From Tony Durkin
JACK VISITS: Apart from a very impressive 42 points from C Grade winner Brian Peter, scoring in Saturday’s Single Stableford event was difficult – and Victorian professional Jack Wilson can vouch for that. A surprise starter in the field after contesting the two-day Maroochy River ProAm on Thursday and Friday, even the third placegetter at the 2013 Australian PGA Championship struggled to tame the course with his par round which included a double bogey at 17. But Wilson, the 2012 PGA Trainee of the Year best known for his dreadlocks and beard, loved the course and its condition, and is so impressed with the Sunshine Coast that he will soon be moving here to live.
SLIPPERY SLIDE: This sign (pictured below), displayed on several areas of our golf course, is not – as some may construe – a reference to the recent inquiry into the Australian financial services sector. The signs have been strategically placed on steep slopes on the course warning golfers to be extra cautious following the recent spate of wet weather. And one member – Paul Garth – is most certainly an advocate for caution. Five weeks ago Paul parked his cart adjacent the 17th tee and while walking to the 16th green slipped on the wet slope, fell awkwardly, and broke his left ankle. And, in a humorous twist to what might be interpreted as a double meaning in respect of the signs, Paul just happens to work in the banking industry and can appreciate the irony.
EVENT REMINDERS: Entries for Headland’s 2018 Regis Aged Care Senior Eclectic are rolling in, but spots are still open for the event which will be staged on Monday and Tuesday, August 6 and 7. The tournament, sponsored by Regis Aged Care of Sippy Downs, is open to ladies and men and entries close on the morning on August 2. Entries are also open for Headland’s Annual Schweppes Junior Classic, a single stroke event to be staged on Sunday, August 19. And again, the club will continue with the recently-introduced nine and five-hole competitions for juniors without a handicap, and they will be held in conjunction with the Junior Classic. Entries for all junior events close on Wednesday, August 8.
IT’S REEDSDAY: Headland may have to consider changing the name of the men’s mid-week competition to Reedsday if the results of the past two Wednesdays are a yardstick. In wet conditions underfoot and in the rain, Nick Reed saluted with 41 points in last week’s Single Stableford to post his best-ever score at the club and win C Grade. Then on Wednesday his dad Ken, in his first competitive round of golf since Anzac Day, also won C grade, scoring 39 points. And while Ken did not score as many points, it is arguable that his round was somewhat more inventive. Showing understandable signs of rustiness after a three-month layoff, he had two wipes and four one-pointers to complement his three four-point holes and five three-point scores.
WHOOPS: To save the club money, an embarrassed Veterans’ president Tony Coad considered walking off the course on Wednesday and immediately tendering his resignation. With the Headland Veterans sponsoring the past week of golf at the club, Wednesday’s event was tagged Beat the President and any player on the day who bettered Tony’s Single Stableford score was a winner. Unfortunately for the club – but luckily for the field – Tony could manage only 25 points and 171 of the 197 players were the beneficiary of a $2 cash bonus. But the plus for Tony is that he now has 171 members who think he’s a good bloke.
BARB’S BONUS: Barb Marrington always hoped she would score a hole-in-one, and if she ever did she anticipated she would see the ball drop into the hole. But after nailing a perfect five wood at the 18th on Thursday, Barb and her group lost sight of the ball and expected to find it at the rear of the green. Alas, after a fruitless search, Barb finally looked in the hole and there was her pink Callaway looking back at her. A graduate of Headland’s very successful SWING program, Barb has been playing competitively for just two years. A pair playing together for the first time won the Fourball Aggregate Stableford event on Thursday, scoring 73 points to street the field by six. Bev Barnes (37 points) and Norma Hobson (36) both found form after a recent lean trot with Norma’s 21 points – including a wipe on nine – the highlight. Her super holes were the par fives at two and seven, where pars scored her four points.
ROUND OF THE WEEK: Recently-retired Tim Nunan may have broken every record in the Headland book of protocol for new members on Tuesday – if one existed. Playing in his very first competition since joining the club two weeks earlier, Tim returned 46 points in the Single Stableford event, played from the blue markers. But in breaking his handicap by 10 strokes he suffered a 10-shot reduction, from 33 to 23, and with a new set of clubs on the way is hoping to head towards his lowest handicap – 14 at Southport Golf Club around 30 years ago. His round, which was highlighted by an almost-perfect 26 points on the first nine, included six three-point holes and three four-pointers, but also two four-putt greens. After having not played competitively for 25 years, Tim credits lessons from Headland Teaching Pro Matt Douglas for his incredible round.
AMY UPDATE: Two of the Sunshine Coast’s well-known former sparring partners, Amy Pincott (below, left) and Cheryl Cowie, renewed acquaintances at Headland on Sunday. And while Amy has dominated the ladies’ honour board at Headland since the inception of the club – with 20 championship victories – so has Cheryl at Caloundra Golf club. She has been Caloundra Club Champion 26 times, Mixed Foursomes champ 17 times and Ladies Foursomes Champion 20 times, with her most recent title just last year. Also joining the pair was Headland Patron, Simon Whittle, and Don Cowie, husband of Cheryl, who boasts a long and proud history of golf administration on the Sunshine Coast.
WEEKLY WINNERS:
Tuesday, Vets, Single Stableford, Ladies (29 players) – Marg Smith (35 points), Kathy Atkins (33); Men (73 players), A Grade – James Fleming (39), Dennis Taylor (36), David W Smith (36); B Grade – Robert Pixley (37), Bruno Ciot (35), Robert Rowan (34). Single Stableford, Ladies (38 players) – Carmel Visser (34 points), Margaret Howard (33), Ruth Broderick (31); Men (56 players) – Tim Nunan (46), Steven Kenesey (38), Peter Ross (37).
Wednesday, Men, Single Stableford (197 players) – A Grade, Ciaran Fenton (39 points), Gifford Harper (39), Simon Richardson (37): B Grade, Terry Lawlor (43), Gary Clotz (39), Graham Cartledge (39); C Grade, Ken Reed (39), Stuart Ennever (38), Glenn Brooker (38).
Thursday, Ladies, Fourball Stableford Aggregate (97 players) – Bev Barnes and Norma Hobson (73 points), Vicki Houlahan and Susan Stratford (67), Donna Rose and Helen Mulholland (66). Men, Single Stableford (83 players) – Peter Stoker (40 points), Grahame Denovan (40), Mark Dolan (40).
Saturday, Single Stableford, Ladies (33 players) – Bev Kelly (37), Sue Keays (36), Trish Marsden (35); Men (206 players) – A Grade, Brett Hardner (36), Justin Walsh (35), Lawrence Hireme (35); B Grade, Gus Walker (38), Michael Collins (37), Don Follent (37); C Grade, Brian Peter (42), Ken Maguire (37), Jon Welch (37).
Sunday, Medley Five Club Fourball Best Ball Stableford (18 players) – Dean Oster and Earl Hicks (45 points), Raewyn Anderson and Warren Gee (43), Peter McMillan and Peter Keane (43).
