From Tony Durkin
FLYING START: Brett Adamson is employed by Advance Flight Theories at Sunshine Coast Airport, and was off to a flying start at Headland on Saturday when he soared around the front nine in one-under par 35 on his way to his first-ever par round at the club. The former chef, who was beaten by Tom Burnett in the B Grade Matchplay final last year, scored a superb 44 points from his eight handicap to easily win A Grade in the Men’s Single Stableford. A member since September 2019, Brett put his round in the ‘I couldn’t do anything wrong’ category, underlined by the fact that despite hitting his second shot on the sixth – from the trees – into a tree and behind him, he still managed par. Formerly of Melbourne, where he started playing at 12 years-old, and then Beerwah for a decade, Brett enjoys his new Monday-to-Friday job which allows the 51-year-old to play weekend golf. Damien Johns (40), won B Grade while Michael Fortune (37) prevailed on a C Grade countback
LADIES DAY: A Medley event it may have been, but women dominated Tuesday’s Fourball Aggregate Stableford, filling all three placings. And had it in fact been a regular Fourball Stableford, winners Kym Mason and Leigh Derigo would have returned an outstanding 53 points. As it was the pair combined to score 76 points, with former volleyball and hockey rep Kym leading the field with 42. It was her equal-best score since graduating from Headland’s SWING program in 2015, and brought her handicap down from 29 to 27, just two away from her all-time low of 25. Incredibly, both Kym and Leigh (34 points) each had two four-point holes and four three-pointers on their cards. Rhonda Parry and Brenda Smith-Gittings (74 points) and Carmel Visser and Margot Easton (73) filled the minor placings.
MATT STARS: It was his first time officially representing Headland Golf Club and new General Manager, Matt Lang, delivered in spades. And he did it with golf clubs Head Pro Adam Norlander suggested could well have come from the Ben Hogan era. Matt and board members Tony Kelleher (Men’s Director of Golf), Serge Nogarotto (Finance Director) and Gavin Rooney (Course Director) represented Headland on Monday in the annual Golf Management Australia Golf Day at Royal Pines, and brought home the Ted Coker Championship Cup. The event was a Fourball Best Ball Stableford and each competing club was represented by two pairs, with the scores combined. Matt and Serge scored 43 points and Tony and Gavin 39 – the aggregated total of 82 winning the day, and the trophy for the third time. And notwithstanding his decrepit clubs and lack of golf since joining Headland, Matt scored on 12 of the 18 holes, returning 30 of the 43 fourball points.
BEST MOVE: Her handicap may have ballooned out from 12 to 17 since she joined Headland in September of 2019, but Vicky Sheridan says the move has undoubtedly been the best for her golf. Formerly at Maroochy River, Vicky conceded she simply could not master the windy conditions and then initially struggled with the ‘tough layout’ at her new club. But the Media Sales Manager proved she is starting to master Headland when she returned 41 points to win Saturday’s Single Stableford event for women, with her best score – 85 – at Headland. One reason was that she finally discarded her ‘chipper’ and used a sand iron from the thick grass around the greens, and the other was the inspiration playing beside greenkeeper Jay Gourlay, who shot an impressive 35 on the front nine. Following her round which included six pars and a birdie, Vicky is down to 15.
BACK TO GOLF: Thanks mostly to fellow Headland member and chiropractor Mark Postles, Peter Gablonski is back to golf – and back in form. Peter, a retired Project Manager from Canberra, scored 46 points in Wednesday’s Modified Stableford event to win A Grade and celebrate a pain-free round without back or hip issues. Under the unique scoring system, Peter notched six points for birdies (nett eagle) at the fourth and 15th holes, ranked the two most difficult on the course for men. The 13-marker also added four pointers (nett birdie) at holes six, seven and nine on a front nine that scored him 26 points. While it has been a long wait for the 10-year member to score a recent win, his pain-free return kicked off the previous week with a third in the February Mid-Week Medal (67 nett). Ashleigh Matheson, also with 46 points, won B Grade on Wednesday. NOTE: Scoring in the Modified Stableford is: nett eagle, 6 points; nett birdie, 4 points; nett par, 2 points; nett bogey, 1 point; nett double bogey, minus 1 point.
NO CROWING: She lit up the front nine on Thursday with a two-over par 38, but four three-putt greens coming home ended a round that was looking like former two-time Headland Champion Lisa Ramen was getting back to near her best. Lisa won A Grade with her 36 points and says that while ‘a win is a win’, her round was ‘nothing to crow about’. A recent return to competitive golf has started to ignite her competitive streak but considering she was on a handicap of five this time last year and played off nine on Thursday, Lisa concedes there is still work to be done. Trish Marsden (35 points) won B Grade and Trish Scott won the nine-hole competition.
