From Tony Durkin
PARTY TIME: When three-year member Lincoln Harris won his first Monthly Medal in April last year, he partied that night with a group of friends in Brisbane. On Saturday, after scoring 67 nett to return the best score of the day and win the B Grade Medal for March, he spent the night with the same friends. “Maybe there is a message there,” quipped the Youi Insurance IT Specialist, who rekindled his love for the game at Headland in 2022 after a long break. Although his gross score of 83, from his 16 handicap on Saturday, is three shots worse than his best-ever Headland round, it could have been much better had he not had a ‘shocker’ at the par-four fourth. “I was on for two, and four putted,” he confessed, adding that a double bogey at 15 was his only other errant score. Apart from those errors – on the two toughest-ranked holes on the course – he penned two birdies, five pars and nine bogeys, saying his round ‘felt good’ and he had hit the ball well. On a tough day condition-wise, Bryan Haggarty (69 nett) won A Grade and shot the best gross (76), with Deon Breytenbach (72) winning the C Grade Medal and a visitor, Mark Notting (39 points), won the Men’s Single Stableford played in conjunction with the Medal round. Kate Wilkie was the only woman to complete her round, and finished with nett 85, four better than her winning gross score in Thursday’s Monthly Medal round.
SPEEDIE GAY: Gay David did not exactly ‘hurry’ around Headland on Thursday, but at least she scored less than 100, and courtesy of her 27-handicap recorded nett 69 to win her fourth Monthly Medal. But, categorically, Gay’s day did not start as well as it finished. “Before I left for the club, the mail arrived, and in it was a speeding ticket for $500,” she lamented. “I thought – ‘well this is going to be a tough day’.” However, the 26-year member called on all her experience to put that hiccup aside, penned her best round in two years, and returned the lowest nett score in the field of 76 to win the B Grade Medal by two shots. Playing from the red tees, Gay fired three pars, seven bogeys and eight doubles, with not one ‘disastrous’ hole. “I usually have at least one ugly hole, so it was pleasing to keep those off my card,” she said. Sharon Thomas (75) backed up from her win on Tuesday to capture the A Grade Medal – her second in successive months and her 16th at Headland – while Trudi Russell (71) won the C Grade Medal, and Kate Wilkie (89) returned the best gross. Sue Keays (38 points) won the Women’s Single Stableford.
TAYLORMADE: A late call-up to Wednesday’s sponsor group gave Wayne Taylor the motivation to put together his two most consistent nines after an erratic few months of golf. When he won the previous Sunday’s Medley Single Stableford, Wayne confessed his recent golf had been bizarre, with his GA handicap slipping out from two late last year, to seven. But successive scores of 39 and 41, and two wins, has the expat Victorian feeling ‘pretty good’ about his golf. And despite finishing with four successive bogeys, his par round included some spectacular golf – an eagle at the par five 13th, four birdies and seven pars. “I hit three of the par fives in two, so was happy to finally eagle the 13th,” he shared. First-time sponsor, Brendan Bathersby of Bathersby Legal, had a withdrawal from his group on game day, extending Wayne a late invite. “I’ve played with Brendan a few times. He’s a good fella, and a very generous sponsor,” said Wayne after collecting $130 for winning A Grade with his 41 points, following a three-way countback. George Stoufis (39) won B Grade and Karra Hoger, one of only three women in the field of 217, topped the C Grade ladder, also with 39 points. NOTE: Sponsor Brendan, a ‘total rookie’ golfer before joining four years ago, quipped he had ‘an entirely satisfactory experience as a first-up sponsor of golf at Headland, perhaps enhanced by the fact that I returned my best-ever score of 33 points’.
NOT HARASSED: Focused more on his job than his leisure, Course Marshall Russell Harris has played scant golf since he took up his Headland role in November of 2020. And, until Tuesday, the 13-handciapper (GA) reckons he has only won a couple of times in that period. “It is probably four or five years since I last won,” he said after scoring 39 points for victory in Tuesday’s Single Stableford for Men. Following a working life in the tyre industry, Russell now averages around 22 hours a week patrolling the fairways of Headland, and usually ‘kicks back’ with nine holes on Fridays and Sundays. “But I’m getting back into it, and have played the past three Tuesday comps,” he said after carding 12 pars, four bogeys and two doubles from his daily handicap of 11 on Tuesday, playing from the white tees. “I was relaxed, and pretty happy with how I hit it.”
ANOTHER WIN: For Sharon Thomas, whose name appears on the Headland Honour Board 12 times, playing from a handicap as high as 16 has been frustrating. “We all have our ups and downs on the course, but because I have played off single figures for at least a decade, that handicap is not where I want my golf to be,” she said after winning Tuesday’s Single Stableford for Women. “However, there were signs today that maybe I’m finding some form.” Following a long break from the game for personal and health reasons, including moving to a home adjacent to the 17th fairway, Sharon has scored her second win for the year and credits a lesson with Head Pro Adam Norlander for getting her back in the right ‘space’. Sharon’s 40 point-card revealed a four-point birdie, six threes and seven twos, and she said now that she was playing more regularly, her goal was to return to single figures. “I’m not sure I will get there, but I will certainly be doing my best to achieve that goal,” quipped the 2023 Women’s Champion, who announced that a Golf Simulator was soon to be installed in the Thomas home. “Hopefully I will get to use it.”
