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Students big winners in UNE Golf Challenge

March 24, 2005

golf thumb.jpgIt proved to be a hole-in-one for scholarship recipients when the Sport UNE team of Kevin Russell, Brad King, Matt Schaefer and Stephen Griffith took out the Vice-Chancellor’s trophy at the annual UNE Golf Challenge at Armidale Golf Course.

Organised by the University of New England Sports Association, the event on Friday 18 March brought together 164 golfers in 41 teams, raising up to $11,000 towards UNE’s sport scholarship fund.

Sport UNE’s Executive Director, Steve Griffith, said he was very proud of the way his team, captained by Kevin Russell, played and how successful the event proved on the day. The team shared the equal best score off the stick at 11 under par with the Mount View Pharmacy team, but won convincingly on Handicap with only Kevin Russell being a regular golfer.

“Our team combined well on the day,” Mr Griffith said, “and our young guns (past scholarship recipient Matt Schaefer and groundsman Brad King) hit the ball out of sight and straight all day, giving us plenty of opportunities for Birdies with a bogey free round. We receive such wonderful support from the Armidale Golf Club, our hole sponsors and local business houses, and University teams who enter each year. We aim to make every team a winner by participating in the event and I know that every team had a great time on the day, which is a credit to the effort by all Sport UNE staff who assist with the smooth running of the event.”

The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ingrid Moses, said she was delighted that the trophy had returned to UNE, and warmly congratulated the winning team.

Twenty local businesses sponsored the event, 18 of them sponsoring individual holes. Mr Griffith said Sport UNE was “extremely grateful for the support of the following businesses, which helps to ensure the success of the event each year”: Armidale City Signs, Retravision, Regional Express Airlines, Hannon’s Mt View Pharmacy, Westend Wholesalers, Faircloth & Reynolds, Tritech Systems, Forsyths Chartered Accountants, Alec Finalyson Building Contractors, Carlton United Beverages, New England Orthopaedic & Sports Medicine, Ducat’s, Precision Motors, Armidale City Bowling Club, The Royal Hotel, Coca-Cola Amatil, Canon Inland Technology, McDonald’s Armidale, Petersons Armidale Winery, NBN Television, 2AD/FM 100.3 and The Armidale Independent.

Mr Griffith said the $11,000 would be used to finance the 16 sports scholarships offered to students in 2005 across 11 sports. UNE Sports Scholarships range from $3,000 for three Clem Jones Scholarships offered to students representing Australia at an international level, Full Scholarships of $1,200 for athletes representing their State at a national level, and $500 for students representing at a State level. All scholarship recipients also receive a platinum pass for Sport UNE fitness and facility usage valued at up to $500.

As well as the Vice-Chancellor’s trophy, there were prizes for second (won by the McDonald’s team “The Wiggles”, who also won the prize for the best-dressed team for the second year running) and third (Mt View Pharmacy), and the “Bradman” was awarded to the 2AD team with the highest score on the day.
UNE’s 2005 scholarships will be presented to recipients at a special ceremony at UNE on Thursday, April 21.


Media contact: Steve Griffith, Executive Director, Sport UNE (02) 6773 2783 or Lydia Roberts, Public Relations Manager, UNE (02) 6773 2779.

The photograph displayed here shows the Vice-Chancellor of UNE, Professor Ingrid Moses, with the Sport UNE team: (from left) Brad King, Kevin Russell, Matt Schaefer and Stephen Griffith. Copies are available from Lydia Roberts on (02) 6773 2779.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at March 24, 2005 04:48 PM