Townsend cruises to NSW Open win

BY Anthony Powter | Von Nida Tour | 2008 New South Wales Open | Round Four | 16 Nov 2008

Aaron Townsend

Aaron Townsend, winner of the 2008 NSW Open Championship

(Photo: Anthony Powter)

Aaron Townsend has won the New South Wales Open by an impressive seven strokes to claim his maiden Von Nida Tour victory. Starting the final round six strokes ahead of his nearest rival, Jamie Arnold, Townsend played superb golf to finish the Championship at 17-under-par and never looked like faulting during the final round.

“It’s a great feeling with that win today,” said Townsend.

“Everything went right for me out there and I was able to keep it going and did not have to put myself under too much pressure. I was able to just enjoy in and have a great day.”

Aaron Townsend Audio Interview

Today’s victory for Townsend makes amends for the numerous runner-up finishes the Novocastrian has experienced on the Von Nida Tour since turning professional in 2003. In his rookie season Townsend finished runner-up at the Queensland PGA Championship and in 2007 was runner-up both in the Western Australian PGA and NSW PGA Championship.

“This win in front of my supporters is really special as there were a lot of people here that ordinarily will not be here to watch my first real win.”

Today the tournament was there for Townsend’s taking after earlier rounds of 63-67-69. The 27-year-old showed no signs of any weaknesses, playing smart golf around The Vintage’s 6310 metre layout.

Townsend grew up in the region playing his junior golf out of Charleston Golf Club in Newcastle. Next week he is scheduled to return to the US to play Second Stage of the US Q-School and his win today reflects the perfect confidence booster with his game.

“I just need to play as much four-round tournament golf that I can.”

“The win today helps with my confidence and that is important with Q-School coming up. The timing is perfect in that respect.”

Victorian Steven Jones finished in outright second position at 10-under-par, seven strokes behind Townsend. Timothy Wood, winner of the NSW PGA Championship last week had another fine week, finishing in outright 3rd position two strokes behind Jones at 8-under-par.

Two promising young professionals in Matthew Griffin and Jamie Arnold shared 4th, at 6-under-par for the championship. Griffin showing his consistency in tournaments that had the Victorian ranked the 3rd world amateur before he turned professional last month at the Western Australian PGA Championship.

Michael Long claimed the Von Nida Tour Order of Merit, which was determined at the conclusion of the NSW Open Championship.

