From Tony Durkin
MEN’S FOURSOMES: “Winning with Shane meant more to me than adding my name to the Honour Board again,” was the reaction from prolific champion Adam Richards to winning Saturday’s 2025 Men’s Foursomes Championship in partnership with popular Pro Shop Manager, Shane Muller. The duo, beaten last year by Sean McGill and Adam Rydwanski, parred the par-72 course in both rounds of the 36-hole Championship, to win by five shots from the defending champions. And for Shane, it was his breakthrough victory, having been ‘the bridesmaid’ eight times previously. “Adam and I were runners-up in this event last year. I was also runner-up in the Mixed Foursomes last year with Robyn Muir, and six times in the Men’s Club Championships at Hervey Bay before joining Headland in 2017,” he revealed. “And I could feel that the pressure was mounting on Adam as we came home today, as he genuinely wanted to win it for me.” But despite their superb score, it was not all plain sailing. Playing in the same group, the Champions were four behind Sean and Adam after nine holes, got it back to square after both teams turned even with the card, and took the lead for the first time at the 19th (the par-four first). They were never headed after that, despite a nervous double-bogey, bogey, par, bogey, par finish. “Some great golf was played by each of us,” said Adam, whose name will now appear on the Headland Honour Board for the 23rd time, eight as Men’s Foursomes Champion. And he revealed that never previously had he and his various partners scored par or better in the 36-hole event. On the way to winning the Championship, Shane and Adam penned nine birdies, 19 pars, seven bogeys and one double, at the par-three 14th in the afternoon round. Nett victors were former champion Chris Weier, partnered by Michael Zeckomske, with a score of 140 from their combined handicap of seven. The 2025 Championship, which attracted 51 pairs, was once again sponsored by Mick Kinnear of Zero Termite and Pest.
JENNY HOLDS: “I was able to hold it together coming home,” Jenny Ingham acknowledged after winning her first Monthly Medal on Thursday since May last year. But it was not just winning the September Medal which delighted the three-decade Headland member. “My score (88, for 69 nett) put me back in A Grade since I slipped out earlier in the year, which is good,” she shared. Apart from a calamitous eight at the par-five second hole, where she found bunker trouble, Jenny’s card was the epitome of consistency. She otherwise penned five pars and 12 bogeys in her 88, the equal best score of the day. She had just 25 putts, managing to make a couple of clutch efforts to keep the card clean over the final few, and nervy, final holes. A conspicuous member for most of those 30 years, Jenny has scaled back her competition rounds recently ‘doing other things’. But her Thursday victory, the return to A Grade and a recent win in the B Grade Matchplay Championship has, maybe, whetted her appetite for more than one round a week. Jenny also returned the best gross score in B Grade, as did A Grade Medal winner Julie Halliday (88/72) and C Grade victor Mary Dowling (100/69). Leigh Derigo (41 points) won the Single Stableford event played in association with the Medal round. A member of the 2025 winning Division Two Pennant team, Leigh inked two four-pointers and six three-pointers on her impressive card.
SKIP’S COMEBACK: Queensland’s Over 70s hockey goalkeeper, Skip Antony, avenged defeat in his clubs’ Kedron Wavell Masters Hockey final in Brisbane on Tuesday night by winning his first Headland event in three years 18 hours later. And he did it with his best-ever round of golf. “It was my lucky day. Everything went my way, and the putts dropped,” said the former Air Force Loadmaster, who played golf only sparingly at Richmond RAAF base in Sydney before joining Headland in 2019. Skip, who was christened Grendell but prefers his Air Force nickname, scored 42 points to win C Grade in Wednesday’s Medley Single Stableford, beating former Air Force mate Lindsay Parchert by a point. “It is my best score at Headland, and only my second win following a Monthly Medal victory three years ago,” he said in relation to a round which included a birdie at the par-four 11th, four pars, eight bogeys and five doubles. The husband of women’s member Monica Antony, who joined Headland four years before Skip, he conceded his wife was a better golfer. “But she is boring. She hits every shot down the middle,” he chided. “Apart from today, I normally visit most other fairways.” Former Club Captain James Kidd made a rare recent appearance to win A Grade with 40 points, while Gary Savill (40 points) won B Grade.
