Robo wins! But how?

Rookie Robo Robertson created tournament history by winning the 2000  Mongrel Masters Championship from the first group, which is traditionally the domain of players with little to no chance of victory. His one stroke win over three time champion Noni Scanlon, left many questions with few answers.

The media hype leading up to the Tournament had many believing that the 2000 winner would come from the final "super group" of Colby, Ouvrier, Ramsey and Scanlon which totaled nine Mongrel Masters Championships amongst them.  When Noni Scanlon completed his round the victor of the group he was certain that he emerged the Champion once more. However Noni's glee was soon to be soured when he was greeted green side with news of  Robo Robertson  having recorded a total one less than Scanlon's and hence was the new champion.

Robo's victory was not the only surprising result of the Tournament, which has lead to many players calling for independent scorers. In the same group as Robo, Mungo Crowley and Long Drive Cliffy recorded their lowest ever scores in the Tournament , both improving on their average scores by more than ten strokes. In addition to this Long Drive Cliffy won the coveted Longest Drive on the last hole, exceeding his best ever drive by 200 metres!!

Vast improvements in performance were not isolated to the first group, however, with perennial scoring amnesiac King Bonser also improving upon his average score by more than ten strokes.

1995 Mongrel Masters champion, Harold P Ouvrier was not afraid to voice his opinion about the irregularities. "I am not bitter about slipping out of the top five this year, but fair dinkum, some of the guys that supposedly scored better than me were covering more land than Bourke and Wills out there and yet somehow they seem to make par. .....can anyone seriously believe that Cliffy won the longest drive? He doesn't even drive his car that far let alone a golf ball! It seems that once again the stroke of the pen is mightier than the golf club. Something has to be done about this". 

Red Colby summed  up the feeling of  all the players at the Champions Dinner , when presenting the Blue Tweed winners jacket to Robo when he said " Enjoy this moment, because I can assure you that you will not be afforded the same courtesies and pleasantries that you received in the group you played with today." 

 In  his acceptance speech, an overawed  Robo Robertson summed up his feelings " I didn't think I had any chance of winning and I am honored to have not only played but to have won".

Click here for 2000 Results

Click here for the 2000 Mongrel Masters in Photographs

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