From Tony Durkin
SPARKLING WEEK: Kate Wilkie enjoyed a double celebration this past week – she became engaged on Thursday and won the club’s 63rd Birthday event on Saturday. Kate teamed superbly with family friend Simon Richardson to score 48 points and record a runaway win in the Mixed Fourball Best Ball Stableford. They had nine three pointers, two four pointers – one each – and just the single one-point hole to win by three points. On Thursday Kate and her partner, fellow Headland member Alan Deller, announced their engagement after first meeting under the mango tree on the tenth hole almost a decade ago. The Same Sex event, played in conjunction Saturday’s Birthday Mixed, was won by Bruce Haseltine and Tristan Scott, with a phenomenal score of 50 points.
SWEET SIXTEEN: Josie Ryan has won her 16th Headland Ladies Championship – in a veritable canter. In recording the biggest winning margin of that string of 16 victories, Josie streeted the field to win by 19 strokes from teenager Dominique Paice, and also added the Senior Champion title to her long list of achievements. Although conceding she has had lower 72-hole scores than the 318 she posted – and has played better in the past – Josie said she was delighted with the win and particularly satisfied with her two final rounds of 75 and 79. Her amazing Headland Championship journey started in 1997, and she went on to win in eight of the next nine years. And demonstrating that advancing years are not an issue, Josie has won five of the past six Ladies Championships. Gwen Nancarrow won the B Grade Championship, also by a big margin, while Maureen Cartledge is Headland’s C Grade Champion.
THANKS ADAM: Just prior to the Ladies championships kicking off, Josie Ryan was experiencing some issues with her chipping and bunker play. So, she turned to Club Professional Adam Norlander for help. Her husband, Ron McMahon, gifted her a lesson with Adam as a birthday present and bunkers and chipping were the target. After starting her final round on Thursday bogey, double bogey, Josie steadied with 11 pars, a birdie and two more bogeys, and credited her lesson with Adam for a couple of crucial ‘saves’ from difficult bunker lies. And in accepting a smart new white golf bag as part of her winnings, Josie reminisced on her 10 years living in Khon Kaen when she thanked Championship sponsor, Thailand Golf Tours.
MAROON OR BLUE: Men playing in the Monthly Medal on Wednesday will need to show their true colours – maroon or blue. With the first match of the 2018 State of Origin series being played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Wednesday night, the Medal event has taken on an Origin theme and players are to declare which state they support at the Pro Shop when registering. The top 10 scores from each state will be added together to decide the winning team, and all players nominated as members of that team will win a ball in the rundown. To add to the theme of the day, players are asked to dress in their team colours.
GOLDEN CHALLENGE: Before he embarked on his best-ever round in any of the five Headland Championships he has won, Dave Rattray made two phone calls. One was to a golfing mate in his hometown of Christchurch, the other to his former coach who now lives in Toronto, and both challenged him to forget his age – 46 – and focus on some positives from the past. His coach reminded him that the Golden Bear, Jack Nicklaus, was winning Majors in his mid-40s while his mate prompted his memory on the time Dave played a round with the great Peter Thompson who, despite his age, was still far superior that day to all around him. Coming from two shots back, Rattray stormed home last Sunday with a three-under par 69 to win by to win by five strokes. His secret – keep the ball in play.
MAT WALKS: Mat Walkenhorst, who has been runner-up to Rattray in the past two Headland Club Championships, has moved back to his native Victoria. The monster-hitting former professional, who played an integral part in the Headland A Grade team winning the Sunshine Coast Zone Pennant last month, has departed for family reasons. He said he thoroughly enjoyed his brief stint living on the Sunshine Coast, and particularly his association with Headland which he described as the friendliest club of any club of which he had been a member. Playing off plus two, Matt was the lowest handicapped player at Headland.
FAMILY DOUBLE: Graham and Maureen Cartledge have pulled of the rare family double at Headland, winning their respective C Grade Championship titles. Graham snared his victory last Sunday with a four-stroke win while Maureen saved her best round until last and cruised home by 13 shots. The couple had played golf ‘very socially’ until joining Headland 13 years ago but are both now regulars on the course two days a week. And while the 2018 gong is Graham’s first Championship win – he did triumph in the C Grade nett in 2006 – this is Maureen’s sixth C Grade Championship win.
