Bouvier outlasts Pearce to win Nifsan Night Golf Shootout
BY Bruce Young | Von Nida Tour | 2003 Queensland PGA | Wrap | 04 Nov 2003
In what was the perfect prelude to the inaugural staging of the Queensland PGA Championship at the Emerald Lakes Golf Course on the Gold Coast, local golfer Stuart Bouvier outlasted a field of ten to win the Nifsan Night Golf Shootout.
The event was played over the back nine holes at Emerald Lakes which are fully floodlit. Nine of the leading players in this week’s PGA Championship were joined by Gold Coast golfer Jenny Sevil and a crowd of 1500 who enjoyed the intimate atmosphere of night golf. The crowd were entertained before the shootout began, by local trick shot artist Sandy Kurceba whose repertoire proved a popular attraction.
The format for the shootout had one player per hole dropping out of the race for the $10,000 prizemoney, with the eventual winner to receive $5000. The person eliminated on each hole would be determined by the player with the highest score or the person furthest from the hole should there be a tie for the highest score.
Chris Downes who found the bunker with his second at the short par four first hole of the evening, was first to go, then followed in order, last week’s Queensland Open winner Scott Hend, Nathan Green, Wayne Grady, Jenny Sevil, Ryan Haller, Peter Senior and Andrew Bonhomme until Stuart Bouvier and New Zealander Mahal Pearce were left to fight out the final hole.
Bouvier missed the fairway left and Pearce just missed right. Both players found the back edge of the green with their second shots and Bouvier was first to putt. His putt ran three feet by and Pearce then left his putt four feet short which he then failed to convert. Bouvier then holed his putt to win.
“This ($5000) will be a boost and be of great assistance in taking my family to the US for stage two USPGA Tour qualifying in a couple of weeks” said Bouvier afterwards. It’s been a great night and the concept, just marvellous."
Mahal Pearce, the New Zealand Open winner earlier this year, picked up $2,200 for his runner up placing.
The surprise of the night was the performance put up by Sevil who although out-driven by as much as seventy metres at times, was able to hold her own until a bad drive at the fifth hole cost her dearly. She had the support of the local crowd however and was a valuable addition to the flavour of the night. Sevil was a winner of events in Japan and Australia earlier in her career and proved even in semi-retirement that she has the game and demeanour to still do well.
The promoters now feel the Nifsan Night Golf Shootout will become very much a regular feature of the Emerald Lakes Queensland PGA Championship which is scheduled at the venue for the next five years.
