An Albatross, 12 Eagles and a Course Record at the 2022 Sanwell Cottesloe Open
With: Phil Ryan
The 2022 Cottesloe Open saw some hot scoring across both days of competition with an Albatross ,12 eagles and a new course record of 64. Refer separate full report HERE on the 2022 Sanwell Cottesloe Open that covers the tournament outcomes.
The exciting competition continued right to the end to include winner Braden Becker taking out a sudden-death playoff against Brady Watt with a birdie on the 18th after they had tied with 11-under 133.
Course Record 8-under 64 to Brady Watt
Runner-up Brady Watt set a new official course record on Sunday with a bogey-free 8-under 64.
The official course record for the current layout of 6-under 66 was set a year ago at the 2021 Sanwell Cottesloe Open, that score shot 66 by the 2021 winner Brody Martin (Sat 23 May) and also Matthew Millar, Brett Rumford and Michael Hanrahan Smith (Sunday 24 May).
At this year’s opening round on Saturday 14 May, just two players; Braden Becker (68) and Brady Watt (69) broke 70. The scoring certainly hotted up on Sunday with 13 players breaking 70. They included Brett Rumford matching his existing course record of 66, the winner Braden Becker and Haydn Barron breaking the existing mark with 65 and the new course record for the current layout set by Runner-up Brady Watt with a 8-under 64.
Brady Watt’s record round of 64 had no dropped shots and included birdies on 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 11, 16 and 17. Brady also lipped out from about 12 feet on the 18th to win the tournament outright. Brady then had to settle for a meritorious second place, losing to a birdie in sudden-death. Brady was leading Braden Becker by four with six holes to go, then scored birdies on 16 and 17 himself. Still being tied after two rounds by an amazing 6-under in five hole finish, to winner Braden Becker. The hole by hole for round two of the leading nine players, including the course record and the winner’s stunning finish, can be seen below. Details of the finish and playoff are in the main tournament report.
The tournament winning score of 11-under compares well with history:
The lowest score in the last 20-years, as per table below, was 13-under 131 (69, 62) shot in 2017 by David Bransdon, with his 62 becoming a new course record for the layout as it was.
Andrew Pitt also shot 133 in 2005, the next best matched with this years’ champion Braden Becker.
Ryan Haywood joins our Albatross Cup with an Albatross 2 on the eighth hole Saturday 14 May
A highlight on Saturday came from Victorian based professional Ryan Haywood, who joined our Cottesloe Albatross Cup, when he landed an Albatross (2) on the 8th on the way to an opening round of 75.
Ryan shared with Chris Paino that he had driven just over the right fairway trap and was slightly under a tree by the bunker. He then fashioned a fade with his six iron at the front left pin which dropped into the hole for a stunning Albatross two. Ryan was unable to stay for the presentations on Sunday, but was happily photographed with the Albatross Cup, before teeing off to round out his tournament with a solid finish of 69, that left him tied 16th with 144 (75, 69).
The Cottesloe Albatross Cup has recorded our Albatrosses since 1969 and Ryan Haywood’s Albatross make it only a dozen players to achieve that great feat, eight now from the same par five, 8th. Ryan joins Bruce Hay as the only Professionals on the list, with Bruce’s from a club competition back on 4 September 2003.
Eagles aplenty! – 12 eagles for the field over the weekend
The Cottesloe eagles table for 2022 got a big boost with three scored on Saturday and nine poured in from the field on Sunday.
The list included a clutch 12 footer for eagle on 16 by the winner Braden Becker during his stunning finishing run on Sunday.
The 12 eagles were as follows:
| Hole | Day | Player |
| 4 | Sunday | Connor Faulds & Adam Hatch |
| 8 | Saturday | Michael Hanrahan Smith, Brody Martin, Damian Chatterley |
| 8 | Sunday | Adam Hatch |
| 14 | Sunday | Hayden Barron, Wayne Smith, Jason Edwards, Tristan Morley |
| 16 | Sunday | Braden Becker, John Boulton |