Top sides will do it all again
FNQ CLUB GOLF
CAIRNS will meet Half Moon Bay in a repeat of last year’s FNQ Golf Men’s Pennants final next weekend after the latter’s tight defeat of Atherton narrowly secured them a finals berth on Sunday.
Defending champions Cairns were unbeaten and had a bye as the action played out at their home course.
Atherton started the round one point behind Half Moon Bay and needed a win to force a countback to determine who prevailed, but were denied 3-2.
It sets up a repeat of last year’s decider at Port Douglas’ pristine Palmer Sea Reef, Cairns bolstered by the arrival of Mackay gun Matt Spilsbury this year.
So strong is this year’s side that club captain Ross Argent will have to omit someone playing off scratch or near to it.
“I wouldn’t have thought we have had a better squad than this when you look at the handicaps and what everyone’s won,” Argent, who also indicated he would step down as captain after the finals, said.
“It’s hard to go past it, but we are certainly not taking anything for granted against Half Moon Bay.
“They have some great players and we’ve been pushed a few times already (in the round robin phase) and had to play well as a team.”
Many of the finals field will get an early look at the Palmer Sea Reef course when they play for Cairns in the Twin Cities Challenge against Townsville this weekend.
The two-day event — day two will be held at Cairns Golf Club — is an annual battle between the two cities played outside FNQ Golf’s jurisdiction and will provide valuable match play before next weekend’s Pennants final. Wednesday: Sporters Stableford winner Wayne Jones 30pts, 2nd Mark Johnson 27pts (c/b), Jim Liston; NTPs 11 Wayne Jones, 13 Bill Grumley; least putts Irish Hazlett 17 (Irish also scored an eagle on the 15th). Thursday: Ladies Stableford winner Shirley Johnson, 2nd Dawn Faulkner; NTPs 3 Annette Seawright, 11 Marg Dollman, 13/18 Sandra Watson. Friday Chook run: winner Graig Withers 14pts. Saturday: Junior Stableford Tadpole winner Ryan Flynn, 2nd Jake Flynn; least putts Kane Boland. Novice winner Logan Poggioli, 2nd Tom Hallam; least putts Tom Flynn; putts for dough Darcy Hallam. Saturday members: Patrons Day Stableford (sponsor Ken Tait) Ladies winner Sandra Watson 45pts (87 gross), 2nd Dee Jierasak; pin shots Sandra Watson 3,13 and 18; NTP Annette Seawright 11; Men’s winner Simon Hosking 78 gross (PB) 49pts, 2nd Jerry Jierasak 45pts, 3rd Pup Hilder 43pts (c/b), 4th Graham Hughes; NTPs 3 Neil Stubbin, 11 Irish Hazlett, 13 Greg Brown, 18 Gavin Comino. Sunday: Yungaburra Butchery Stableford winner Darren Morey 44pts (two weeks in a row), 2nd Simon Hosking; NTP 18 Irish Hazlett. Sunday: Atherton Junior Open (46 entrants) AGU girls winner Lilly Birney, 2nd Priya Patel; AGU boys gross Will Florimo 73, 2nd James Li; AGU nett winner Tom Hallam, 2nd Callum Lee; Novice 9-hole girls: winner (and least putts) Natasha McCree; Novice 9-hole boys gross: winner Couper Smith, 2nd Tom Flynn; Nett: Alex Kearns, 2nd Sean Florimo; least putts Logan Poggioli 15; Tadpole 9-hole boys gross: winner Jackson Florimo, 2nd Jack Roberts; Nett: Ryan Mann, 2nd Noah Blooranta; least putts Jack Roberts 17; Tadpoles 6-hole girls Amelia Harris, 2nd Sarah Florimo; Boys winner
ATHERTON
