Will 2026 be the year club president Brent “The Florist” Hetaraka finally adds the Cooktown Golf Open men’s champion silverware to his trophy cabinet? Photo: Cape York Weekly.
The trophies have arrived, the putting techniques have been fine-tuned and traditional side bets have been placed as Cooktown prepares to crown its golfing gods for 2026.
Players from across Far North Queensland will converge on the Walker Bay course on 27-28 June, with 36 holes of single stroke action set to determine who will take home the men’s and women’s champion silverware.
There will be $6000 in prizes on offer for gross and nett results in A-grade, B-grade and C-grade for the men, and Open, 1 and 2 divisions for the women who tee off.
In addition, players will have two opportunities to pocket $10,000 in cash for carding a hole-in-one on Saturday and the final round on Sunday.
Cooktown Golf Club president Brent Hetaraka – who will be desperately trying to get his hands on the men’s champion prize for the first time – said this year’s event was going to be one of the biggest on record in terms of nominations.
“It’s our biggest one in years – it’s insane,” he said.
“We’ve got some serious guns coming up this year, and our A-grade field, they’re all winning their club champs.”
That includes 2025 men’s champion Jake Perkins, who will make the trip north from El Arish in a bid to claim back-to-back titles after thumping his home course record recently.
Hetaraka admitted it was going to be a challenge to make 2026 the year he ditched the dubious crown as Cooktown’s perennial bridesmaid – a golfer with more bouquets to his name than birdies.
“I’m not confident, but I’m going to bust my arse having a crack at it though,” he said stoically.
One Cooktown-based open competitor, who snitched to Cape York Weekly on the condition of absolute anonymity, said they were expecting to see some impressive scorecards returned to the clubhouse over the weekend if the on-course bragging leading up to the event was any guide.
“The way some of our local blokes have been mouthing off over the last few Saturdays, you’d think the open is their final hit-out before joining the PGA tour,” the B-grade tattletale laughed.
“If their performances this weekend live up to the smack talk, they’ll be carding 15-under rounds.
“The problem is, talk is cheap, three-putts don’t lie, and bridesmaids will always be catching the flowers of champions.”
The excitement – and mind games – of the 2026 Cooktown Golf Open will commence on Friday afternoon with the traditional Stableford Prawn Run.
Golfers still thinking about teeing off this weekend at Australia’s most northern east coast course have until 5 pm on Wednesday (24 June) to nominate by emailing [email protected].