ECLECTIC LOVE: After winning Headland’s Living Choice Vets’ Eclectic for the second time in five years, Steve Eggins declared he ‘loved’ the event. But it took a massive effort for him to make the dais on Tuesday – he scored a miserable 29 points on the first day, with five wipes and three one-pointers on his card. And realising he had to close the gap on the poor holes from day one, Steve called on what he refers to as his ‘chase’ mindset on day two and started well, picking up eight extra points in the first four holes which boosted his confidence to chase a good score. He scored 40 points on Tuesday, accumulated 48 points overall, and won the Men’s Division. “The two days of the Eclectic reflected how I have been playing this year,” he revealed. “I have had three very good scores, but the rest have been around and below the 20s.” On Tuesday he scored 14 points on the five wiped holes from the previous day, and doubled the one pointers, pocketing a $300 Pro Shop voucher for his two day’s work. And his most memorable turnaround was the par-four ninth hole, which he had wiped on Monday. “My drive finished against the big tree on the right, and I had to take a penalty drop. I then hit a five iron to within 50 centimetres of the pin, and dropped the putt for a par,” he excitedly acclaimed. Besides winning two Living Choice Eclectics, Steve has also recently won the Headland Seniors Eclectic event.
SHOCKED WINNER: Lynn Hayman conceded she had no idea how an Eclectic winner was calculated, and was absolutely stunned when she was announced Women’s overall winner of Headland’s 2025 Living Choice Vets’ Eclectic. “I honestly did not understand how an Eclectic event worked. I just wanted to play two days of golf,” said Lynn, who started golf back in 2008 through a TAFE course. “Since Tuesday I have done some research, and now understand. And although I am naturally pleased, I still can’t believe I won.” Lynn scored ‘average rounds’ of 34 and 30 points on Monday and Tuesday, but cleverly accumulated 46 points in the Eclectic. “I may not have understood the scoring method, but I thoroughly enjoyed playing the event,” said Lynn, who joined Headland in 2008, played for six months, then took a break until starting again in 2017 as a member of the SWING program. “I didn’t think I played as well as my score indicated, but obviously I did.” And what will she do with the $300 Pro Shop voucher she won as the victor? “I will buy some shirts and skirts. You need to look the part,” she quipped.
CALM PATRICK: After collecting $230 for three days work last week, Patrick Carmody is quietly going about the business of reeling in his recently-expanding handicap. The decade-long retired owner of a safety equipment retail franchise on the Sunshine Coast, Patrick won the Men’s Division Two during Headland’s two-day Eclectic on Monday and Tuesday with 47 points and winning $130, then scored 42 points to win Thursday’s Single Stableford for men, and pocketed another $110. “It has been a very good week, one of the best I can remember for golf in a long time,” said the former Wantima junior golf co-ordinator. He carded 10 three-pointers, four twos and four singles in Thursday’s win, with the week of success resulting in a one-shot reduction in his handicap, to 25. But he is still far from happy. “In my younger days I played off 12, was off 17 when I left Caloundra, and took a six-year break from golf, and then joined Headland eight years ago,” he said. “I just need to keep playing like this last week, and hope I can reduce my current mark.”
GIRLPOWER: As one of only four females teeing it up in Saturday’s Medley Single Stableford field of 62, Liz Dunford declared ‘it was nice to beat the boys’. And beat them she most certainly did, returning one of her rare rounds in the 80s and scoring a notable 41 points from her 21 handicap, to win by two points. “I have broken 90 a few times, but not recently,” said Liz, whose steady card revealed five pars, 10 bogeys and three doubles. “My golf was a far cry from my horrid round in the Monthly Medal two days earlier, when I scored a dreadful 87 nett.” Liz, Headland’s 2023 B Grade Matchplay Champion and winner of the Women’s Medal of Medals the same year, revealed that ‘everything felt good’ during her Saturday round, and her putting was spot on. “With the Men’s Foursomes being played, I thought the greens would be really fast. But that wasn’t the case,” she said. Recently retired from her career as a nurse, Liz now works three days a week for a Caloundra-based Ophthalmologist.