Blake Dwyer, 2nd Ethan Dwyer, 3rd Ryan Flynn, 4th Chris Barletta; least putts Ethan Dwyer. Pennants round robin: A-Grade lost 2&3 with Glen Lee 1-up and Hayden Lee 3&2 winners (17 year-old Hayden winning 5 of his 6 matches). B-Grade won 3&2 to finish 1st and qualify for the November 28 Final with wins to Rod O’Neill 1-up, Mick Conolly 7&6, and Steve (policeman of the year) Bakss 2-up. C-Grade won 3&2 with wins to Justin Mason, Mark Johnson and Jeff Bochow (all 3&2). Golf program — Sporters: Stableford; Thursday: Ladies Stableford (sponsor Philips News); Saturday: Juniors 4ball aggregate Stableford, while members and visitors play a Turner Shield Stableford (sponsor Golf World). Sunday November 22: AGM from 9am followed by the Yungaburra Butchery Stableford. Wednesday November 4: social winner B Giddins, 2nd C Hannam; Putts B Giddins; NTPs 2nd R. Farrell, 5th M Lock. Friday November 6: Chook Run winner C Hannam, 2nd P Hannam; Putts B Giddins; NTPs 2nd A Skinner, 5th W Anthony. Saturday November 7: Monthly Medal Ladies winners P Hannam; Men’s D Biancotti, 2nd T Stager. Rundown: E Kruckow; Putts K Delamare; NTPs 2nd E Krucxkow, 5th P Hannam, Locky’s 9th D Biancotti. Wednesday November 11: winner D Barrow, 2nd D Sneddon (c/b), 3rd R Farrell; Putts D Barrow. Friday November 13: Chook Run winner D Barrow, 2nd D Sneddon; Putts D Biancotti; NTP 2nd D Barrow (the Mirriwinni Chicken Hawk is back in business in a big way. Black Friday is only unlucky for some). Saturday November 14: 4BBB Aggregate Stableford winners G Anthony/T Stager, 2nd M Lock/D Barrow; Putts T Stager; NTPs 2nd G. Anthony, 5th M. Lock. November 28: Boulders Trophy Day, a 3-Ball 9-Hole Ambrose event, golfers, hackers and learners are all welcome, $20 fee covers lunch and the game, register at 12pm for a 1pm shotgun start, phone 4067 1246 to pre-register. Winner: B Protheroe, 2nd R Johnson. NTPs: 3 A Van Fleet, 12 G Long, 14 A Van Fleet, 8 G Long; BP: 5 R Maxted, 17 D Caplick. Wednesday November 11: winner J Evans, 2nd M Gil. Run down: S Woodward, C Bryce, C Madden, W Webster, T Cook, J McLean, G Jarred, J Albertsen; NTPs C Bryce. Ball Pool: J McLean, J Wallace. Monday Stableford: Men’s winner Troy Pickett 40pts, Brett Davidson 38pts; Ladies winner: Joan Eastman 36pts. Tuesday November 10: Stableford Ladies winners Karen Henry 33pts; Men’s winners Luke Mitchell 43pts; Pins: Trish Shaw. Wednesday November 11: Stableford Men’s Division 1 winners Paul Frier 44pts, Jim Logan 39pts, Shane Vale 38pts; Men’s Division 2: Cliffy Waite 41pts, Ron Sylvester 39pts, Len Manoff 37pts; Ladies: Maree Klee 33pts; Pins David Greig, Eric Sheldon Jack Dempsey Stephen Day. Friday November 13: Chook Run Back 9 men’s winners Chris Trickey 22pts, Ken Smithson 22pts, Terry Jenkins 21pts; Ladies winners Kerby Ormes 18pts, Mary Miller 18pts, Trish Shaw 18pts; Pins: Crippsy Cripps, Clare Hopper. Saturday November 14: Stableford Div1 Shane Vale 39pts, George McEwan 39pts; Div 2: Rod Kettle 40pts, Eric Sheldon 40pts, Geoff Mayes 39pts; Div 3: Bob Reddacliff 42pts, Bluey Peisley 41pts, Jeremy Rillstone 40pts; Div 4: Ladies Cathy Smithson 37pts, Choo Lim 34pts, Pam Shay 33pts; Pins: Wingy Wright, Dianne Pumpa, Greg Nicholls, Shane Vale. Sunday November 15: Stableford Silk Air Men’s winners Chris Leix 43pts, Scott Fisher 38pts; Ladies Joan Eastman 36pts, Sammie Seal 33pts.