Top 10
AUS/NZ

Position	Score	Player	R 1	R 2	R 3	R 4	Total
1	-17	Aaron Townsend	63	67	69	68	267
2	-10	Steven Jones	65	71	70	68	274
3	-8	Timothy Wood	73	67	68	68	276
T4	-6	Jamie Arnold	62	73	70	73	278
T4	-6	Matthew Griffin	67	71	71	69	278
6	-5	Brad Andrews	69	74	68	68	279
T7	-3	Ben Burge	71	68	71	71	281
T7	-3	Brad Lamb	69	72	68	72	281
T7	-3	Peter Nolan	71	71	72	67	281
T10	-2	Aaron Black	68	70	70	74	282
T10	-2	Brendan Smith	71	73	67	71	282
T10	-2	Ryan Hammond	66	72	73	71	282
T13	-1	James Nitties	72	70	73	68	283
T13	-1	Jason Norris	69	72	74	68	283
T13	-1	Leigh Mckechnie	70	68	73	72	283
T13	-1	Michael Brennan	72	69	72	70	283
T13	-1	Peter Wilson	75	69	69	70	283
T18	Ev	Craig Scott	70	74	69	71	284
T18	Ev	Matthew Ballard	69	70	72	73	284
T18	Ev	Michael Williams	67	74	70	73	284
T18	Ev	Tim Stewart	69	73	71	71	284
T22	+1	Dean Kinney	72	70	70	73	285
T22	+1	Justin Maker	72	69	76	68	285
T22	+1	Mark Purser	69	75	72	69	285
T22	+1	Michael Mcgrath	69	71	71	74	285
T22	+1	Terry Price	72	71	73	69	285
T27	+2	Kurt Barnes	72	70	71	73	286
T27	+2	Stuart Bouvier	70	71	73	72	286
T29	+3	Alex Benjamin	71	74	67	75	287
T29	+3	Anthony Gilligan	73	69	72	73	287
T29	+3	Chris Hartas	71	72	73	71	287
T29	+3	Hamish Robertson	74	67	73	73	287
T29	+3	Jason Shine	73	67	73	74	287
T29	+3	Mark Bryant	72	68	74	73	287
T35	+4	Brenden Stuart	70	70	70	78	288
T35	+4	Heath Reed	69	71	78	70	288
T35	+4	Michael Long	68	70	79	71	288
T38	+5	Jordan Zunic	73	68	76	72	289
T38	+5	Matthew Ecob	76	69	68	76	289
T38	+5	Rowan Beste	66	73	74	76	289
T38	+5	Tristan Lambert	70	72	73	74	289
T42	+6	Adam Wilcox	66	72	77	75	290
T42	+6	Andrew Martin	74	71	73	72	290
T42	+6	Ben Bunny	74	71	70	75	290
T42	+6	Scott Arnold	72	70	79	69	290
T46	+7	Andre Stolz	72	70	78	71	291
T46	+7	Eric Egloff	72	73	73	73	291
T46	+7	Rhys Mcgovern	72	71	75	73	291
49	+8	Brent Mccullough	69	69	80	74	292
T50	+9	Andrew Duffin	72	71	76	74	293
T50	+9	Kevin Conlong	73	72	74	74	293
T50	+9	Michael Smyth	70	73	77	73	293
53	+10	Grant Scott	71	72	72	79	294
54	+11	Tony Mcnaughton	74	69	83	69	295
55	+13	Ben Wharton	74	68	77	78	297
T56	+14	Chris Gray	72	73	75	78	298
T56	+14	Lucas Bates	70	74	81	73	298
T56	+14	Simon Furneaux	71	73	77	77	298
T59	+15	Lester Peterson	73	72	81	73	299
T59	+15	Lyndsay Stephen	72	73	82	72	299
T61	+16	Gavin Beck	74	69	77	80	300
T61	+16	Nathan Pellow	71	74	79	76	300
63	+20	Jason Ashcroft	74	70	81	79	304
64	+21	Peter Martin	71	73	81	80	305
Cut Ev
CUT	+4	Adam Crawford	74	72	-	-	146
CUT	+4	Brad Shilton	72	74	-	-	146
CUT	+4	David Calleija	75	71	-	-	146
CUT	+4	David Diaz	71	75	-	-	146
CUT	+4	Grant Moorhead	70	76	-	-	146
CUT	+4	Julian Reynolds	71	75	-	-	146
CUT	+4	Kyle Grant	73	73	-	-	146
CUT	+4	Martin Dive	76	70	-	-	146
CUT	+4	Michael Etherington	73	73	-	-	146
CUT	+4	Ricky Schmidt	71	75	-	-	146
CUT	+4	Rika Batibasaga	72	74	-	-	146
CUT	+4	Rodger Davis	68	78	-	-	146
CUT	+4	Steven Hassett	75	71	-	-	146
