From Tony Durkin
ADAMS TO CLASH: Club Champion Adam Richards is 36 holes away from his golfing dream – winning the Headland Men’s Championship trifecta in the same year. Adam will meet former Champion Adam Rydwanski in next Saturday’s 36-hole Men’s Match Play Championship following an epic struggle in Sunday’s semi-final, going to the 21st hole before eliminating fellow A Grade Pennant team member, Jack Hourn. The previous day the holder of 23 Honour Board titles beat Glenn Walker 3&2 in the quarter final. Adam Rydwanski, who won back-to-back Match Play titles in 2014 and 2015, won through to the final after beating Ash Reck (3&2) and Shane Muller (1-up) over the weekend. Adam Richards, who has already won the Men’s Championship and the Foursomes (with Shane Muller) this year, has six previous Match Play titles on his CV, but says a win in 2025 will be the highlight. “I have never won the three men’s Championships in the one year, and that is what I am now chasing,” he declared before teeing off in the quarter-finals at the weekend. “Neither of us played that great today,” he said after sinking a par putt to win the 21st hole, and the semi-final. “I only lost two holes, so that indicates how close the match was.” In the B Grade final, Geoff Bland will play Druce Fielding, also over 36 holes, while former Club Captain, Peter O’Brien, lines up against Anthony Larchin in C Grade.
IRONED OUT: A self-confessed ‘victim’ of You Tube swing changes, Clint Adams recently decided to seek professional help from Club Pro Adam Norlander and – as the cliched maxim goes – the proof of the pudding was in the eating. “I decided to buy some new ‘weapons’,” explained Clint after he returned the best score in Saturday’s Medley Single Stableford event. By ‘weapons’, he meant irons – Srixon ZXi5 irons, to be exact. “They are superb, and make the most magnificent sound when I get them out of the middle,” he said. And get them out of the middle the retired Corporate Accountant certainly did on Saturday, scoring 41 points to win B Grade. He started well – three pars and three bogeys – and finished even better – four pars and two bogeys – to tally 82 strokes in a ‘consistent’ round of 10 pars, six bogeys and two doubles. But while the win was a boost to his confidence which has taken a hit recently from a gradually sliding handicap, the greatest enjoyment came from his new clubs. “I am rapt in them. They have given me a new-found confidence,” he confessed. A Headland member for five years, Clint disclosed that Saturday’s win had come in the nick of time because his Pie (House) Account was running low. “I only play so I can justify having a Beefy’s pie at the halfway mark,” he jested. Rob Van Delft (39 points) won A Grade, Phil Thistlewood (also 39) won C Grade and Kate Wilkie continued her recent run of good form by winning the Women’s event, with 37 points.
GREAT TEACHING: Inspiring education advocate Colleen Wilcox is best known for her much-used quote ‘teaching is the greatest act of optimism’. And optimistic is what four retired teachers were before playing Thursday’s Women’s Irish Foursomes at Headland, an event – ironically – they jointly sponsored. Each of Marion Dennis (37), Norma Hobson (36), Althea Mclean (28) and Pam Vincent (35) took healthy handicaps into the competition and, according to Norma, produced a ‘really good’ team effort. “When we seemed to be in trouble, someone always came to the fore,” said Norma after the quartet had scored 94 points to win the annual competition, tagged the Teachers’ Irish Foursomes, and sponsored by a group of 15 ex-school teachers. Of the victorious quartet, Marion Dennis (37) penned the highest individual score, with the best two scores on each hole contributing to the overall result. On a high-scoring day, the trio of Mouna Humzy, Roz Brandt and Ellen Bloxsome scored 40 points apiece to head the individual list.
RICH RICHARD: Results of Wednesday’s winning Medley Fourball score may show Richard Reiterer scoring just 24 points, but that was merely the fringe of his success. Richard joined occasional playing partner Wyndham Tibbitts for the event, and the pair accumulated 44 points to win the low-scoring fourball by two points in a field of 202. And while each banked $110 in their respective House Accounts courtesy of regular sponsors Brendan Southey and Bevan Horsnell of Prime Property, Richard’s overall collect was $201. He added an additional $91 because of his two birdies – the first for the NTP at the fifth ($35) and the second at the 12th, where he snared the Pro Pin, and $56. “Yes, it was certainly a day out,” said the former Townsville resident who moved south a dozen years ago, and joined Headland in October 2024. “Wyndham and I shared it around, and our handicaps certainly helped.” Richard, who described himself as a ‘lifetime hacker and social golfer’ before joining Headland, started on a handicap of 30, which has since been lowered to 22, from which he played on Wednesday. The victory was his second at the club after he penned 42 points to win a Tuesday Stableford back in June. NOTE: Will Millroy, playing alongside Ken Reed, scored his fourth eagle as a Headland member, but it was by far his most spectacular. After smashing his drive at the par-five tenth hole, he thinned a three-wood, which skimmed the water four times, and finished just over the dam. He then holed a lob wedge from 75 metres.
