🏆 Winner Story
Hill Birdied the 17th. In a Three-Way Countback, That Was Enough.
David Hill, Tim Plunkett and Zac O'Hehir all finished on nett 64. The back nine could not separate them, all three returning 34. The last six holes eliminated O'Hehir: his nett 24 against Hill and Plunkett's 23. Two left. On the last three holes, Hill shot nett 10 and Plunkett shot nett 12. The difference was Hole 17, a par-3 where Hill made birdie and Plunkett made bogey. Holes 16 and 18 were level between them. The entire two-stroke margin came from one hole. Hill wins.
Hill's card: gross 77 on a par-64 course, nett 64 off a handicap of 13. He went nett 30 on the front and 34 on the back, finishing 10 strokes below the field average of 74.1. Three episodes in, three different winners. The season is not giving anything away.
Leaderboard
6 June 2026 · Balgowlah GC · Stroke Play
Top 10
PosPlayerNett
1
David Hill
hcp 13
64
2
Tim Plunkett
hcp 15
64
3
Zac O'Hehir
hcp 18
64
4
Timothy McIntyre
hcp 9
65
5
Ben Perry
hcp 9
65
6
Stu McPhail
hcp 9
66
7
Bob McLean
hcp 10
67
8
Stephen McCooe
hcp 25
67
9
Ciaran Foley
hcp 12
67
10
Sam McLean
hcp 25
67
Positions 4 and 5 tied on nett 65, separated by the back nine: McIntyre 30, Perry 37. Positions 1, 2 and 3 resolved by countback after three stages.
📊 Field Map
Stroke Day. The Field Spread Wide.
Ninety-five completed rounds across five bands, with the 70-to-74 range absorbing a third of the field. Three players broke 65. Sixteen could not get to 80.
Under 65
3 · exceptional
65–69 nett
17 · in the hunt
70–74 nett
32 · solid work
75–79 nett
27 · hard going
80+ nett
16 · one to forget
DNF
6 · did not finish
✂️ Cut Line
This week the cut fell at 74 nett.
Top half of field plus ties · 7 players survived right on the number
Survived on 74 nett
K. Heathcote
P. Frith
B. McPherson
A. Saunders
J. Polito
D. Browne
J. Horne
Cut · 74 nett
Missed by one · 75 nett
D. Reisinger
M. Belford
S. Allen
A. Lang
J. Evans
D. Dollow
M. Parsons
J. Cambourne
Joel Cambourne came to the 18th with a nett total of 70 through 17 holes. Net par on the last and he was inside the cut. He made a net bogey. Seventy-five.
💀 Villain Hole
Holes 6 and 15. Again. Both at Plus 2.34.
Three rounds of the season and the same two holes keep landing at the top. Not a single birdie between them across 95 completed rounds this Saturday. Hole 3 returned as the third villain, exactly as it did in Episode 2.
Villain #1
Hole 6
Par 4 · SI 1
Avg over par
+2.34
Avg gross
6.34
Villain #2
Hole 15
Par 4 · SI 2
Avg over par
+2.34
Avg gross
6.34
Villain #3
Hole 3
Par 3 · SI 3
Avg over par
+1.93
Avg gross
4.93
🎢
🎢 Chaos Card
Forty-Two on the Front. Twenty-Six on the Back.
Glenn Worthington made a gross 11 on Hole 8 and was not done being punished on the front nine. He turned with a front nett of 42. Then the back nine happened. He played it in nett 26, the best back nine in the entire field, stringing together nett 3s on holes 10, 11 and 13. He finished eleventh. The course dished it out early and he absorbed every bit of it.
Front Nett
42
Back Nett
26
Final Result
68 nett
Birdie Counter
41
birdies made this Saturday
96 birdies across the season so far
T. McIntyre and C. Pooley each made three birdies to lead the field.
👀 Quietly Noted
Stats that stood out. Things that went unannounced.
8
Stephen McCooe needed two points on the 18th to make the cut last week and got one. This week he returned nett 67 and finished eighth. The response was quiet and entirely without ceremony.
73
Claudia Angelucci finished third in Episode 1 and sixth in Episode 2. Back-to-back top tens, the most consistent record in the young season. Stroke play arrived on Saturday. She finished seventy-third.
29
William Hart's front nine nett. He came in from the back nine at 41. Hart finished twenty-seventh on nett 70 and would have been well inside the top ten if the round had been nine holes. It was not.
📈 Form Watch
Ryan: Three Rounds, Three Cuts Made.
Gary Ryan won Episode 1, made the cut in Episode 2 and made the cut again this week with a nett 69 and a twentieth-place finish. The win is on the board. The subsequent rounds have been solid if not spectacular. Three episodes in, he has finished every one of them. That counts for something early in a season.
✍️ Final Word
Hill on nett 64, the countback settled on a single par-3 birdie. Three rounds of the season, three different winners. No pattern. No favourite. No idea what June has in store.
Episode 4 next Saturday. Bring your card.