THE first round of the men’s 2013 championship was played in perfect golfing weather last Saturday. While the weather was ideal the majority of the 32 players struggled with only a handful able to justify their handicaps.
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Chris Hocking donated the daily trophies for the winner and the runner-up and these were won by Tam Kennedy and Ben Glover. Tam got the defence of his B grade championship off to a good start by being the only player to play below his handicap with an 83-15-68 to take the winner’s trophy.
Defending club champion Ben also made his intentions clear with a very good 73-3-70 to take the runner-up trophy.
The ball competition went to 74nett with birthday boy Graham Williams leading the way from Todd Elliott, Brett Johnson, John Quinn, Bernie Parker, Damien Shea and Josh Glover.
Nearest the pins were won by Mark Parker, Bernie Parker and John Quinn.
Sunday’s second round saw another satisfactory field of 32 starters and while some players improved considerably on their Saturday effort the overall scoring was not up to the expected high standard.
Perhaps the pressure of club championship golf is proving challenging for some players, however, the condition of the course is certainly not at fault.
Ben Glover further strengthened his grip on the championship trophy when he added to his first round 73 a second round 72. Deservedly Ben was the winner of the daily trophy supplied by Harden Bearings and Hardware and he now holds a 16 shot lead from Darrell Cassidy with Todd Elliott one shot further back.
The ball competition went to 73nett with junior Jarrod Filmer 70nett, Darrell Cassidy, Peter Steinke, Kevin Hoppe and Laurie Monaghan all with 71nett, Ron Page 72nett, Peter Elliott and Graham Williams both with 73nett.
After the second round the B grade is being led by Tam Kennedy by 4 shots from Craig Filmer with Bernie Parker one shot further astern. C grade sees John Quinn holding a 7 shot margin over Eric Kuhn with a distance back to the rest of the field.
Thanks to Shane McKellar and Bob Head for manning the barbecue on Saturday and to Greg and Elaine Heycox for doing likewise on Sunday. The efforts of these people certainly made the weekend much more enjoyable.
Ladies foursomes championship
The two-day foursomes championship turned into the Ev Shea and Maryanne Fitzgerald show last Saturday and Sunday as they cleaned everything on offer for the weekend.
On Saturday they won the Harden Pharmacy trophies with a 72nett and on Sunday won the Val Kerrison and Beryl Laragy trophies with a 69nett.
Their two scratch rounds of 88 and 85 gave them the 2013 title by eight shots from Jeanette Elliott and Toni Filmer.
Without detracting from the performances of those who competed over the weekend the small field further emphasised the need for measures to be taken to encourage the participation of more lady golfers.
Midweek golf
Due to quite a few regular players being forced to take sick leave the midweek stableford competition was down slightly on numbers last week.
Thanks to a generous handicap and an amount of good fortune Peter Steinke was able to compile 31 points to narrowly defeat Tam Kennedy by one point with a similar margin back to Herb Manwaring in third place.
An early reminder that the second of Harden’s two veterans’ tournaments for this year will be held on Tuesday, August 27. The usual 10am start will apply with entries lodged by 9.30am.
This weekend
The final two rounds of the men’s 2013 club championships will be played over this weekend with Fuller’s Taxi Trucks rewarding Saturday’s nett winner and Ian Kinleyside will provide the trophy for Sunday’s nett winner.
The fields for the first two rounds have been most encouraging and it is hoped this will again be the case for the final two rounds.
It should be noted that the golf committee has decided to abolish the seeded draw for the leading contenders in each grade for the final two rounds. This decision was made due to several cart sharing arrangements and will allow the mateship which exists to not be interrupted.
The ladies have individual stroke competitions programmed for both Saturday and Sunday.