From Tony Durkin
CHAMPION CHALLENGE: One of the hottest A Grade fields in recent memory will contest the 2019 Headland Men’s Championships, which tee off on Saturday. Thirteen players with a handicap of two or less have nominated in a field of 160, with past champions Dave Rattray (1), Adam Richards (1) and Adam Rydwanski (2) expected to again be at the forefront, as will Scott Walker (scratch), Sean McGill (2), Ash Reck (1) and Wayne West (2). But the winner this year may well come from a Headland newcomer, with A Grade Pennant team members Jake Crowther (plus 4), Ben Duncombe (scratch), Jamie Hill (1) and Brad Butler (2) each staking strong claims. Jake is a three-time Nambour Club Champion and winner of the 2018 Headland Sunshine Coast Open Amateur Championship; schoolboy Ben was beaten just once in his Pennant matches this year; at the weekend Jamie was runner-up in the Oxley Match Play Championship; and Brad is a former Bargara and Virginia Club Champion. And a surprise packet could be last year’s junior champion, Bailey Murchie, who plays off plus one. Matt Hetherington (B Grade), and Brian Kesby (Seniors) will defend their respective titles, but 73-year-old Graham Cartledge has worked his way back into B Grade during the past 12 months, opening the door for a new C Grade Champion. The Championships, contested over 72 holes and sponsored by Tim Reed of Stilhaus, will be played on Saturday and Sunday this weekend and again the following weekend (May 25 and 26). Because of championship conditions, nine-minute group intervals will be observed and no overflow competitions will be played in conjunction.
JOSIE RETURNS: Josie Ryan, fresh from a three-week break in Thailand visiting her baby grandson, will be in pursuit of her 17th Headland Club Championship when the ladies also tee off on Saturday. Currently ranked fifth in Australia’s Senior Order of Merit, Josie started her run of victories in 1997 and has won six of the past seven Headland titles. Her main challenger will be Uni student Dominique Paice, runner-up in the past two events, while Sharon Thomas, Kathy Atkins and the ever-improving Christina Claxton are not without a chance. Reigning B Grade Champion Gwen Nancarrow will defend her title, but recent illness has forced C Grade Champion Maureen Cartledge out of the race. Although both B and C Grade titles remain wide open, Robyn Boreham, Monica Antony, Catherine Petersen, Katrina Watts, Janelle Heaney and last year’s Gold Medal winner Susie Fenton appear front runners in B Grade, while a host of SWING graduates led by Di Stark, plus Coralie Walsh and Christine Parkinson, are chances to win the C Grade title. Sponsored by Thailand Golf Tours, the Ladies Championship will continue with 18 holes on Thursday week (May 23) and the following Saturday and Thursday, May 25 and 30 respectively.
PROCESSIONARY OBSESSION: A Headland image of a linked line of Caterpillars has fascinated almost 60,000 Twitter viewers worldwide. When Golf Superintendent Ben Tilley recently posted a video to the US Golf Management website of a four-metre long line of Processionary Caterpillars crossing the fourth fairway, he was stunned at the initial response. Then, when the video was subsequently posted on the Headland Twitter site, an amazing 4800 hits were recorded. That reaction led to content distributor ViralHog taking the video and the hits suddenly jumped to 48,600, and currently sit at 59,800. Americans who have traditionally posted images to the US Golf Management site of critters such as bears, snakes, alligators and foxes invading their fairways, were captivated, and greatly amused, by our Headland Caterpillars. One disbeliever, on Twitter, even queried the authenticity of the video. Ben says the image of the Caterpillars, which inhabit the many wattle trees on the course, caused a bidding war with six distributor sites wanting to post the video. To see the video click on Headland’s Course Maintenance blog and scroll down to the heading ‘Wet weather bringing everyone out to play’.
SLUMP ARRESTED: So poorly was Chris Duhig playing before Wednesday’s 44-point Stableford round that – frustrated and disappointed with himself – he recently walked off the course after nine holes. But the Police Detective who played his junior golf at Horton Park, arrested that form slide with his best round in more than 12 months, compiling 10 three-pointers in his 85 that gathered the B Grade-winning 44 points. Like many golfers who suddenly jump out of a slump, Chris was at a loss to explain the sudden improvement in his game, although he did confess his putting and chipping had more authority. A member at Headland for just on two years, Chris is hoping his day-high round can help him get back to the 17 handicap he held 51 weeks ago after scoring a mammoth 46 points.