CUT	+5	Brad Mcintosh	76	71	-	-	147
CUT	+5	Darren Weatherall	76	71	-	-	147
CUT	+5	Mitchell Tasker	73	74	-	-	147
CUT	+5	Nathan Main	73	74	-	-	147
CUT	+5	Rodney Booth	74	73	-	-	147
CUT	+5	Ryan Haywood	73	74	-	-	147
CUT	+6	Adam Downton	74	74	-	-	148
CUT	+6	Alexander Simpson	72	76	-	-	148
CUT	+6	Craig Spence	76	72	-	-	148
CUT	+6	Edward Stedman	72	76	-	-	148
CUT	+6	Jens Nilsson	74	74	-	-	148
CUT	+6	John Onions	74	74	-	-	148
CUT	+6	Paul Marantz	75	73	-	-	148
CUT	+6	Rohan Blizard	78	70	-	-	148
CUT	+7	Dustin Knight	72	77	-	-	149
CUT	+7	Alex Munro	72	77	-	-	149
CUT	+7	Anthony Brown	77	72	-	-	149
CUT	+7	Mathew Holten	74	75	-	-	149
CUT	+7	Michael Hendry	76	73	-	-	149
CUT	+7	Scott Draper	75	74	-	-	149
CUT	+7	Stephen Dartnall	71	78	-	-	149
CUT	+8	Matthew Stieger	73	77	-	-	150
CUT	+8	Adrian Garnett	73	77	-	-	150
CUT	+8	Brendan Chant	73	77	-	-	150
CUT	+8	Michael Raseta	77	73	-	-	150
CUT	+8	Todd Iffland	77	73	-	-	150
CUT	+9	Heath D'altera	76	75	-	-	151
CUT	+9	Jarrad Roxby	78	73	-	-	151
CUT	+9	Kurt Carlson	76	75	-	-	151
CUT	+9	Matthew Jager	78	73	-	-	151
CUT	+9	Matthew Parsons	79	72	-	-	151
CUT	+9	Steven Horstmann	73	78	-	-	151
CUT	+10	Kyle Mathieson	77	75	-	-	152
CUT	+10	Peter Thomas	79	73	-	-	152
CUT	+10	Sean Underwood	77	75	-	-	152
CUT	+10	Chris Downes	81	71	-	-	152
CUT	+10	Neil Sarkies	77	75	-	-	152
CUT	+10	Paul Blake	74	78	-	-	152
CUT	+10	Tim Wise	76	76	-	-	152
CUT	+11	Christopher Smith	76	77	-	-	153
CUT	+11	Bryce Macdonald	70	83	-	-	153
CUT	+11	David Stein	73	80	-	-	153
CUT	+11	Geoff Lound	74	79	-	-	153
CUT	+11	Glenn Kelly	78	75	-	-	153
CUT	+11	Nigel Stivala	74	79	-	-	153
CUT	+11	Simon Houston	74	79	-	-	153
CUT	+11	Todd Nicholson	77	76	-	-	153
CUT	+12	Matthew Laroche	74	80	-	-	154
CUT	+12	Bob Shearer	79	75	-	-	154
CUT	+12	Craig Jones	74	80	-	-	154
CUT	+12	Troy Macdonald	74	80	-	-	154
CUT	+12	Wayne Berry	72	82	-	-	154
CUT	+13	Dimitrius Papadatos	78	77	-	-	155
CUT	+13	Jake Higginbottom	82	73	-	-	155
CUT	+13	Luke Humphries	77	78	-	-	155
CUT	+13	Grant Binns	76	79	-	-	155
CUT	+14	Justin Welsford	83	73	-	-	156
CUT	+14	Luke Mcnaughton	77	79	-	-	156
CUT	+15	Matthew Thomas	78	79	-	-	157
CUT	+15	Nathan Page	78	79	-	-	157
CUT	+15	Charles Kares	78	79	-	-	157
CUT	+15	Matthew Gleeson	76	81	-	-	157
CUT	+16	Paul Williamson	79	79	-	-	158
CUT	+17	Gregory Lynch	80	79	-	-	159
CUT	+17	Clarke Osborne	78	81	-	-	159
CUT	+17	Rudi Bezuidenhout	81	78	-	-	159
CUT	+18	Bryan Roach	74	86	-	-	160
CUT	+18	Shane Baxter	82	78	-	-	160
CUT	+20	Luke Henwood	80	82	-	-	162
CUT	+20	Paul Skinner	84	78	-	-	162
CUT	+21	Ben Clementson	81	82	-	-	163
CUT	+21	Shaun Harmer	82	81	-	-	163
CUT	+24	David Morgan	90	76	-	-	166

Position	Score	Player	Country	R 1	R 2	R 3	R 4	Total

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Townsend cruises to NSW Open win

BY Anthony Powter | Von Nida Tour | 2008 New South Wales Open | Round Four | 16 Nov 2008