From Tony Durkin

 TEENAGER WINS: Ionna Muir, at 14 years of age, has become the youngest female to win the prestigious Headland Women’s Championship crown. But while she comprehensively conquered the field, Ionna – who had played just one competition round at Headland prior to competing in the Championship – could not beat the course. With rounds of 75, 79, 82 and 74 for a four-round total of 310, she was18 over par for the four rounds, and described the layout as ‘extremely tough’. However, Ionna displayed her absolute class, winning by a whopping 32 shots, with 19-time Champion Josie Ryan (342) runner up. Ionna’s first (75) and final (74) rounds were her best, with an 82 on Saturday her only major blemish. Her bid to finish the Championship with a par round – after three birdies, three bogeys and 11 pars on her impressive card – was thwarted by a bogey at the par-three 18th. Ionna’s victory is even more commendable considering that between the weekend Championship rounds – on Monday and Tuesday of last week – she won the two-day Girls’ Queensland Junior Classic by three shots at Wynnum Golf Club, a course she had never previously played. Helen Fraser (375) is the B Grade Champion while 2019 SWING graduate Sue Harris (443) is the C Grade Champion for 2022. Ionna is Headland’s Junior Champion, and Josie the Senior Champion.

SMALL WORLD: Josie Ryan, who Ionna has replaced as Champion, has discovered a close connection to the family of the Grade 9 student at Good Samaritan Catholic School, Bli Bli. Having not met Ionna or her mum, Katai, until the first round of the Championship 10 days ago, Josie learned that Katai was born in Khon Kaen, Thailand, the same city in which Josie’s children, Kate and Tom, were also born. Josie and her husband Ron McMahon lived and worked in Thailand during the 80s. “It was quite an emotional moment when I realised there was this close connection,” Josie confessed. “My son Tom still lives in Thailand, and Ron and I recently spent three months over there, returning just before the Championships teed off. And bizarrely, Tom is a close friend of Ionna’s stepfather, Pharnu, whom he met when he was young and still living on the Sunshine Coast.” Josie is impressed by Ionna, whom she described as ‘a lovely young lady, respectful and extremely talented, who had the golfing world at her feet’. “No doubt she realises the honour this title holds, and hopefully we see our new Champion playing regular competition golf at Headland,” she said.

DROUGHT ENDS: Four years ago, Wes Houk came out of a golfing drought and won successive events at Headland, including the A Grade Monthly Mug for April. On Wednesday he ended another dry spell, this time scoring his all-time low nett round of 63 to easily win the April Monthly Medal, this time in B Grade as his handicap in those four winless years has expanded from 14 to 19. And in a remarkable coincidence, his round of 82 – 41 on each nine – was the same as the two scores he had in 2018 when he won back-to-back events. Wes, who has lived on the seventh fairway since he joined the club in 1988 when he was a real estate Project Manager, says the only reason he can offer for his exceptional round is that ‘I just felt like playing golf on such a beautiful day’. And even though he had a fair idea his 83 nett might be good enough to win, because his group was the first to tee off on Wednesday morning the rising 75-year-old had a long wait to celebrate his overdue victory.

JULIE RULES: Julie Lewis is determined to change two critical facets of her life – reduce her golf handicap, and beat cancer. And on Tuesday she made a giant leap towards one of those goals, slicing four shots from her handicap of 32 when she scored a gigantic 45 points to win Tuesday’s Single Stableford for women. In her best round and highest score since she joined Headland in 2006, Julie had a four-pointer, nine three-pointers and – for another first – no wipes on her winning card, also breaking through the 100-barrier for the first time. Suffering from the rare cancer, Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma since 2020, Julie has finished her sequence of radiation and says she is ‘on the improve’. But ever the realist, she is now determined to ‘lower my handicap before I die’. Taking on board some tips from good friend Dave Smith, Julie’s putting has progressed dramatically and her consistency has also improved – she followed Tuesday’s win with 35 points on Thursday. “But really, I am just happy to still be playing and enjoying the company of the many lovely ladies at Headland,” she said. Paul Stephens (39 points) won the men’s competition.

ON THE IMPROVE: Successive stableford scores of 41, 36, 36 and 35 has, hopefully, given Martyn Dix a glimpse into the future after a dearth of success that has lasted more than a year. The former owner of Coastal Glass and a once-regular sponsor of Headland’s Wednesday competition, English-born Martyn won Thursday’s Single Stableford for men with 41 points, penning seven three-point holes on his card which revealed a consistent seven pars and eight bogeys. A Headland member since 1990, Martyn started on an 18 handicap and has remained consistent – 32 years later his AGU mark is 18.7. Regularly playing competition rounds on Tuesday and Thursday plus a social game on Fridays, Martyn says considering the amount of rain Buderim has received in the past two years, Course Superintendent Ben Tilley has done an outstanding job to maintain the course in its superb condition.

