It was a big week for Pooch, as he also won Tuesday’s A Grade comp with 38 points, albeit without the need for a countback.
Back to Saturday’s results and John Neale was the B Grade winner with 34 points from Jeff Carnie with 32 while Helen Emery was a one-shot winner in the ladies’ comp with 35 from Marlene Topp with 34.
Helen had a good day as she also took out the voucher on the 15th with an excellent tee shot but alas, I’m pretty sure I heard her say she missed her birdie putt.
Ball comp winners were Peter Noble with 36, Rod Breen (36), Graeme Harrison (34), Robin Quinn (34), Dylan Gallivan (33) and Kelly Cheong (33).
Nearest the pin winners on the par three holes were Robin Quinn (3rd/A Grade), Lawrie Casey (12th/A Grade), Geoff Strachan (3rd/B Grade) and Ray Brereton who won the B grade NTP trophy on the 12th hole.
Returning to Tuesday and Mick McAuliffe took the A grade runner-up trophy with 35 points in a countback from Bud Thorsen, who did all right nonetheless with a ball in the ball comp and the voucher for nearest the pin on the 15th. Mick also won the A grade nearest the pin ball.
John Burrows was the B grade winner with an excellent round of 36 points, which included the nearest the pin trophy on the third.
Des Cornwall was the B grade runner-up with 35 points while Nobby, Ian Scurrah, and Jeff Carnie all picked up balls in the ball comp, each with 34 points.
On Sunday our pennant team completed a 5-0 victory over Hill Top at Merrigum with the winning scores being: Mick and Dylan Gallivan 5 & 4, Barry Scott and Paul Dickens 2 up, David Collins and Dom Cerrone 2 up, Ash and Paul Kuiper 2 up before Peter Blackmore and Ed McQuienn completed the job with a 3 & 1 victory.
Just a note from Saturday’s duty team advising that C grade result published in Sunday’s paper was fake news designed to overcome a processing error when submitting the scores.
Word has it that while Larco was happy to accept the C grade winner’s voucher, as bad as he has been playing, he was none too pleased about having a handicap of 25 alongside his name in the Sunday papers.
There were some close results in the stableford competitions played at Valley View on Australia Day.
For the women there were both 18-hole and 9-hole competitions. It was exciting to see new member Sally Olle have her first win. Sally won the 9-hole competition with 15 points. In the longer competition, Jenni Bauerle would have liked her chances of taking a win with her 39 points, only to discover Helen Armstrong had had 41 points to win and relegate Jenni to second place.
Paul Dickens, with 36 points, was pleased to relegate some fellows who often appear in the winner's circle, to a three-way countback for runner-up. Laurie Casey, John McHale and Paul Kuiper all finished with 35 points. Laurie claimed the voucher for runner-up. John McHale was nearest the pin.
Golf for next Wednesday will be a 4 Ball Best Ball draw for partners.
Parkland
Australia day golf was a rip-roaring success with 90 players supporting the Geoff Forbes Memorial fourball event. A family contingent from Bendigo and visiting golfers saw the clubhouse buzzing. Sonja Cordwell and Di Bruhn were clear winners for the women with 41 points. Runners-up were Mary Elliott and Heather Sleeth on 38 points while third went to Kathy Bell and Geraldine Prendergast with 37 points. President Greg Ryan and Gavin Connally made 44 points to win the men’s section. A five-way countback for the minor placings saw Steve Walsh and Chris Harmer second while third went to Mick Sullivan and Murray Maxwell. Fourth were Andrew Phillips and Luca Campanelli. Fifth spot went to David Green and Ron Pope all on 43 points. Balls down the line went to Deb Tonkin/Lynne McLean, Trudie Plumb/Lyn Berry, Bob Smith/Ray Coleman, John Thompson/Bryan Prendergast, Brendan Baumann/Andrew Cooper, Terry McCormick/David Blake, Lindsay Simms/Wayne Gilbee, Trevor Price/Aaron Baker, Paul and Cameron Price as well as Greg Woods and Mark Percy. Nearest the pins went to Bob Smith on the 1st and Mary Elliott on the 9th. Nearest on the 18th went to Ray Coleman. Encouragement awards went to Denise Hee/Sue Reid and Bernie Elliott and Brian Clements. Golfers were treated to the traditional barbecue and lamingtons after the game.
A quick 20ml of rain overnight and cooler weather greeted players for Saturday’s stroke event. Although not in the winner’s circle Bruce Walkeden provided some mini highlights with two birdies in his round as well as claiming the two nearest the pins, on one and 18. Heather Sleeth was the winner of the women’s section carding 75-18-57; that was after a countback from Rhonda Cox on the same score. B Grade went to the consistent Di Bruhn with 87-32-55 whIle Lyn Fraser was runner-up on 82-26-56. Peter Clark won A Grade for the men with 65-13-52. Runner-up was Doug Cox on 68-12-56. Graeme Gordon went back to back winning B Grade with 71-17-54. Runner-up was David Blake with 69-14-55 after a countback from Fred Roberts. David Green shot the best net score of the day to win C Grade. David finished with 72-21-51. Geoff Berry was runner-up with 76-24-52 after a countback from Steve Walsh. Ball winners were Kathy Fanning, Kathy Bell, Lana McInnes, Steve Walsh, Bruce Walkeden, Fred Roberts, Kevin Jewell, Peter Price, and Gavin Connally. Lana McInnes was nearest the pin on the 9th.
