Free Press golf notes

And unsettle they did; just ask one player who was about to make contact with the ball on the 10th tee when the pumpkin behind him decided to find full voice.

James Campbell had a good round last week and this week he set about proving it was no flash in the pan.

Jimmy won the day and the Privilege Cup with a round of 76-7-69.

It could have been a lot better too, with a number of gettable birdie putts left short and not so much a choke but more a strangulation on the final hole where he put his second shot out of bounds and then had one of those dreaded “s” shots that almost takes out the player standing beside you and destroys a golfer’s confidence.

Luckily he had plenty up his sleeve and finished with a three-shot margin.

Bill Bray was the runner-up with 84-12-72 after a pretty shabby front nine and a much improved back nine.

Larry Hockey also backed up last week’s win to finish in third place with 73.

Nearest the pins were won by James Campbell with a great shot on the long sixth, which did result in a birdie, Bill Bray on the ninth, Larry Hockey on the jackpot 12th and John Fuller on the 14th.

Bill Bray won the chook shed challenge with 10 points, while Craig Doherty was the most spooked golfer.

Thanks to Tash, Ronnie and Simon for providing the prizes and decorations, a great effort.

Twilight has resumed and was won this week by Bruce Brown with a round of 43-6-37. He had a one-shot buffer over runner-up Simon Doherty, who scored 43-5-38.

Nearest the pins were won by James Campbell on the jackpot ninth and Damien Sceney on the 14th.

Bruce Brown won least putts with 13 and the two-point cut was 40.

The twilight competition continues each Thursday evening so come along and enjoy a social game of 10 holes.

This Saturday’s event is 4BBB stroke, the first round of the summer fourball.

Valley View

A magnificent spring day greeted our golfers on Saturday afternoon as they returned to a 12.15pm shotgun start with this week’s magic number being 37 – the winning score in all three grades.

In A Grade, and playing off a handicap of nine, our resident quiz master Lawrie Emdur Casey managed to get past his well-earned bridesmaid reputation to post 37 points to take victory by two points from President Mick McAuliffe, Peter Noble, Mick Gallivan and Mick Coyne.

They all posted scores of 35 points, with Mick Mac clinching the runner-up trophy after a messy countback.

Aside from his lucrative careers as a postie and quiz master, Lawrie is also a very good judge of cricket talent and he has suggested to me more than once in recent weeks that a senior Australian player might be just about done.

In B Grade, Rich River’s Andrew Marr made the most of his visit, posting 37 points and a one-shot win from Trevor Whithall with 36.

Helen Emery also carded 37 points and that won her the Ladies winner’s trophy from Bev Lyon with 34 points, while Wanda Hacon took home the Ladies nearest-the-pin ball on the third hole.

The name of the A Grade nearest-the-pin winner does not appear on the results sheet though it may have been Lawrie Casey, who hit a very good tee shot on that hole on the way to parring it.

Ball winners were the unlucky participants in the A Grade countback (Nobby, Mick Gallivan and Mick Coyne), along with Ray Brereton (also 35 points) and Ian Scurrah, Dom Cerrone, John or Jan McHale, Vonnie Morris and Peter Mangan all with 34 points.

Mick Gallivan picked up the voucher on the 15th for nearest the pin.

A five-way countback was required to find Tuesday’s winner, with Brendon Cornwall taking the voucher with 38 points from runner-up Geoff Squires, and ball winners in Pooch McHale, Robin Quinn and Peter Mangan.

Some consolation for Mango, who took home the NTP ball on the third, and Pooch, who won the voucher on the 15th.

This Saturday and Sunday will feature the first two rounds of the club championships with tee-off from the first tee on each day commencing from 11am to noon.