ABSURD WEEK: Until she was coerced into joining Headland’s SWING group by a friend, Wendy Burnie considered golf ‘a ridiculous game’. But in just three years that silly sport has become somewhat of a passion for the former banker who, in the past two weeks, has played eight competition rounds at her new ‘home of fun and relaxation’. And while her handicap – which was 53 when she started – had stagnated around the high-30s since a four-week break over the Christmas period, her AGU is down to an all-time low of 34.5 following a win in Thursday’s Single Stableford with 40 points, 38 points for a third on Tuesday and another victory two weeks ago. Despite a wipe at the par-four 16th, Wendy rates Thursday’s round her best, with eight three-pointers and a four-point hole on her card. And to add some additional gloss to her absurd week, on Tuesday she scored three four-pointers. 

SYMMETRY GOLF: Dennis Roberts did not consider his winning round on Sunday anywhere near perfect, but admitted the symmetry of his two nines was something out of the ordinary. Scoring 40 points to win the Medley Single Stableford event on a countback from the luckless Leeanne Ptak who wiped her final hole, Dennis scored 20 points on each nine, had 40 strokes on each nine and penned five pars and four bogeys on each nine. And the former Sydneysider, who drives trucks for a living, confessed another uncanny similarity – his driver was the best club in his bag. “It never changed gear all day,” he mused. Dennis joined Headland in 2017 but took six months leave two years ago because of work commitments and Covid disruptions, and declared Sunday’s consistent round the best since his return. Another player on the rebound, Brian Kesby, had his best round on Sunday since October of 2020. The three-time Club Champion has had more than 10 months away from golf because of a shoulder injury, but his 76 off the bat, for 39 points, is a definite sign of a return to his usually impeccable form. 

PIN-POINT PLEDGE: For a fleeting moment on Tuesday Col Pledge thought he had scored his third hole in one at Headland’s par-three 14th hole. But while the ball finished 35 centimetres behind the hole, Col wasn’t overly disappointed. He easily won the NTP, giving him three in succession for the round. He was also closest at the eighth and 18th, the first time he has achieved this rare feat in his 27 years as a member. And as Col celebrated his rare feat, so was his wife Suzanne rejoicing in an achievement of her own. In just her second year as a playing member she scored 38 points – her best score – in the women’s event on the same day. 

ROSEY WIN: Mouna Humzey joined seven other Headland women golfers at Maroochy River on Friday, and won the annual Rose Bowl event. Mouna scored 40 points in the wet and windy conditions and beat a field of 148 to claim an impressive victory. For an added interest, the eight Headland Championship players decided to have a wager between two teams – the Headland Hurricanes (Josie Ryan, Chris Parkinson, Mouna Humzy and Di Stark) and the Headland Houdinis (Kate Wilkie, Kirsten Kaergaard, Carole Dwyer and Ali Lamond). Aided by Mouna’s superb round, the Hurricanes – fittingly because of the prevailing weather conditions – won the day. 

POTTED FORM: Two wins in the space of five weeks has given fly-in, fly-out coal miner Matt Potter the boost his budding golf career needed. Two years ago, after a few months of ‘having as crack’ at the game in Airlie Beach where he lived at the time, Matt moved to the Sunshine Coast, joined Headland and decided to get serious, playing as much as he could on his seven-day break. He was given a handicap of 28, had some hit-and-miss rounds but among them scored 41 points in 2020, 41 points in early March to win the mid-week comp and on Saturday won the Medley Single Stableford with 40 points. And although Saturday’s score included two wipes and three double bogeys, Matt displayed his undoubted promise with two four-point holes and six three-pointers on his card. The 35-year-old from Lithgow spent much of his youth riding motor bikes, but has ‘fallen’ for golf to the extent he wishes he had started earlier than 2½ years ago. After his two recent wins, his handicap is now 21.6, with the goal to be in the teens before the end of the year.

