THE biggest tournament of the calendar year for both the Portland Golf Club and the Heywood Golf Club begins on Friday, the Assets Real Estate South West Golf Classic.

Split between Portland and Heywood’s golf courses, the South West Golf Classic attracts hundreds of participants each year.

With a little under a week still remaining to register, more than 400 players have already registered for this year’s tournament.

The South West Golf Classic was launched in 2017 as a joint project between the Portland and Heywood clubs, with the 2021 edition of the four-day carnival the fifth iteration of the event.

On Friday, play begins in Portland with a men’s and women’s 4BBB stableford beginning at 8am.

On Saturday, the Classic heads to Heywood for men’s and women’s stroke and stableford play. A grade players will contest a stroke event, will B and C grade players will contest a stableford.

For the men’s division, A grade is defined as a handicap between 0-10.5, B grade is 10.6 through 17.6, and 17.7-plus is C grade.

For the women’s division, A grade is defined at 0-19.2 and B grade is 19.3-plus.

 On Sunday, the Classic returns to Portland for a further 18 holes of stroke and stableford play divided into A, B and C grades.

The 36-hole championship event is once again on offer and requires golfers to play on both Saturday and Sunday. Play begins from 8am onwards on both Saturday and Sunday.

The Classic comes to an end on Monday with a 4-person Gentsomes event in Heywood, with men’s, women’s and mixed teams available. Play begins from 8am onwards.

Portland Golf Club captain Ben Cumming the numbers were looking excellent heading into Friday’s opener.

“Everything is looking pretty good with a little under a week to go, the numbers we’ve got so far are great,” he said.

“We’ve had one crew from Blue Lake in South Australia let us know that things are looking a bit up in the air with the situation at the Victorian-South Australian border, but other than that possible little drop in numbers, things look good.

“We’ve also got that late bump in entries to look forward to in the days right before the Classic from local golfers jumping in last minute.

“Portland’s greens should be absolutely spot on after our recent weeks and Heywood has been through the same process slightly earlier than Portland, and both courses will really benefit from that recent burst of rain.”

Play in Portland and Heywood is subject to the Victorian Government’s current coronavirus restrictions and golfers must socially distance during play.

• For further information you can contact the Portland Golf Club on 03 5523 2523 or the Heywood Golf Club on 03 5527 1391.

More information can also be found by visiting the Assets Real Estate South West Golf Classic page on Facebook.

All entries can be made by heading to www.bookatee.com.au and heading to the South West Golf Classic page.