BINGO: This week the jackpot will be $700 in 53 calls. The big bucks game last week paid out $275.
Coming Events: Saturday: Men’s and Women’s Stableford. Intersport Bennett`s Birdie Hole No 16. Tuesday: Women’s Stroke. 3 Club Event. 8:30am to 9am. Shotgun. Duty: B.Howard, S.Powderham, M.Leyden, D.Van der Drift. Wednesday (February 9) Men’s Par. 9:30am to 10am.
Parkland women
Only a small field of 22 players braved the humid weather last Tuesday, January 25, for the stableford event.
C Grade winner and relative newcomer Dianne Mc Minn, playing off a 30 handicap, had a day out finishing her game with the best score overall with an excellent 39 points.
Mary Elliott (20) continued her good form to take the honours in A Grade carding 37 points while the effort of Lyn Berry (26) took the B grade title with 34 points.
Winners of the ball competition were K. Bell 36, D. Hee 36, H. Sleeth 34 and M. Ross 33.
Nearest the pin winners were Pam Stokes on the 1st while Mary Elliott took the 12th with her second shot.
Merrigum
Techies Tyres of Kyabram sponsored Saturday’s three-person ambrose played at Merrigum. There was an excellent turnout for the event on what was a steamy afternoon. There were plenty of good scores returned but the best came from a group of three who took on an orphan and raised him as one of their own as they became a family of four. He was a handy addition if for no other reason than the team of four had a bigger handicap than the original team of three. Bill Johnson, Brendan Roberts, John Bacon and Russell Dunn put together a very good three-under-par round of 67-9.5-57.5. They didn’t have it all their own way, however; Tash Doherty, Rhonda Eberle and Justin Christou were just half a shot behind in the runners-up position with a round of 71-13-58. Nearest the pin winners were Techie Ryan on the long sixth, Larry Hockey on the ninth and Tash Doherty with a great shot on the 12th. James Campbell, Aaron Baker and Troy Pearce were the winners of the chook shed challenge with 15. Thanks go to Techie for sponsoring such a great day that was well received by members and visitors alike. It was a long time in the pipeline and had been postponed on a number of occasions due to lockdowns.
Andrew Wood blitzed twilight, winning almost everything possible. The only thing missing was the jackpot for nearest the pin on the ninth, which nobody else was able to do either. Woody won with a score of 38-1-37, which was a great effort. He will now be playing off scratch this Thursday. He was closest to the pin on the 14th and won least putts with 12. The two-point cut was 41.
The combined Rushworth/Merrigum pennant side had a good win at Merrigum on Sunday against Nagambie, taking the honours 4.5/0.5. Winners were Sam and Jeff Perry 4/3, Jeff Parry and Bill Bray 3/2, Anthony Geisler and Alan Akerstrom 1 up and Kelly Cheong and Ian Rathjen 2/1. Ash Sanders and Greg Hall squared their match. Pennant this week is at Valley View against the home side. Hit-off is from 8.15am.
This Saturday’s event is stroke for the Privilege Cup and a spot in the next Tiger Cup play-off.
GV Veterans
After a long break, 114 veteran golfers welcomed the start of season 2022 at Kyabram Parkland on Monday, January 31, on a humid day with the temperature expected to climb to 33°C but with a pleasant breeze. The Parkland golf course was presented in the best condition that I can recall and is a credit to all the volunteers.
Winners in the 4BBB event were John McHale and Alan Hausler of Valley View with 47 stableford points. Runner-up pairing was Bill Padgett and Ian Hannaford, Numurkah, on 44 points.
Nearest the pin was conducted on the 1st, 9th and 18th holes with Ray Coleman, Parkland; Graeme North, Shepparton; and Glen Evans, Nagambie successful respectively.
Ball rundown included: Greg Birks - Keith Rae, Graeme Frostick - Mel Lusher, Geoff Stone - Bruce Collins, Tony Papallo - Terry Allan, Peter Leahy - Clyde Hammond, Ken Harris - Graeme North, Phil Cooper - Bruce Brown, Gavon Armstrong - Peter Mangan, Graham Scott - Phil Steers.
The annual meeting was also conducted most efficiently with the president and treasurer reading their reports. Election of the 2022 president was scrutinised by Ron Smith, 2022 North Eastern Zone councillor to the Victorian Veteran Golfers Association and member at Jubilee Golf Club. As usual, Max Dawber has managed to maintain the GVVGA on a sound financial footing.
Office bearers for 2022 include President Ron Wilkinson, Vice-president Bill Chilcott, Secretary Rolf Weber, Treasurer Max Dawber, Captain John McHale, Vice-captain Ron Smith. The general committee comprises: Neil Hutchins, Phil Steers, Geoff Hamill, Mel Lusher, and Immediate Past President and Delegate to VVGA Graham Scott.
There are many vacancies in our team of 60 golfers for the annual Central Challenge on 7/03/2022 hosted by Heathcote Golf Club. Your last chance to enter will be at our next outing on February 21 at Nagambie, which will be at our summer 8.30am assemble deadline.