AMATEUR OPEN:  Pelican Waters Club Champion Joel Stahlhut has confirmed he will be defending his Walsh Consulting Engineers 2021 Men’s Sunshine Coast Open Amateur Championship title, won at Headland last Easter. The former Goondiwindi rugby league halfback has been a relatively frequent visitor to Headland since shooting one-under 143 to win last year’s 36-hole event, which will be again held over the Easter weekend – April 16 and 17. “I really enjoy playing Headland and am looking forward to again teeing it up under Championship conditions,” he said. Entries for the event have closed, with an impressive line-up once again. 

CHAMPIONSHIPS: Four of Headland’s past five Men’s Club Champions have confirmed they will be teeing it up in the 2022 Championship, which tees off on Saturday, April 23. Played over 72 holes with 36 holes on successive weekends, the event is once again expected to be a close-run affair, with Headland saluting five different Champions over the past six years. Reigning Champion Adam Richards will be joined by previous recent winners Scott Walker, Dave Rattray and Adam Rydwanski, with the only no-show 2019 Champion Jake Crowther, who now resides in Sydney. Entries for all grades – at a cost of $65 – close this coming Wednesday week, April 13, and must be submitted on line. 

 WEEKLY RESULTS:    

Tuesday, Single Stableford, Women (47 players) – Julie Lewis (45 points), Gay David (41), Wendy Burnie (38). Men (71 players) – Paul Stephens (39), Ted Banaszczyk (38), Greg Jellis (37).

Wednesday, Medley Monthly Medal – sponsor Century 21 – Ryan Tomlinson; best gross sponsored by Thomasson Australasia Pty Ltd – Roger Van Ginkel (214 players) – A Grade, Dean Smareglia (69 nett), Brian Richards (69), Les Lane (69); B Grade, Wes Houk (63), Ivan Fortmann (69), Joe Stotschek (70); C Grade, Kurt Lawlor (66), Doug Morgan (69), John Logan (70); best gross – Matt Blundell (75).

Thursday, Single Stableford, Women– sponsors Penny Cooper, Veronica Bassingthwaighte, Mary Dowling and Ali Lamond (98 players) – A Grade, Sharon Thomas (38 points), Narelle Hollowood (37), Kirsten Kaergaard (36); B Grade, Kym Mason (37), Jenny Pirini (37), Bev Barnes (36); C Grade, Wendy Burnie (40), Joy Murray (

38), Marion Dennis (35). Men – (82 players) – Martyn Dix (41), Chris Wilson (40), Rod Hamilton (39).

Saturday, Women, Club Championships, round three – sponsor B By Halcyon – (36 players) – A Grade, gross, Ionna Muir (82), Dom Paice (85), Sue Jones (87); nett, Vicky Sheridan (71), Sue Jones (71), Dom Paice (76); B Grade, gross, Helen Fraser (92), Chris Parkinson (92), Sandy Whittle (97); nett, Helen Fraser (72), Mouna Humzy (73), Chris Parkinson (76); C Grade, gross, Di Stark (111), Ellen Bloxsome (111), Maureen Cartledge (115); nett, Di Stark (82), Jan Langdon (82), Sue Haddenham (82).

Medley Single Stableford (148 players) – Matt Potter (40 points), Brian Callaghan (39), Damian Moelands (39).

Sunday, Women, Club Championships, round four – sponsor B By Halcyon – (36 players) – A Grade, gross, Ionna Muir (74), Sharon Thomas (81), Josie Ryan (84); nett, Vicky Sheridan (70), Sharon Thomas (70), Kate Wilkie (73); B Grade, Chris Parkinson (91), Helen Fraser (93), Sandy Whittle (94); nett, Narelle Hollowood (71), Monica Antony (72), Chris Parkinson (72); C Grade, gross, Sue Harris (106), Di Stark (107), Maureen Cartledge (108); nett – Sue Harris (72), Maureen Cartledge (77), Di Stark (77).

2022 Championship results – A Grade, gross – Ionna Muir (75,79,82,74 – 310), Josie Ryan (83,86,89, 84 -342), Sharon Thomas (91,85,88,81 – 345); B Grade, gross – Helen Fraser (94,96,92,93 – 375), Chris Parkinson (93,97,95,91 – 376), Sandy Whittle (97,97,97,94 – 385); C Grade, gross – Sue Harris (111, 102, 124, 106 – 443), Maureen Cartledge (111,110,115,108 – 450), Susie Meade (103,116,123,117 – 459). Junior Champion – Ionna Muir; Senior Champion, Josie Ryan; 36-hole Senior Champion (nett) – Vicky Sheridan.

Medley Single Stableford (48 players) – Dennis Roberts (40 points), Leeanne Ptak (40), Brian Kesby (39).