BABINDA
GORDONVALE
HALF MOON BAY
INNISFAIL
Saturday November 7: Monthly Medal (sponsor Golf World) winner Rod Ingram 66 nett (c/b), 2nd Lance Masina. Rundown: Jim Ferguson 69, Trent Mann 71, Daryl Wall 72; NTPs 1/10 John Lombardi, Pro pin Andrew Rose, 3/12 and 8/17 Alan Gould, 4/13 Keith Wilcox, 5/14 Shane Trembath, 6/15 Rosie and 9/18 Trent Mann. Peter Stenzel knew it wasn’t his day when he put his drive on the 18th out of bounds, then played another ball to the middle of the fairway about 140ms from the green, then played an incredible shot to hole out, for what he believed to be a par, only to be called back by his playing partner for hitting the wrong ball. The onlookers from the balcony were most sympathetic for his eventual 8. The Barrier Reef Motel Consistency Series still has the usual suspects, Shane/ Jack & Tisso at the top but a check shows there are still 8 players with a mathematical chance of winning the series on December 5. Skins for the week went to Luke (3) and Keith Marshall (6). Sunday December 6: Skins breakup, 8am start over 18 holes with a barbecue to follow. Wednesday: 9-hole event winner Luke Peters, 2nd Jim Ferguson, 3rd Des King, 4th Ian Rule; NTP Keith Wilcox. Friday: competition winner Aman Singh, 2nd Panda, 3rd Rod, 4th Maurie; NTP Rod Ingram. Sunday November 15: Storms threatened the Stableford event, however all turned out well with only a couple of showers cooling of the steamy playing conditions. Winner: “Mr Millaa Millaa Golf Club” Warren Afflick 43pts (including 3 birdies), 2nd Darryl Bridgeman 42pts; Ladies winner Margie Azar 33pts, 2nd Carol Howard 30pts; NTP 1/10 Greg Taylor, 5/14 Bruce Hunter 6/15 Barbara Peirce, 8/17 Hugh Gillard. Sunday November 22: Bogey format (sponsor Gadgarra Sawmill).
MILLAA MILLAA
MOSSMAN
November Monthly Medal: (sponsor Mal and Leonie Phillips) winner L Marsh nett 65, 2nd Peter “Jock” Constantine 68, (c/b) M Elliott; NTPs Bill Allison, L Marsh, Russell Hooker, Maurice Meth and Wayne Dowell. Wednesday’s 9-hole Stableford: winner Peter Clark 19pts, (c/b) Ron Smith; NTP Jeff Murray and Barry Costain. Thursday: Ladies winner Treveen Page 37pts, Bette Wells 32pts, Glenda Christensen 31pts (c/b), Lucy Giles; NTPs Shirley Carney, Lucy Giles, Kerri-Lynn Williams and Treveen Page 13/17. Friday 9-hole Mossman Butchering Steak Bash: winner Brendon Wood 21pts; NTPs Brendon Wood and Peter Clark. Saturday: winner Peter McKeown 43pts, Dave Heron 42pts, Brad Daly 39pts; NTPs Rob Young, Ron Lynch, Dave Heron, Errol Glynn and Russell Hore. Ladies winner Julie Hooker 39pts, Annabel Kuik; NTPs Julie Hooker, Shona Barbour 10/17, Annabel Kuik 13. November 11: Junior Championships (final round) 9hole event winner Nick Scommazon, 2nd Wade Duncan; NTP Nick Scommazon 10; least putts Wade Duncan. Modified winner Eliza Kuik, 2nd Jack Roberts; NTP Chelcee Gee 10; least putts Caleb Dwyer. Junior Championship trophies will be presented on Wednesday November 18. Visitors green fees will be reduced to $25 for 18 holes from December 1.