Dillas & Frith Steal Show At BGA Monthly Medal
Jarryd Dillas and Melinda Frith were the talk of the clubhouse following the Bermuda Golf Association’s February Monthly Medal this past Saturday at the Turtle Hill Golf Course.
Shortly after 8:00am, screams of joy reverberated around the Southampton course as Melinda Frith made a hole in one on the 2nd hole from 129 yards with a 9 iron.
Frith said, “I just quietly watched as the ball got closer to the hole, but another player in the group, Anne O’Neill, was quite animated and was urging it to go in. When it finally dropped, all three of us left the ground!”
Frith followed up her ace with a birdie at the 3rd hole and would finish with a four-over par 58, one stroke behind Laura Robinson who recovered from a slow start to win the ladies division with a round of 57.
In the men’s division, Jarryd Dillas scorched the tricky par-3 layout for an incredible 8 birdies in a six-under par round of 48 – falling one stroke shy of equaling Simon Lilly’s course record of 47 set during the inaugural Bermuda 3s World Team Championship last year – on his way to a five-shot victory over Damian Palanyandi who finished with a one-under 53.
Dillas said, “It was just one of those days when everything went right. I holed some really good putts, in particular for birdie on 4 and 14, the two longest holes on the course. I read that the course record was 50 until Simon Lilly shot 47 back in October, so to be only the second person ever to shoot a sub-50 score around Turtle Hill is a pretty cool feeling.”
Last month, Dillas endured mixed fortunes while representing Bermuda in two overseas events. Competing alongside Walker Campbell and Mikus Ming, he was forced to withdraw through injury from the 2019 South American Amateur Championship but was successful in making the cut at the 2019 Latin America Amateur Championship [LAAC] the following week, finishing in a tie for 47th after rounds of 73-74-75-78.
Dillas added, “I withdrew from the South American Amateur because of back spasms, so I went into the LAAC with no expectations whatsoever. I was a little disappointed with the way I faded over the last 27 holes, but all in all it was a good result and something positive to build on for next year. But for me, the real highlight of those two weeks was the character shown on different occasions by Mikus and Walker.
“At the South American Amateur, we learned that Mikus had signed for an incorrect scorecard while back at the hotel after the third round. He handled the situation with maturity and insisted on returning to the course to inform the tournament organizers of his mistake, knowing it would lead to his disqualification.
“Then at the LAAC, Walker made back-to-back quintuple bogeys early in his first round and ended up shooting an 84. But rather than letting his head drop and getting down on himself, he went out the next day and shot a four-under par 68 to only miss the cut by 3 strokes.
“I was just really proud of the way they handled themselves when faced with some pretty challenging circumstances. They’re both great ambassadors for the island and I think the future of Bermuda golf is in good hands.”
