Victorian Close Championship

A 36-hole close championship was planned for 1939 but was cancelled because of the war.^[1][2][3] The Victorian Golf Association revived the idea in 1947 as a 36-hole "open scratch event", open to amateurs and professionals resident in Victoria, played on a single day at Victoria Golf Club.^[4] Professional George Naismith and amateur Bill Higgins tied with scores of 149.^[5]

The first Close Championship was played at Huntingdale in 1948 and was won by Ossie Pickworth who finished 12 strokes ahead of the field.^[6] Pickworth won again in 1950, 1954 and 1955, each time by large margins.^[7][8][9] 19-year-old Peter Thomson won in 1949 and he won again in 1951, each time by 8 strokes.^[7][10] Jack Harris won in 1952 while Tom Crow was the first amateur winner in 1953.^[11][12]

The Victorian Open started in 1957, replacing the Close championship.^[13] However the Close Championship was reintroduced in 1958, with the event to be played outside Melbourne.^[14] The 1958 event was played over 72 holes but from 1959 it became a 54-hole event.^[15][16] Bruce Devlin, still an amateur, won in 1959.^[16] The tournament existed through the 1970s. In 1976, Mike Cahill, who recently turned professional, won the event.^[17] The championship was finally dropped in 1978.^[18]

Year	Winner	Score	To par	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up	Venue	Ref.
1948	Ossie Pickworth	293		12 strokes	Doug Bachli (a)	Huntingdale	[6]
1949	Peter Thomson	293		8 strokes	Jack Harris	Yarra Yarra	[7]
1950	Ossie Pickworth (2)	291		6 strokes	Laurie Duffy (a)	Metropolitan	[19]
1951	Peter Thomson (2)	288		8 strokes	Ossie Pickworth	Commonwealth	[10]
1952	Jack Harris	294		6 strokes	Bert Clay	Woodlands	[11]
1953	Tom Crow (a)	296		1 strokes	Doug Bachli (a) Bill Higgins (a)	Kew	[12]
1954	Ossie Pickworth (3)	289		14 strokes	Jack Harris Eric Routley (a)	Huntingdale	[8]
1955	Ossie Pickworth (4)	287		14 strokes	Denis Denehey	Kingswood	[9]
1956–1957: No tournament
1958	Bob Brown	294		Playoff[a]	Barry West	Geelong	[15]
1959	Bruce Devlin (a)	213	−3	2 strokes	Doug Bachli (a)	Geelong	[16]
1960	Neil Tetheridge (a)	200	−7	3 strokes	Jack Harris	Midlands	[20]
1961	Jack Harris (2)	199		6 strokes	Dick O'Shea (a)	Midlands	[21]
1962	Jack Harris (3)	212		3 strokes	Alan Heil	Traralgon	[22]
1963	Alan Heil	222		1 stroke	Bob Brown Peter Mills Don Moir (a)	Shepparton	[23]
1964	Brian Simpson	217		2 strokes	Bryan Smith	Shepparton	[24]
1965	Alan Heil (2)	218		Playoff[b]	Bob Brown	Sale	[25]
1966	Peter Mills	213		2 strokes	John Davis	Horsham	[26]

This list in incomplete