GOLF RETURN: Despite enjoying long service leave before his eventual retirement, teacher Richard Franklin has played little golf in recent months. And the once eight marker made the most of his generous new handicap of 15 to score 42 Stableford points on Thursday, teaming with Trevor Simpson to win the Split Sixes event with a massive 72 points. Richard, who moved from Maryborough to Buderim late last year, joined Headland in December but was on the restricted list until January and has only played a handful of competition rounds at his new club. Starting on the back nine, he scored 24 points with a one-over 37 and added 18 on the front for his best round since resuming his golf. And Trevor (34 points) played his part in the competition where the best score from an individual counts on the first six holes, the second six is the aggregate of the scores of both players and score for the final six holes is the two individual scores, multiplied. On holes 13 to 18, the pair amassed 35 points and won the day comfortably, by five points.
LADIES MATCHPLAY: Kate Wilkie has won Division One of the Lendlease-sponsored Headland Handicap Consolation Matchplay competition for Pennant players, conducted over the past month. Kate beat Jenny Ingham 5&3 in the weekend final after eliminating Carol Dwyer, Julie Halliday and Kirsten Kaergaard en-route to the final. In Division Two, Mouna Humzey saluted, beating Ali Lamond 6&5. As she progressed through, Mouna accounted for Carol Quin, Leeanne Ptak and Rhonda Parry. Kate and Mouna will play off for the title of Headland Divisional Champion on Thursday week, March 11, when a representative of Lendlease will be on hand at Headland to make presentations. Other finals to be contested that day will between respective Flight winners Josie Ryan and Veronica Bassingthwaite (Flight 1 V Flight 3) and Annabel Harris and Penny Cooper (Flight 2 V Flight 4), while Consolation Plate winners Christina Claxton and Rhonda Parry will also play-off.
VICKERS’ VICTORY: Tony Vickers didn’t think his 38 points in Sunday’s Medley Single Stableford was a chance of winning anything until his son Josh, who also played, looked at the leaderboard while the pair was having a beer in the clubhouse afterwards. Not only was it a surprise win – especially after Tony had wiped the first hole – but it was his first visit to the podium since he won the C Grade Matchplay Championship back in November. A director of building company Midson Constructions, Tony joined Headland from Noosa in 2016 on a handicap of 13 and says he has taken time to adjust to the layout, as well as some of the more difficult greens. But his five three-pointers and a four-point birdie at 13 on Sunday may well be a sign the radar has again switched into action. Trainee Pro McKenzie Wright (plus one) shot one-under 71 and Shane Muller (1) parred the course.
BUFFALO’S BRIEFS: Because of construction and repair work to the rear part of the Pro Shop, we unfortunately do not have access to our back office and repair room for, hopefully, just the couple of weeks. This means we are unable to carry out any repair work or re-gripping, and because we have had to store much of our excess stock and equipment in the Simulator while the work is being carried out, we are only able to offer short-game lessons at the practise area. However, there is a silver lining. By mid-March, when the repairs/upgrade are finally completed, we will be offering a custom-fit putter service from our newly-installed state-of-the-art, TaylorMade Putting Lab. Believe me, it will be worth the wait.
EAT OUT IN: To view this week’s takeaway menu at Headland’s Eat Out In, members should go to www.eatoutin.com.au and order by Monday (February 22). Orders can be made on the website, or texted to 0414 375800. Headland caterer and Vista Executive Chef Greg Pollard is naturally keen to grow his Eat Out In customer base and has asked members to encourage friends to utilise the meal service. If a new customer places an order and mentions the name of the member who referred them, a discount voucher will be sent to the Headland member for use against their next order. New customers who use the code FIRST ORDER, will receive a 10% discount online.
WEEKLY WINNERS:
Tuesday, Medley Aggregate Fourball Stableford (126 players) – Kym Mason and Leigh Derigo (76 points), Rhonda Parry and Brenda Smith-Gittings (74), Carmel Visser and Margot Easton (73).
Wednesday, Medley Modified Stableford (114 players) – A Grade, Peter Gablonski (46 points), Terry Grogan (45), Chris Klazema (44); B Grade, Ashleigh Matheson (46), Graham Pitt (45), Daryl Jones (44).
Thursday, Women, Single Stableford, Sponsors: Marina Mace, Mary Dowling, Ali Lamond and Penny Cooper (73 players) – A Grade, Lisa Ramen (36 points), Marg Howard (35), Carol Dwyer (35); B Grade, Trish Marsden (35), Liz Halyday (31), Lynn Hayman (31). Nine-hole Stableford, Trish Scott (14). Men, Split Sixes Stableford Fourball (84 players) – Richard Franklin and Trevor Simpson (72 points), Brett Beaumont and Gordon Peak (67), Len Dawson and Mark Garcia (63).
Saturday, Single Stableford, Women (29 players) – Vicky Sheridan (41 points), Kerry Longworth (37), Kate Wilkie (35). Men (206 players) – A Grade, Brett Adamson (44 points), Dave Sims (41), Graeme Warne (39); B Grade, Damien Johns (40), Wayne Nixey (39), Peter Leggo (38); C Grade, Michael Fortune (37), Emmet Walsh (37), David Parker (35).
Sunday, Medley Single Stableford (59 players) – Tony Vickers (38 points), Neven Daniel (38), Shane Muller (37).