TED’S REWARD: He says he still hasn’t fully recovered from a fall at the club which temporarily put him out of action, but Ted Banaszczyk is ‘back’. “I’m still not 100 percent, but I’m getting there,” said the septuagenarian after scoring 40 points to win Thursday’s Single Stableford for Men. Ted fell and injured his left shoulder just on 12 months ago, and has worked tirelessly on his rehab, even playing golf ‘within himself’. “While obviously aware of the limitations in my shoulder, I kept playing, swinging easily, and cautiously. And even though it has been very gradual progress, winning today was a real buzz. I take it as a reward for the rehab work I have done,” said the two-decade member. Playing from his 20 handicap and from the blue tees, Ted had one four-point hole, five threes and 10 two-pointers on his Thursday card, and collected $100 for his first win ‘in a long, long time’.
VETS’ WINNERS: They may not have reached the scoring heights of the previous week’s victors, but Kirsten Kaergaard and Burgess Stephenson walked away from Monday’s Single Stableford Vets’ competition carrying similar winning kudos. The previous Monday winners, Janette Ritchie and Dave Ashwin, both scored an impressive 45 points, while Kirsten (38) and Burgess (39) were best on the day in their respective competitions last week, when Headland hosted Maroochy River Vets. Playing from a 21 handicap, Kirsten penned one four-point hole, five threes and eight twos, continuing her form that helped Headland Women win the Kookaburra Cup six days earlier. And for Burgess, his 82 off the bat resulted from a steady round of seven pars and 11 bogeys. Burgess won Division One, Maroochy visitor John Wehlow won Division Two with 36 points, and Peter McMillan (37) saluted in Division Three.
SIMPLY THE BEST: Each week in 2026, HH names our ‘Simply the Best’ golfer, an ‘award’ introduced to recognise the club’s low-handicap members. And last week’s award goes to Glenn Walker, a four-handicapper, who shot par 72 from the blue tees on Wednesday, with three birdies, three bogeys and 12 pars on his card, but finished second in A Grade behind Wayne Taylor, who penned the same gross score. However, Glenn was given the nod for STB by virtue of the fact Wayne played from the white tees. When HH phoned Glenn on Sunday morning, he and his six-year-old son Lennox were about to board a plane for Melbourne, to attend the F1 race and then the Collingwood-St Kilda AFL clash at the MCG, where they will meet-up with Glenn’s brother, and 2020 Headland Club Champion, Scott.
WEEKLY RESULTS:
Monday, Vets, Single Stableford, Women (33 players) – Kirsten Kaergaard (38 points), Maria Hireme (33), Linda Cannon (33).
Men (75 players) – Division One, Burgess Stephenson (39 points), Col Pledge (37), Ron McMahon (35); Division Two, John Wehlow (36), Terry Lawlor (36), Wayne Chugg (36); Division Three, Peter McMillan (37), John Christmas (34), Peter Barbour (34).
Tuesday, Single Stableford, Women (41 players) – Sharon Thomas (40 points), Sandra Lawrence (35), Trish Marsden (35).
Men (66 players) – Russell Harris (39 points), Tim Nunan (39), Steve Eggins (38).
Wednesday, Medley Single Stableford – sponsor, Brendan Bathersby, Bathersby Legal – (217 players) – A Grade, Wayne Taylor (41 points), Glenn Walker (41), Cameron McCulloch (41); B Grade, George Stoufis (39), Ivan Fortmann (38), Matthew Dreghorn (37); C Grade, Karra Hoger (39), Aaron Baker (38), Lachlan Valderrama (38).
Thursday, Women, Monthly Medal – sponsor, Jodie McDonell, Century 21 on Duporth – (76 players) – A Grade, Sharon Thomas (75 nett), Kate Wilkie (75), Jenny Ingham (75) – best gross, Kate Wilkie (89); B Grade, Gay David (69), Lynn Deacon 971), Huda Olsson (71) – best gross, Lynn Deacon (94); C Grade, Trudi Russell (71), Valerie O’Brien (72), Di Stark (72) – best gross, Valerie O’Brien (102).
Single Stableford (24 players) – Sue Keays (38 points), Bron Davis (34), Bec Francis (30).
Men, Single Stableford (66 players) – Ted Banaszczyk (40 points), Rory Hanley (39), Patrick Carmody (38).
Saturday, Monthly Medal, Men sponsor, Ryan Tomlinson, Century 21 on Duporth – (90 players) – A Grade, Bryan Haggarty (69 nett), Wayne Taylor (71), Garry Marr (71); B Grade, Lincoln Harris (67), Marco Di Nardo (70), Paul Morton (71); C Grade, Deon Breytenbach (72), Aaron Baker (73), Greg Wareham (74); best gross, Bryan Haggarty (76).
Single Stableford (35 players) – Mark Notting (39 points), Doc Fleming (38), Mark Gaske (36).
Sunday, Medley Single Stableford (competition cancelled because of insufficient starters).