SORRY MAL: Jo McDougall won her second event as a six-year Headland member on Sunday, and immediately apologised to husband Mal for ‘smashing’ him on Father’s Day. “We have two sons and four grandchildren, so there was a tinge of guilt today,” quipped Jo, tongue firmly in her cheek. For the second successive day Jo flew the flag for Headland’s female members by clinching the Medley Single Stableford event on Sunday, scoring 42 points, and winning by a point from Ross Kelly and Alan Reed, both on 41. “I have been struggling with my game of late, and I’m not sure how this actually happened,” said a surprised Jo, who started on a handicap of 55 when her golf career kicked off at Headland. “My aim is to keep reducing that handicap, and after this latest round I am down to 42.” Married for 49 years, Jo and Mal – who scored a meagre 28 points on Sunday – first met when they were 17, attended university together and taught at schools together until they retired to the Sunshine Coast in 2018. “And now we play golf together every Tuesday and every Sunday, and just love it,” she added.
WEEKLY RESULTS:
Monday, Tuesday, Vets, Living Choice Classic Eclectic, Single Stableford – Overall Two Day Winners, Women, Lynn Hayman (46 points); Men, Steve Eggins (48).
Women (32 players) – Division One, Noela Evans (43), Robyn Boreham (43),
Jill Marrinan (41); Division Two, Lesley Wilson (45), Suzanne Pledge (43), Leigh Derigo (42).
Men (45 players) – Division One, Glen Teakle (43), Scott Langham (42), Col Pledge (42): Division Two, Patrick Carmody (47), Steve Nash (43), Ian Crombie (42).
Day One, Women, Division One, Marg Smith (37), Carmel Visser (36); Division Two, Maxine Langham (35), Margaret Moran (35).
Men, Division One, David W Smith (37), Andrew Hempsall (36); Division Two, Ken Maynard (36), Dennis Schloss (33).
Day Two, Women, Division One, Leeanne Ptak (34), Anne Callanan (34); Division Two, Lee Heseltine (35), Penny Cooper (32).
Men, Division One, Peter O’Brien (34), Stewart Clover (33); Division Two, Stuart Dykstra (33), Mal McDougall (32).
Wednesday, Medley Single Stableford – (218 players) – A Grade, James Kidd (40 points), Craig Firns (38), Peter Blackford (38); B Grade, Gary Savill (40), Graham Clarke (38), Bruce Heseltine (37); C Grade, Skip Antony (42), Lindsay Parchert (41), John Hall (40).
Thursday, Women, Monthly Medal – sponsor, Jodie McDonell, Century 21 on Duporth – (51 players) – A Grade, Julie Halliday (72 nett), Sue Jones (76), Kate Wilkie (76), gross – Julie Halliday (88); B Grade, Jenny Ingham (69), Monica Knowles (71), Wendy Burnie (73), gross – Jenny Ingham (88); C Grade, Mary Dowling (69), Del Whittaker (72), Odette Day (73), gross – Mary Dowling (100).
Single Stableford (45 players) – Division One, Wendy Derrick (38 points), Elizabeth Goodhew (35), Christine Hall (35); Division Two, Leigh Derigo (40), Bec Francis (35), Kay Campbell (35).
Men (82 players) – Patrick Carmody (42 points), Terry Ward (41), John Robertson (40).
Saturday, Men’s Foursomes Championships, 36 holes – sponsor, Mick Kinnear, Zero Termite and Pest – (102 players) – Champions, Shane Muller and Adam Richards (144), runners-up, Sean McGill and Adam Rydwanski (149); nett, Chris Weier and Michael Zeckomske (140), runners-up, Matt Hetherington and Matt Macaulay (142); 18-hole gross, morning, Wayne West and Ash Reck (78); afternoon, Ben Duncombe and Brendan Duncan (74); 18-hole nett, morning, David Murrihy and Trent Mead (69.5); afternoon, Mike Williams and Zach Williams (70.5).
Medley Single Stableford (62 players) – Liz Dunford (41 points), Don Caldwell (39), Ted Banaszczyk (38).
Juniors, Nine-hole stroke, Matthew Bothma (40), Finn Darlison (45), Peter Hall (52), Harrison Lane (54), Jack Lane (55), Ziggy Williams (65).
Sunday, Medley Single Stableford (56 players) – Jo McDougall (42 points), Ross Kelly (41), Alan Reed (41).
