From Tony Durkin
ADAM RETURNS: Headland’s most-decorated junior, US Masters Champion Adam Scott, returned to his junior club on Sunday for a round of golf for the first time in 27 years. And the current No.6 in the official World Golf Rankings was extremely impressed with both the layout of the course, and its condition. Although he did not putt out on every hole, Head Professional Adam Norlander – who played all 18 holes alongside his namesake – estimated the big-hitting visitor would easily have shot four-under par 68. During his round he tapped in for eagle at the par-five 13th, had just 142 metres for his second to the par-five 10th and putted from just off the front edge on 12 for his second. Adam, who is currently living at Sunshine Beach while the USPGA Tour is in recess, joined Headland in 1992 as a 12-year-old while also a member of Twin Waters, and was seen practising on an almost-daily basis. And albeit short, his stint at Headland was successful – during the time he reduced his handicap from 11 to eight.
Adam Scott at Headland on Sunday (photo Roscoe King)
MATT’S DAY OUT: Matt Folker was awestruck when Adam Scott walked into the Headland Pro Shop on Sunday as he was handing in his card from just his second competition round of golf. But four hours later the 24-year-old could lay claim to something even the US Masters champion did not have on his CV – the largest pay day for a non-sponsored club competition at Headland. Matt’s score of 41 points won him the Medley Single Stableford event on a countback from Ross Brimblecombe after his superb 23 points on the back nine, but – more importantly for the Civil Engineering student – the victory landed $105 in his House Account. There was, however, a downside to the superb round of 85. Matt, who joined the club in December after playing golf only sparingly with his dad Peter as a teenager, had his handicap sliced from 18.4 to 12.6 following the win. But Matt wasn’t the only Sunday golfer to shoot the lights out. A Grade Pennant team member Adam Rydwanski (handicap one) shot three birdies and an eagle in an outstanding two-under 70 while Pro Shop attendant Nate Smyth (5) returned his best-ever card – one-over 73, with four birdies.
ABOUT TIME: Once a four-maker at Headland, Nathan Osborn has an odd, but somewhat realistic theory about golf scores. ‘If you play poorly for long enough, a good round will more than likely come’ is his philosophy. And that is exactly how things transpired on Wednesday when, after a three-month break from the game, he scored 43 points to win the Medley Single Stableford event. Experimenting with a change of grip for some time, Nathan says he has been playing poorly for ages and suggests his two-over par 74 – which included a double bogey at seven – was ‘about time’. In his five years as a Headland member the business owner has had two rounds of 73 and half a dozen at 74, but is yet to par the course. However, now that things business-wise are getting back to normal, he hopes to play more often, continue to test his golfing theory and – maybe – break through for that elusive par round.
TREE-LINE TIM: “The trees were very kind to me” quipped Tim Nunan following his 43 points and a B Grade win in Tuesday’s Medley Single Stableford event. But the ex-Catholic priest who also had working stints as a parole officer and mediator before retiring in September, reckons his score would have been much worse had trees not spat his ball back on the fairway following three or four errant shots. A former 14-marker at Southport Golf Club, Tim had a 25-year hiatus from golf before joining Headland in 2018 and smashing an incredible 46 points in his first competition outing. The brilliant round cost him 10 strokes – a handicap reduction from 33 to 23 from which, until Tuesday, he had never recovered. Now that Tim is retired, he is playing at least twice a week and prays the Headland greens staff don’t intend reducing the number of fairway-lining trees.
LONG DROUGHT: Electrician Rhett Charlton had good reason to feel chuffed about his win in Saturday’s Medley Single Stableford, because it has been a long time between celebratory drinks. A Headland member since 2015 with a 3½-year hiatus in between while he and his girlfriend worked in London, Rhett says he actually cannot recall the last time he was on the victory dais. But he was there on Saturday, and in fine style too with 41 points from his 12 handicap and a round of 79, just his third score in the 70s. On his consistent card were 10 bogeys, five pars and three birdies, each scored on a par five. Although he did not re-join Headland on his return from the UK until last September, Rhett’s golf impressed enough for him to be selected in the B Grade Pennant team which was beaten in the 2020 Sunshine Coast Golf Zone semi-final.
