From Tony Durkin
HEADLAND HEROES: Headland’s A Grade men’s team has caused the boilover of the 2018 Sunshine Coast Golf Zone Pennant season with a thrilling 4-3 final win over raging favourites Maroochy River at Cooroy Golf Club yesterday. Among a mass of blue shirts – estimated to be close to the 100 mark – and with the score locked at three matches apiece, reigning club champion Dave Rattray birdied the final hole to clinch the flag. The four-time Headland champion and Maroochy young gun Luke Parker were square teeing off the par five 18th, which Rattray hit in two, but left his eagle putt three metres short. However, with Parker making par, the 45-year-old calmly sank his birdie putt to clinch the match and win Headland the prestigious Pennant. Also winning their finals matches were Mat Walkenhorst (2&1 over Dave Grenfell), Adam Rydwanksi (1up against Shane Wilkinson) and Scott Walker (2&1 over Luke Craske). Ryley Martin was beaten 3&2, Brad Butler (2&1) and captain Sean McGill lost 3&1. Maroochy River finished atop the SCGZ ladder with just one loss from their six matches while Headland suffered two defeats, including a 5-2 loss in round four to yesterday’s opponent. Headland last won the A Grade SCGZ Pennant in 2012, with Sean McGill, Dave Rattray and Adam Rydwanski also members of that victorious team.
DIGGERS DAY: Kathy Atkins and Alan Jones will have their names inscribed on the prestigious Headland Servicemen’s Shield following Wednesday’s highly-successful Anzac Day event, which attracted 220 players. The Servicemen’s Shield was gifted to the club in 1959 by foundation members Bert and Dorothy Edwards and has been contested each Anzac Day since. Their son John was on hand to present the shield to the winners on Wednesday. Both John and Kathy scored 35 points to be the best performed male and female ex-service players on the day, but John was declared outright winner after beating Kathy on a countback. Service Division winners were Brendan Richardson (Air Force, 35 points), Alan Deller (Army, 34) and Terry Lawlor (Navy,35). Each player on Anzac Day donated $5 from their entry fee to Legacy, with the charity benefitting by more than $1000.
FAMILY BEST: Following what she described as an embarrassing round which put her on the verge of quitting golf, a week later Coralie Walsh has recorded the equal best stableford score of the year among her golfing family of five. Her 41 points in Thursday’s single event won her the C Grade gong and was the best score of the day by a clear four points. With husband Justin, sons Emmett and Patrick and dad Don Follent regulars on the course at Headland, Coralie was proud to have the 2018 bragging rights, even though that honour lasted just two days. In Saturday’s Medley Fourball Aggregate Stableford, Justin – partnering Patrick and playing in the same group as Coralie – also scored 41 points. Coralie had been playing socially for a number of years and previously tasted success in mixed foursomes events, but this is her best individual score and first win since starting regular competition golf late last year.
ROUND OF THE WEEK: Veteran Burgess Stephenson, who once played off a handicap of two, was just six shots off shooting his age with a competition-winning round of 79 and a brilliant score of 45 points in Saturday’s Medley Aggregate Fourball Stableford. With partner Don Follent, the duo scored a combined total of 81 points to beat home the big field of 254 players. Burgess has been in good form of late, losing only one of his seven matches in the recent SCGZ Masters Pennants, and he brought that quality golf back to his home course on Saturday with a birdie, nine pars and eight bogeys in a very steady round. And, as a consistent performer in the club championship where he says he likes to represent himself well, Burgess is likely to continue that form heading into the 2018 event on the weekends of May 19-20 and 26-17.
WHOOPS: Pennant player Brendan Duncan wiped one hole in his round which returned him 36 stableford points on Anzac Day but – astonishingly – the wipe was not on his opening hole. Brendan, who won three of the four B Grade Pennant matches he played for Headland this past season, had the worst possible start on Wednesday. In front of a packed putting green his duffed tee shot travelled a meagre 30 metres, and his second – also duffed – barely travelled another 30 metres. Stoically, he recovered somewhat and his third finished on the fairway – finally – but 173 metres from the pin. Brendan then pulled a seven iron from his bag – much to the astonishment of playing partners Sharon Purnell, Trish Howe and Club Captain, James Kidd. But no-one knows a player’s game better than the player themselves, and Brendan hit a superb third shot which his group believed had finished close to the pin. And just how close was answered when they arrived at the green, could not see Brendan’s ball and ultimately found it – nestled in the hole. It was, according to those who observed what started as a debacle, the greatest par any of them had ever witnessed.
LADIES PENNANTS: Not to be outdone by the men, Headland’s Weekend Ladies Pennant team hit back from two successive losses to score a 4-1 win over Noosa at Beerwah yesterday. Team captain Fiona Munro had a convincing 6&5 victory over her opponent while Kirsten Kaergaard continued her good form with a 4&2 win, the same score recorded by Trish Howe who was having her first appearance of the season for the Weekend team. Jodie McDonnel (1up) was the other Headland winner. The team now has a three-week break until they meet Caloundra at Pacific Harbour on May 20.
WEEKLY WINNERS:
Tuesday, Vets, Single Stableford, Ladies (44 players) – A grade, Sandra Murphy (34 points), Leanne Ptak (34); B grade, Maggie Fitzpatrick (32), Bernadette Cassidy (30); Men (47 players) – A grade, Huki Matenga (39), David Munns (38): B grade, Ezio Allemano (36), Bruno Ciot (35); Single Stableford, Ladies (36 players), Trish Marsden (33), Margaret Howard (32), Margot Hatton (31); Men (62 players), Andrew Hempsall (42), Russell Cooper (37), James Fleming (36).
Wednesday, Diggers Day Medley Single Stableford (220 players) – Diggers Cup, Alan Jones (35 points); Servicemen’s Shield, Alan Jones and Kathy Atkins (35); Air Force, Brendan Richardson (35); Army, Alan Deller (34); Navy, Terry Lawlor (35); Civilian – Men, Martyn Dix (43), Greg Stray (41), Nick Reed (41), Matt Hetherington (40); Ladies, Dominque Paice (37), Monica Knowles (37).
Thursday, Ladies, Single Stableford (83 players) – A grade, Maria Hireme (34 points), Marg Smith (34), Gwen Nancarrow (33); B grade, Jan Miles (36), Judy Farmer (35), Helen Mullholland (34); C grade, Coralie Walsh (41) Maggie Fitzpatrick (37), Chrissy Eggins (36). Men, Team Stableford (84 players) – Mick Kinnear, Nate Smyth, Barry Mapes and Matt Douglas (95 points), Kevin George, Craig Jenkins, Ray Stonehouse and Garry Small (87), Trevor Simpson, Ken Scanlan, Geoff Swayer and Tony Flint (87).
Saturday, Medley Aggregate Fourball Stableford (254 players) – Burgess Stephenson and Don Follent (81 points), Bernie Green and Mark Priest (79), Andrew Hempsall and Glenn Brooker (78), Patrick Walsh and Justin Walsh (76), Ciaran Fenton and Matt Hetherington (76).
Sunday, Medley Pick-Up Stableford (30 players) – Tristan Scott (38 points), Jay Gourlay (37), Carolyn Richardson (36).
