 69 63 69 67 268

23rd Treisman 64 73 68 63 268

24th Myers 56 64 66 81 267

25th Gallichan 66 68 64 68 266

26th Habgood 64 57 71 70 262

27th Puckett 69 56 70 66 261

28th Summers 66 61 64 69 260

29th Dastey 65 63 66 65 259

30th Haynes 69 64 58 63 254

31st Stedman 67 60 66 61 254

32nd Doyle 64 64 71 55 254

33rd Jeffress 57 66 66 61 250

34th Paddison 59 56 65 68 248

35th Parsons 65 62 58 63 248

36th Martin, A 66 62 59 61 248

37th Draper 62 59 63 62 246

Meriton Sydney Invitational Day Four St Michaels

Day Four Team Nett Day Four Team Scratch

Winner Team Lambert T 95pts Winner Team Scott 78pts c/b

Runner Up Team Shaw 90pts c/b Runner Up Team Stolz 78pts c/b

Third Place Team Ecob 90pts Third Place Team Downes 78pts

Day Four Male Amateur Day Four Female Amateur

Winner Kon Kontis 41pts Winner Leanne Leong 37pts

Runner Up Luke Whalan 40pts Runner Up Joyce Jamieson 34pts

Third Place Trevor McLeod 39pts c/b

Nearest to Pin

Male 0 to 14 Rick Hillier

Male 15 to 24 Joe Finn

Female Liv Bakarich

Professional Terry Price

The final day is here, St Michaels and the forecast is fine and the competition is fierce. In the mens professional event Michael Wright is leading on 115 (7 under), closely followed by Ed Stedman on 114, Andre Stolz and Peter Shaw on 113, Anthony Summers 112, Aaron Townend and Mathew Ecob on 111 with Kurt Barnes and Brendan Jones still in striking distance on 110. In the female professional Cherie Byrnes is on 114 (6 under) a six shot leader from Joanne Mills on 108 pts.

The team net see last years winners Team Shaw with 269 is a six shot leader despite a 10% handicap reduction for having won last year. Team McIntosh 263, Team Davis 263, Team Ecob 262 and Team Jones 260 are all capable of shooting a higher enough score to catch the leader.

In the Team Scratch Team Downes on 277 leads from 3 shots from Team Shaw with Team Scott 220, Team Lambert T on 219, Team Wright 218 and Team McIntosh on 217 all capable of shooting a score good enough to overtake the leaders

The female amateur sees Joyce Jamieson 102 holding a very handy 9 shot lead over Sue Norman 93 with a further 4 shots to Robyn Beecher 89 with a further shot to the birthday girl Leola Mollica.

In the male amateur Phil Banister on 115 has a three shot lead over Denis O'Callaghan 112 with a further 5 shots back to low marker Bill Blair on 107 all capable of making a day four charge

Meriton Sydney Invitational NSW Day 2 Results

Day Two Team Nett Day Two Team Scratch

Winner Team M Lambert 90 pts Winner Team Downes 78pts

Runner Up Team Wright 88 pts Runner Up Team Treisman 73pts c/b

Third Place Team Martin A 87 pts c/b Third Place Team Lambert, T 73pts c/b

Day Two Male Amateur Day Two Female Amateur

Winner Andrew Hurwitz 38pts c/b Winner Robyn Beecher 39pts

Runner Up Bill Blair 38 pts Runner Up Sue Norman 35pts

Third Place Phil Banister 37pts

Day Two Male Professional Day One Female Professional

1st K Barnes 41pts Ist Cherie Byrnes 38 pts

Ist M Wright 41pts 2nd Marousa Polias 34 pts

3rd C Downes 40pts 3rd Sunny Park 33 pts

Nearest to Pin

Male 0 to 14 John Barker

Male 15 to 24 Dean McGregor

Female Lyn Buckley

Professional Matt Morrison

36 hole Team Nett 36 hole Team Scratch

Team Davis 177pts Team Downes 150pts

Team Forrest 175pts Team Shaw 147pts

Team Shaw 174 pts Team Wright 144pts

Team Lambert, M 172pts Team Scott 144pts

Team Wright 173pts Team Kenny 144pts

36 hole Male Amateur 36 hole Female Amateur

Phil Bannister 74pts Joyce Jamieson 71pts

Dennis O'Callaghan 72pts Robyn Beecher 66pts

John Woodrow 71pts Leola Mollica 61pts

Jeff Sarau 71pts Sue Norman 59pts

Bill Blair 70pts Elizabeth Tinoai 55pts

36 hole Male Professional 36 hole Female Professional

Michael Wright 77pts Cherie Byrnes 77pts

Anthony Summers 77pts Joanne Mills 70pts

Peter Shaw 75pts Sunny Park 68pts

Brendan James 75pts Jody Fleming 68pts

Edward Stedman 75pts Katy Jarochwicz 66pts

Max Forrest 75pts

PREVIOUS SYDNEY INVITATIONAL EVENT RESULTS

2008 RESULTS

2007 RESULTS

Click here for the 2008 Tournament Results

Click here for the 2007 Tournament Results

2006 RESULTS Click here for the 2006 Tournament Results

2005 RESULTS Click here for the 2005 Tournament Results

2004 RESULTS Click here for the 2004 Tournament Results