PETER SPRINGS: With his past three wins at Headland scored during the month of October – albeit spread over a five-year period – Peter Moodie suggests his success may be related to spring. “But it’s not because I’m a spring chicken,” quipped the decade-long retired school teacher after winning Thursday’s Single Stableford for Men. “With spring comes the warmer, drier weather, and as a result the golf course gives us long handicappers more run. And any advantage out there is readily accepted.” Peter scored 40 points to win on Thursday, somewhat lower than the 44 points garnered in his first victory as a member, back in 2020. But it was the ‘steadiness’ of his round that pleased him most, with one four-point hole, four threes, 11 twos and two singles on his card. “Pretty steady is how I usually play, and sinking a few good putts boosted my score today,” he said. As fate would have it, the teacher who cut his teeth in the Queensland bush before a two-decade stint at Rockhampton Grammar, won the Men’s event the same day a group of ex-teachers sponsored the Women’s Irish Foursomes.
PUTTS DROPPED: Mike Williams had one major focus for Sunday’s Medley Single Stableford – no three-putt greens. And not only did he achieve his aim, but in doing so scored 42 points from his18 handicap to win the event by three points. “In the past three weeks I have tried three different punters,” he revealed after his round of seven pars, 10 bogeys and one double. “But I realised it wasn’t the putters, but the bloke on the end of them.” Tentative on the quick greens, the semi-retired International Freight Executive said he had been guilty of leaving his putts short, so decided on Sunday to be more aggressive. “Even though the greens are fast, they are in great condition, and are rolling true.” The win was the second individual victory for Mike, who has just entered his second year as a Headland member after moving from Singapore to the Sunshine Coast five years ago.
WEEKLY RESULTS:
Monday, Vets, Two-Ball Ambrose – sponsor, Perry and Oster Funerals – (80 players) – John Jones and Michael Phillips (65.25 nett), David Werner and John Halbert (67), Trish Marsden and Ted Banaszczyk (67.5), Peter Leggo and Dave Sims (67.5).
Tuesday, no competition because of Golf Australia Connect transition
Wednesday, Medley Fourball Best Ball Stableford– sponsor Brendan Southey and Bevan Horsnell, Prime Property – (202 players) – Richard Reiterer and Wyndham Tibbits (44 points), Peter Barbour and Craig Driscoll (42), Matt Prince and Richard Senior (42), David O’Mahoney and Tony Waddington (42), Ken Reed and Will Millroy (41).
Thursday, Teachers Day, Women’s Irish Foursomes – sponsors, Kirsten Kaergaard, Norma Hobson, Will Sprake, Pam Vincent, Valerie O’Brien, Kath Barford, Sue Bolton, Rhonda Biggs, Emilia White, Leigh Dorigo, Althea McLean, Denise Hutchinson, Sandy Whittle, Kaye Simmons and Marion Dennis – (103 players) – Marion Dennis, Norma Hobson, Althea McLean and Pam Vincent (94 points), Ellen Bloxsome, Tracey O’Connor, Odette Day and Marg Loughlan (92), Susan Flanagan, Barb Birks, Lesley Wilson and Denise Lawson (90).
Men, Single Stableford (79 players) – Peter Moodie (40 points), Grahame Denovan (37), Andrew Gerrard (37).
Saturday, Single Stableford, Women – sponsors, Leeanne Ptak, Cathy Roberts, Vicky Sheridan, Annabel Harris (25 players) – Kate Wilkie (37 points), Lyn Mansfield (35), Gwen Nancarrow (35).
Men (186 players) – A Grade, Rob Van Delft (39 points), Brendan Duncan (37), Matt Fisher (36); B Grade, Clint Adams (41), Gary Clarke (40), Michael Phillips (38); C Grade, Phil Thistlewood (39), Ivan Fortmann (38), Ed Hoey (37).
Men’s Match Play Championship, quarter-finals – A Grade, Adam Richards beat Glenn Walker (3&2), Jack Hourn beat Dan Diachkoff (2-up), Adam Rydwanski beat Ash Reck (3&2), Shane Muller beat Darryl Kong (1-up); B Grade, Gary Marr beat Terry Grogan (19th hole), Geoff Bland beat Matt Hetherington (walkover), Braden Anderson beat Darren Walters (3&2), Druce Fielding beat Rhett Charlton (walkover); C Grade, Don Caldwell beat Stephen DeKock (4&2), Peter O’Brien beat Ian Harper (7&5), Mick Prince beat Rohan Burgess (5&4), Anthony Larchin beat Lindsay Olsson (4&3).
Sunday, Medley Single Stableford (47 players) – Mike Williams (42 points), Michael Moore (39), Sam Fichera (38).
Men’s Match Play Championship, semi-finals – A Grade, Adam Richards beat Jack Hourn (21st hole), Adam Rydwanski beat Shane Muller (1-up); B Grade, Geoff Bland beat Gary Marr (2&1), Druce Fielding beat Braden Anderson (3&2); C Grade, Peter O’Brien beat Don Caldwell (1-up), Anthony Larchin beat Mick Prince (2&1).
