In its 90th year, the Mudgee Open has been greeted with an outstanding response from golfers all over the state with numbers reaching the 240 mark.
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This year, the event has been capped at 240, despite registrations still coming in that have had to have been turned away, with players coming from all corners of NSW.
"It happens to be the biggest year we've seen in the last 20 years. This is probably one of the strongest fields we've had too with over 40 people playing off less than four, so this year's event will be one of the tightest and busiest events we've had in the last 90 years," MGC Pro Peter Mayson said.
"We've been very lucky to have 20 odd players up on previous years, but 10 years ago we were in the 140s which was starting to be alarming.
"We have two groups that have been coming for over 35 years consecutively, this is what they do and come to Mudgee for."
With MGC shutting down to visitors during the peak of COVID-19 in April, May and June, the health of local residents was at the forefront.
And come the October long weekend, MGC will continue to enforce restrictions imposed by the pandemic, with room to move given golf is an outside sport.
"MGC actually shut down to all visiting golfers, it only played Mudgee members and Mudgee 2850 residents. We have done more than a lot of other golf clubs did to make sure the residents were safe. The guidelines for this [Open] have gone from no visitors to now allowing them by following the NSW Health guidelines," Mayson said.
"With the public health order, it finishes on September 30 so we just happen to be three days outside that window so we told all players that if it were to extend, we would have to postpone the Open but that's the environment we live in.
"Being an outdoor sport and the clubhouse adhering to all the COVID restrictions, this is a very safe environment under instructions from NSW Health."
Not only are the numbers a plus for the 2020 Open, but also Domino's who jumped on board as sponsors.
"Mark Hale gave me a call saying their previous sponsor had to pull out due to COVID and we were happy to jump on board," Domino's Franchisee Josh Arnold said.
"Domino's are supported by the community, and have been especially during COVID when we were lucky enough to continue trading, so we like to return the support.
"We have a really good team that can get pizzas out really quick, we just got some new ovens that cook the pizzas really quick in three and a half minutes so we will be able to adequately feed the hungry golfers."
The 2020 Mudgee Open will be held at the Mudgee Golf Course from October 2 to 4.