RECORD SMASHED: Mick Kelsey has set a Modified Stableford record at Headland that may be difficult to beat – 55 points. The event was first introduced earlier this year and Mick’s victory on Thursday has given him top podium billing to date, beating the previous scores 52 by John Bourke and 51 (Scott Woolcott). And his superb round, which incredibly included two wipes and subsequently a total of six deducted points, has enabled the big bloke to get his game back on track. But he more than compensated for the slips on the first and twelfth with four six-point holes and an inconceivable seven four-pointers in his round. He scored 26 points on the front nine and stormed home with 29 on the back, including 20 points (6,4,6,4) on the final four holes. A new member who started on a 36-handicap last April, Mick reduced that to 21 in seven months and then started to struggle in the new year before righting the ship on Thursday – just in time for his assault on the C Grade championship on his new handicap of 19.1.
LUCKY TAYLES: Recently-elected Headland Vice-President Kathryn Tayles is ‘loving’ her new role at the club, and it seems her golf is responding in kind. Since taking on the VP position earlier in the year, Kathryn has scored two wins and two placings, with her latest victory coming in Thursday’s Single Stableford competition when she blitzed the big field by four points. But she concedes Lady Luck was on her side when she accumulated her B Grade-winning score of 40 points, despite three wipes. Kathryn chipped in for birdie on the 14th when her ‘chunked’ chip hit the pin and dropped in, and her drive on the par-five 15th was about 80 metres longer than usual when the ball struck the path and ‘took off’, enabling her to par the hole. Those windfalls, and her wins and placings, have managed to resurrect her handicap which looked like taking her into C Grade for the upcoming Club Championships. Now off 24, she comfortably makes the 29 B Grade cut-off mark.
PAR PARTIALITY: Will Millroy can’t explain it, but his three best rounds since joining Headland 18 months ago have been in Single Par events. And that dalliance continued in Saturday’s event when the Civil Engineer broke through the magical 80-barrier for the first time and scored plus four and a second placing in A Grade. A former junior tennis champion whose handicap was 20 just 12 months ago and is now down to 10, realised he was a chance of breaking 80 when he was seven over the card standing on the 17th tee, then double bogeyed the difficult par four. But Will held his nerve with par at the last for 79, and is now set for an assault on the B Grade Championship. His best-ever round included three birdies and two double bogeys to complement his seven pars and six bogeys. Scott West returned the best score of the day – a plus five to win A Grade.
WEEKLY WINNERS:
Tuesday, Single Stableford, Ladies (51 players) – Veronica Bassingthwaighte (32 points), Kay Campbell (29), Roz Brandt (29); Men (70 players) – Nigel Morrison (39 points), Tony Coutts (39), Garry Thomas (36).
Wednesday, Men, Single Stableford (197 players) – A Grade, Dennis Roberts (41 points), Merv Lum (40), Steven Bell (40); B Grade, Chris Duhig (44), Gary Savill (43), Alan Hodgson (41); C Grade, John Miller (40), Steve Phillips (38), Gordon Peak (37).
Thursday, Ladies, Single Stableford (102 players) – A Grade, Colleen Berger (32 points), Pik Chong (32), Helen Venter (32); B Grade, Kathryn Tayles (40), Liz Dunford (36), Gail Young (35); C Grade, Wendy Derrick (33), Ellen Bloxsome (32), Di Stark (32). Men, Modified Single Stableford (80) players) – Mick Kelsey (55 points), Steven Bell (50), Dennis Taylor (45).
Saturday, Single Par, Ladies (27 players) – Sharon Purnell (square), Trish Howe (square), Sharon Thomas (-1); Men, (214 players) – A Grade, Scott West (+5), Will Millroy (+4), Darryl Kong (+3); B Grade, Garry Clotz (+1), Ross Carvell (square), Tony Durkin (square); C Grade, John Nagel (+2), John Ross (+1), Graham Clarke (square).
