QLD- Local Legends: Siblings break course records on same day

By Liam Wyllie

A potentially unprecedented event unfolded at Brisbane’s Wolston Park Golf Club when siblings Matt and Kiara Frohmuller broke the men’s and women’s course records on the same day.

Both were competing in the club’s January Monthly Medal when Matt, playing off a +3 handicap, carded a blistering 7-under 60 to lower the men’s record by two shots, while Kiara, off eight, shot 3-over 72 to smash the women’s record by seven.

The pair were on the course at the same time, with Matt teeing off roughly an hour before his older sister.

After birdies on the 10th, 12th, and 13th, Matt reached 7-under with five holes to play and admitted the pressure began to build.

“I got a little bit nervous,” Matt said.

“I was on the 14th tee and checked my sister's round to see how she was going, just to distract myself a bit.”

Matt scrambled pars over the next few holes before getting up and down from a bunker some 30 metres short of the 17th green.

“Standing on the 18th tee, I was thinking, ‘I can bogey this and still get it - we'll be alright’,’” he said.

The par-4 18th at Wolston Park is lined with out-of-bounds down the left, with the clubhouse and facilities hugging the rough, and that danger came firmly into play.

“I've hit this hard snap hook into a tree, but it just ricocheted straight back out into the middle of the fairway,” he said.

“It was definitely heading OB but the golfing gods were on my side.”

Facing a tucked pin guarded by bunkers, Matt played conservatively, hit the green and two-putted to secure the record-breaking round.

The first message Matt received wasn’t a congratulations, but a text from his mum focussed on Kiara’s charge.

“I finished first and got a text from Mum saying, ‘I think Kiara's going to break the ladies record, she's playing really well’ and I replied, ‘Oh, I just broke the men’s one,’” he said.

With four holes remaining, Matt headed back out onto the course to watch Kiara close out her record-breaking round shortly after he had finished.

The celebrations began quickly, with Wolston Park General Manager Frank Bryne shouting jugs of beer to mark the rare double achievement.

“Straight away Frank said, ‘jugs of beer on me’,” Matt said.

“We had a few victory ones and then we headed to the bar and had quite a few after that.”

The achievement wasn’t the first time the siblings had shared success on the same day, with their father reminding them they both won the 2012 Toogoolawah Junior Open together.

Matt, Wolston Park’s superintendent greenkeeper and a member since 2014, revealed the 60 wasn’t even his lowest score at the course.

Last year he shot 11-under 56 - featuring 12 birdies and a bogey - but it wasn’t recognised as the course record as the stableford event was played from the blue tees.

Even that extraordinary round wasn’t enough to win, as newly handicapped Trish Johnson shot 95 off a 41 handicap to amass 51 stableford points, beating Matt’s 44.

With club championships looming in late February, the Frohmullers will look to build on their shared success, with Matt reigning champion after winning three of the past five titles, while Kiara targets her first.