Merrigum
It was another fine and pleasant day for golf on Saturday as Merrigum players had their second outing since the lockdown.
The event was par and it found a lot of us wanting.
The course is in fantastic shape after the recent rain and is a test of golf in its truest form now, but that doesn’t sit so well for many of us, with our handicaps earned over a summer of playing a course with plenty of run.
That said, I’m sure everyone enjoys playing the course in its current state and in time will adjust to the new playing conditions.
Darryl Johnston had the best round of the day, winning B-grade with a score of +1, two ahead of his closest rival and as such was the only player to finish on the positive side of the ledger.
He did lose a small amount from his handicap but not enough to give the rest of us much satisfaction.
Simon Doherty was the A-grade winner with -1, making it two weeks on the trot he has finished in second place.
Simon will be pleased with his consistency in the lead-up to his defence of his club champion title which will begin this coming Saturday.
Ball competition winners were Bill Bray with -2 and Clint Prygoda, Ash Sanders and Andrew Wood, all with -3.
Nearest-the-pins were won by Andrew Wood on the sixth and Tash Doherty on the jackpot twelfth, while in a case of looking but not seeing, nobody in the last groups through the fourteenth was able to remember who put one in close there, so apologies to that person who hopefully will be acknowledged in next week’s notes.
Darryl Johnston won the chook shed challenge with +2.
This week is stroke and is the first round of the championships.
The Privilege Cup is also on offer and it is also the first round of the eclectic.
The format for the men’s championship is as it has been for several years now, with the best three out of four rounds counting towards the end score.
The championships will be in recess over the long weekend in June and so will be played on June 13, 20 and 27.
A gentsomes competition will be played on June 6.
Parkland
Another hole in one was the feature of Saturday’s golf at Parkland.
A relative newcomer to the club Ray Falla saved his glory shot for the 15th in the stableford event.
Although his ace was the highlight, he managed only a third placing in the men’s A-grade event, finishing with 35 points.
Playing off a handicap of six, Michael D’Augello took home the top prize with 36 points after a countback from Ed McQuienn.
B-grade went to Andrew Ciavarella with 37 points.
Mal Baker in good form after his ace last week finished with 36 points for second.
Third went to Mal Williams on 35 points after a countback.
Rodger Donohue won C-grade with 35 points while ten-year-old Jacob Cartwright was runner-up on 34 points.
Another junior Lincoln D’Augello was third with 32 points.
Nola Arnold won the women’s A-grade with 35 points with Mary Elliott runner-up on 33 points.
B-grade went to Faye Roberts with 33 points.
Runner-up was Di Day on 30 points.
Ball winners were Peter Price, George Saynor, Chris Tindale, Mark Percy, Ken
Campbell, Tim Nelson, Paul McInnes, Bob Troy, Chris Harmer, Tony Potts, Tom McConchie, Lynne McLean, Mary Trimby, Heather Sleeth, Kathy Bell, Daphne Jewell and Fay Glover.
Lucky card draw was Sally Powderham.
Saturday — time sheets available for next week at clubhouse.
Tuesday — ladies. Wednesday — men.
Valley View
After a pleasant day for our return from isolation last week, the midweek rain and cold southerly meant Saturday’s stableford round had a distinctly wintry feel about it.
Not that it affected Josh Pell who not only notched up 37 stableford points to win A-grade, but he did it in a polo shirt and shorts as one of a handful of players that looked like they had joined us directly from the summer months.
Josh nudged out runnerup Paul Newman who finished with 36 points.
A one-shot margin in B-grade also with Paul Kuiper taking the honours with 35 points from Gavon Armstrong with 34.
The consistent Jenni Bauerle won the ladies’ comp with 35 points and a comfy seven-shot margin from Jan McHale who took the runner-up trophy in a countback from Marilyn Ross and Helen Emery.
A long list of ball winners featured Pooch McHale (34 points), Kevin Bauerle (33), Bud Thorsen (32), Daryl Harrison (32), Wayne Cowley (32), Lawrie Casey (31), Peter Blackmore (31) and Trevor Whithall (31).
Wayne Cowley picked up the A-grade NTP ball on the third and Steve Usher won the voucher for NTP on the 15th while the B-grade and ladies NTP balls went begging.
As a Bulldogs supporter, Bud Thorsen still breaks into a cold sweat when he thinks of the 1997 preliminary final, so you would think he has suffered enough at the hands of Crows.
Not so.
The misery goes on as his round on Saturday could have been so much better if he hadn’t had his ball nabbed on the fourth fairway by the local variety of crow.
What’s more is that was the fourth of Bud’s yellow Callaways they had nabbed in just three rounds since golf restarted.
Wayne Cowley notched up a win on Tuesday with 37 points from Les Hall with 35 while Marilyn West was the ladies’ winner with 34 points from Jenni Bauerle with 31 as the ladies joined the men on Tuesday to avoid the rain forecast for Wednesday.
Vinnie Hourigan (34 points), Squizzy Squires (34), Walter Tink (33) and Dean Hubble (33) took home balls as did Daryl Harrison who was NTP on the third.
Valley View Ladies
Janice Johnstone is our latest monthly medal winner with 99-19-80, while captain Leanne was unlucky to lose the countback 93-13-80.
B-grade winner was Helen Armstrong with a rather large 108-24-84 ahead of Leonie McMaster’s 119-33-86.
Janice landed on the 15th for nearest-the-pin and Leanne was the best putter with just 29.
Please make sure you complete round two of the round robin competition by Monday, June 1.
Next Wednesday will be the monthly medal for June, so it will be stroke and putting.
The two Helens, Marg Smerdon and Shirley Soares are on duty.