Vardon Title and Order of Merit

The Vardon Title

The Vardon Trophy is an event designed to reward consistent play with the trophy going to the player with the best scoring average in designated events over the calendar year. There is a Senior Vardon for players 18 years and over and a Junior Vardon for players under 18. A Junior may win both the Senior and Junior Vardon.

To achieve balance in the averaging of scores a course rating of 70 is adopted for all rounds. Therefore, if a player returns a score of 77 on a course rated 72 a Vardon score of 75 is recorded. A score of 72 on a course rated 68 results in a Vardon score of 74 being recorded. It is essential that all cards are returned as a players failing to return his card has a Vardon score of 86 recorded which will obviously have a significant impact on his average score at year end.

Once a player contests 8 rounds he is eligible to have his worst score discarded. A player contesting 10 rounds may discard his worst 2 scores.
The 2019 Vardon Trophy concluded on Sunday 10 November when the District Singles Championship was played at Gosford Golf Club  and although  Lloyd Radcliffe was not able to play in the Championship he had posted sufficient rounds over the year to be eligible for the trophy and his average score of 72.4 held on to win him the prize from fast finishing James Swanson who averaged 73.7 for the year. One of our young guns, Curtis Larnach, claimed the next spot with an average of 73.75.
Only one junior, Keegan Phillips, returned sufficient scores and took the Junior title with an average of 73.75.
Order of Merit

Effective 2017 an order of merit has been introduced. Aimed at rewarding regular and consistent play and including a point score along similar lines to the Fed Ex Cup, the system will provide invaluable information to the selectors when selecting representative teams and give regular open competition players a tool by which they can assess their performances against friends and other local players. A synopsis of the system can be viewed by clicking here.

The 2018 Order of Merit went right to the wire, the result being determined by the result of the final of the Anthony Lamaro Match Play Championship between Lloyd Radcliffe (KW) and Jamie Stephen (SB).

Leading into the final James Swanson (SB) led Jamie Stephen by a margin that required Jamie to win the final if he was to claim bragging rights for 2018 with 500 points going to the winner and 300 to the runner up in the Match Play.

Lloyd and Jamie had a cracker of a final in the Match Play with Lloyd capturing the match on the 22nd hole at Magenta Shores.

At first blush this suggested that James Swanson would take the OOM however under the conditions of play for the OOM, the OOM points are awarded to the highest ranked registered player and as Lloyd did not register for the 2018 event the major points for the Match Play event went to Jamie. This gave Jamie sufficient points to be crowned winner of the 2018 Order of Merit. Congratulations Jamie!

To view the final standings for the leading 25 OOM players for 2018 click here.  The listing includes the number of events played by each player and emphasises how regular play in OOM events leads to success.

The 2019 Order of Merit was completed Sunday 10 November when the District Singles Championship was played at Gosford Golf Club.

By then James Swanson has built an almost unassailable lead in the event and although he didn't find himself in the winners circle in the Championship he was still along way in front in the OOM and took out the title for 2019.

To view the final placings in the OOM click here.

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