TRACEY’S TRIUMPH: Yet another graduate of Headland’s highly-successful SWING (Starting Women In Golf) program has won with a stunning performance. Tracey O’Connor, playing off a handicap of 41, was one of seven players to beat the score of Patron Simon Whittle in Sunday’s Medley ‘Beat the Patron’ event. In just her 15th competitive 18-hole round since graduating from SWING in 2015, Tracey scored 41 points with an incredible 24 on the back nine, which included a wipe. Her back nine started with a four pointer on the tenth and she then recorded successive three pointers from the 12th to the 16th, wiped 17 and had another three points on 18. But it isn’t her first Headland win, nor her best score. In March last year she signed for 42 points and – not surprisingly – was also the winner.
COOL VICTORY: Former Headland Assistant Manager, Sharon Purnell, has helped Mt Coolum to a win in the North Coast Zone Ladies Weekend Pennant. Sharon, who has maintained her Headland membership despite furthering her career at Caloundra and Mt Coolum clubs, was unbeaten in her eight matches during the Pennant season. And although she has been General Manager at Mt Coolum Golf Club for a decade, Sharon continues to share her golfing skills between the two clubs.
RUSSIAN FAREWELL: Peter Raymond has been a Headland member for 33 years, has played Pennants for the club and his handicap has been as low as 10, but he can’t remember a more satisfying round than Wednesday’s Single Stableford that reaped him 44 points. Playing off 20, and with a new driver in the bag, Peter missed just one fairway in his round of 84 that included eight pars, eight bogies and two doubles in the extremely heavy conditions. Struggling for consistent form in recent months, he described his round as ‘just a good, enjoyable afternoon on the course’ and a fitting memory to take with him next week when he departs for the Football World Cup in Russia.
WEEKLY WINNERS:
Tuesday, Medley Fourball Best Ball Stableford, (70 players) – Phil Kornmann and Charlie Worthy (46 points), Gwen Nancarrow and Graham Pitt (44), Ron McMahon and Josie Ryan (44), Bruce Horton and Gordon Clark (43).
Wednesday, Men, Single Stableford (185 players) – A Grade, Jack Pyke (39 points), Ciaran Fenton (39), Lawrence Hireme (37); B Grade, Peter Raymond (44), Wayne Phair (38), Martin Dix (37); C Grade, Phil Cooper (39), John Ross (36), Peter Carney (36).
Thursday, Ladies, Club Championships, round four (43 players) – A Grade, gross, Josie Ryan (79), Dominique Paice (85): nett, Carol Dwyer (75), Gwen Nancarrow (76); B Grade, gross, Wil Sprake (89), Joanne Stiffler (101); nett, Doreen Davidson (76), Sandra Murphy (79); C Grade, gross, Maureen Cartledge (103); Christine Parkinson (112); nett, Di Stark (79), Lyn Forbes (81). Overflow, Single Stableford (45 players) – Wendy Derrick (33 points), Kathy Atkins (33), Bec Francis (31), Donna Rose (31), Naomi Doyle (30). Champions – A grade, gross, Josie Ryan (318), Dominique Paice (337); nett, Sharon Thomas (315), Christina Claxton (319); B Grade, gross, Gwen Nancarrow (380), Wil Sprake (400); nett, Joanne Stiffler (311), Sandra Murphy (318); C Grade, gross, Maureen Cartledge (435), Katrina Watts (448); nett, Lynn Forbes (320), Christina Parkinson (328); Senior Champion, Josie Ryan.
Men, Fourball Best Ball Stableford (74 players) – Frank Garcia and Len Dawson (74 points), Russell Cooper and Graham Miles (72), Dick Gibberd and Alan Stratford (70).
Saturday, Club Birthday, Fourball Best Ball Stableford, Mixed (98 players) – Kate Wilkie and Simon Richardson (48 points), Kirsten Kaergaard and Graham Pitt (45), Trish Howe and Gary Martin (45); Same Sex (154 players) – Bruce Haseltine and Tristan Scott (50), Mike Hardy and Kirk Hardy (49), Andrew Stirling and Peter Perrett (48), Andrew Whitmore and Aaron Duff (46), Jeff Jones and Wayne Phair (46).
Sunday, Beat the Patron, Medley Single Stableford (35 players) – Tracey O’Connor (41 points), Matt Prince (40), Kirsten Kaergaard (40), Heather Lum (39), Jay Gourlay (39), Morgan Winston (36), David W Smith (36).
