Capacity fields to contest 2021 Wittenoom Cup and Brenda Wittenoom Open at the Albany Golf Club

Bumper fields will contest the 2021 Wittenoom Cup and Brenda Wittenoom Open at the Albany Golf Club this weekend, one of WA’s major regional events.

A total of 250 players are set to play in the 36-hole stroke competition, including both defending champions Kim Snowball and Cath Bellemore, on the Albany links course.

Albany golfer Snowball claimed victory in last year’s Wittenoom Cup and will be joined in this weekend’s event by previous male winner Noel Sewell.

A field of 130 men will vie for the Wittenoom Cup, which was first held in 1927 and named after Charles Wittenoom, a long-serving AGC president.

In 2003, the Brenda Wittenoom Open was started in honour of Brenda Wittenoom, a tireless volunteer awarded AGC life membership in 1981.

The men’s and women’s events run alongside each other every year.

Cath Bellemore, who is a member of Nedlands Golf Club, will defend her Brenda Wittenoom Open crown and is among a field of 120 women that also contains former winners Hes Anderson and Lisa Taylor.

Competitors will play a round of 18 each day, alternating between an afternoon and a morning start.

Golfers will begin teeing off at 7am on Saturday.

The two major events cap a busy nine-day golf carnival at the Albany course, with more than 620 players from around WA making the trip.

Albany Golf Club general manager Dan Northcott said there were more visiting players this year due to the COVID travel restrictions.

“With the extra visitors this year it is a great opportunity to showcase our wonderful course which is in superb condition,” he said.

“With it being a nett event I think they are both wide open fields and everyone has a chance to win with a good spread of low and middle-tier handicaps.

“You just need a bit of luck and it looks like ideal conditions so we should see some very low scores over the course of the weekend.

“It’s the biggest field in many years and people want to come down for a cool change and play golf.”