SELVAGE SALVAGES: Three weeks ago, Headland’s Masters Pennant captain Warren Selvage played a disastrous round – just 19 points – the day following a lesson from Head Pro Adam Norlander. Armed with a totally knew swing following the lesson, Warren knew it was the wrong thing to do. But he has persevered, spending plenty of time on the practise range and playing six further competition rounds – and finally the new swing is coming together. On Tuesday Warren won the A Grade Medley Single Stableford event with 39 points, mixing two birdies with a wipe just to prove there is still some work to be done. Interestingly, his 23 points on the front nine were just four less than the 27 he tallied for 18 holes three days earlier.
BAD MESSAGE: Garth Seymour hopes that relative minor surgery this week will help his brain act like his heart. The ex-banker will undergo a Cardiac Ablation procedure which, expectantly, will curtail his current issue of the good messages sent to the heart being over-ridden by the bad messages – similar, he says, to the way his brain operates on the golf course. But the Fraser Follies member, who will be sidelined for a few weeks post-surgery, left on good terms with his game when he won Thursday’s Medley Single Stableford event with 41 points. Having recently turned over a new leaf by not allowing his emotions to get the better of him, Garth (handicap 19) had just one double bogey in his round of 86, his best in an age. And although he is not expecting miracles following his surgery, he is keen to reduce his handicap somewhere nearer the low-mark of 12 from which he played two decades ago.
EAGLE SUNDAY: The return of Adam Scott to Headland on Sunday brought out the best in a number of players, with four eagles scored on the day. Not surprisingly, Adam was one of the quartet, tapping in from a 1½ metres on 13. Another Adam – former Club Champion Rydwanski – rolled in an eagle putt from 2½ metres on 10, while Earl Hicks was a metre closer on the same hole and also converted. The fourth eagle was scored on the 11th hole when Ian Michel’s wedge from 85 metres bounced once and spun sideways into the hole.
WHOOPS: Headland newcomer Ben Butler has discovered that golf balls don’t just become ‘lost’ when they disappear into water or dense scrub. Ben bought a box of TaylorMade TP5s from the Headland Pro Shop after golf on Wednesday, took them home and sat them on the kitchen bench – much to the delight of his American Staffy-Boxer cross, Bobby. During the night the playful and inquisitive Bobby uncovered the ‘treasure’ and, as result, Ben’s dozen became half a dozen, with six of the balls chewed beyond repair. Needless to say, Ben has found more secure storage.
WEEKLY WINNERS:
Tuesday, Medley Single Stableford (152 players) – A Grade, Warren Selvage (39 points), Michael Rutledge (38), Jock McLaughlin (37), Adrian Barr (36), Tony Flint (36), Adam Richards (35); B Grade, Tim Nunan (43), Colin (Cross (40), Rae Condon (37), Gordon O’Neill (37), Rod McKinnon (35), Bob Snowball (35).
Wednesday, Medley Single Stableford (135 players) – Nathan Osborn (43 points), Will Millroy (42), John Jackson (41), John Jones (39), Peter O’Brien (39), Richard Ryan (37).
Thursday, Medley Single Stableford (160 players) – A Grade, Garth Seymour (41 points), John Jamieson (40), Gail Young (40), Mick Kinnear (39), Christina Claxton (37); B Grade, Malcolm Woods (37), Des McNee (36), Susan Stratford (36), Di Stark (35), Sheila Waddington (35).
Saturday, Medley Single Stableford (187 players) – A Grade, Rhett Charlton (41 points), Jaydon McDowell (40), Andrew Beck (39), Darren Walters (39), Graham Smith (38), David Mansley (38); B Grade, Ossie Laurikainen (39), Josh Poole (39), Henryk Ptak (38), Jim Saunderson (36), Ross Itzstein (36), Richard Senior (36).
Sunday, Medley Single Stableford (162 players) – Matt Folker (41 points), Ross Brimblecombe (41), Nate Smyth (40), Graham Cartledge (39), Adam Rydwanski (39), Geoff Montgomery (39).
