From Tony Durkin
JACK SHINES: Former Headland junior Jack Trent has starred in the USPGA Shriners Open, played at the TPC Summerlin course in Las Vegas over the weekend. Jack, 20 and still an amateur, won the Southern Highlands Collegiate tournament in the US earlier this year which earned him a place in the field, and he grabbed the opportunity to showcase the talent of which Headland members were well aware when he was playing to a handicap of one when just 14 years of age. He left the Sunshine Coast in 2014 to continue his education at the same college in the US as another Headland junior, Adam Scott. The pair, who both attended Matthew Flinders College at Buderim, played a practise round together last week before Jack made his extremely-impressive debut on the big golf stage. He finished tied 29th at 14 under par in a star-studded field with rounds of 67, 69, 66, 68, which included 23 birdies. His only major blemish was, regrettably, a double bogey on the final hole of the tournament.
MATT’S MEMORY: Matt Douglas has enjoyed immensely his five years as Assistant Pro at Headland, and his endearing memory was seeing the club’s two Junior Pennant teams he coached go head-to-head in the 2016 Sunshine Coast Golf Zone final. Matt has accepted the role as Head Professional at nearby Woodford Golf Club, and his last day at Headland will be Saturday, October 19. He joined Headland as part of Adam Norlander’s new team in 2014 after having served his traineeship under Adam at Oxley Golf Club. And despite the wonderful people he has met and those he has coached, the Junior Pennant final between Headland ‘Youngies’ (Josh Holbrook, Jake Krigovski and Patrick Walsh) and Headland ‘Oldies’ (Nate Smyth, James Kolbe and Emmett Walsh) remains the most special and proudest memory. Matt starts his role at Woodford on Monday, October 28, and urges Headland members to make a visit. NOTE: The ‘Youngies’ won the 2016 Junior Pennant.
ODD COUPLE: The youngest Headland member teamed with one of the oldest to win Wednesday’s Medley Texas Stableford, a fourball event in which both stableford scores on each hole are multiplied. Paul Andrews, Headland member number 57 and 81 years young, teamed with Van Wild-Baldock to compile 98 points and street the field by seven points. Paul had 42 Stableford points and Van 40, and under the Medley Tiger Fourball scoring system the pair logged five nine-point holes. Van, the 12-year-old son of Headland’s drinks-cart operator Wayne, was playing just his 12th competition round, started nervously and wiped the first hole. But from then on, he was in cruise mode scoring 15 nett pars, or better. And for Paul, who joined Headland in 1989, it was his best score since a remarkable 45-point contribution to his team’s win in an Irish Foursomes event last year.
THREE CHEERS: For just on three decades Marie Flegler has been playing golf with a bag full of clubs, usually the permitted maximum of 14. But after playing Thursday’s Single Stableford at Headland with just three clubs and a putter, and scoring 40 points, she thinks maybe 14 is too many. Marie says that for most of the past three years her golf has been ‘terrible’, but a lesson from Assistant Pro Matt Douglas a few months ago started getting her game back on track. However, Thursday’s round – played with a three wood, five hybrid, pitching wedge and putter – came out of the blue and has restored her faith in not only golf, but her own ability. Marie wasn’t the only Headland lady to score well with three clubs and a putter – eight in the field of 58 on Thursday, including newly-inducted Ladies Director of Golf Jane Boaler (39 points) bettered their handicap.
UNSIGHTED ACE: Sid Ryan has scored three holes-in-one at Headland over a 15-year period, but has seen none of them drop in the hole. A regular morning player, Sid says it was a combination of the rising sun and the white golf ball against the sandy, newly-renovated greens that obstructed his view on Wednesday when he aced the par-three eighth. And for the former Headland board member and ex-manager of Buderim Private Hospital, the ace capped off four days of the best golf he has played in around five years. His 39 points on Wednesday came on the back of 42 points the previous Saturday, which won him C Grade. But, ironically, his only wipe in that round was on the eighth hole, where he had scored his second ace back in 2005. His first hole-in-one, a year earlier, was at the fifth. NOTE: Sid backed up his two good rounds with 39 points again on Saturday.
HOWE’S THAT: Trish Howe was, naturally, elated when she scored her first eagle at the sixth hole earlier in the year. But she was absolutely ecstatic with her second, which came at the 12th on Saturday – it was close to the perfect golf shot. Trish concedes her first eagle, which struck the pin at pace and dropped in after she had hit the shot thin, was accompanied by a giant slice of luck. That was not the case of Saturday when, after a drive that split the fairway, left her with a five iron to the back pin. Trish, and partner James Kidd with whom she was playing, both described the shot and near perfect, never leaving the pin and dropping gently into the hole. Trish was obviously filled with adrenaline, and following her eagle on 12 she then birdied the par five 13th. But the two brilliant holes in succession was clearly too much excitement for the 15-marker – Trish scored just two points on the next five holes.
ON ALL FOURS: Barry Euston has been a Headland member for almost 40 years, still loves his golf but reckons he has scored 40 Stableford points on just a couple of occasions in those four decades. But that all changed for the 79-year-old ex-carpenter on Saturday when he blitzed the course, scoring 44 points to win C Grade and return the best score of the day. Starting from the 10th, Barry had a golden run from the 15th to the third hole scoring a phenomenal 22 points on those seven holes. Apart from being ‘one of those days’ that average club golfers sometimes have, Barry says the extra run on the course at the moment and the fact he used only irons on the fairways could be explanation for his best-ever score of 90.
THANKS, SAND: Two-time Ladies Club Champion Lisa Ramen is one Headland member who does not mind playing the course when the greens have been renovated, and are lightly covered in sand. With successive scores in the 70s for the first time in at least 12 months – 79 on Thursday and 78 on Saturday – the 10-handicapper credited the ‘heavy’ greens for Stableford scores of 38 and 41 respectively. “At least I know I can play like the big kids – fire at the flags and expect the ball to hold,” she said after Saturday’s round which included birdies at six and seven and just the one blemish – a double at 12. Lisa, whose handicap has been as low as three during her three decades as a Headland member, has won three Ladies Foursomes and two Ladies Championship titles at the club where she now usually plays only once a week.
GARDEN KARMA: Jim Snowball was visiting Sydney last week, did not get his name down for Thursday’s Fourball and had virtually given up all hope of playing when a spot suddenly appeared late on Wednesday night beside fellow Headland Volunteer Garden Group member, Ken Scanlan. And although Jim and Ken work together in the group each Friday morning helping to beautify the course, they had never played golf together. But that mattered little as they combined superbly to score a bountiful 51 points, and win in a canter. Playing the front nine twice, they reeled off eight three-pointers first time round and backed that up with four more on the back nine, plus two four-point holes. Jim contributed 34 points to the total, Ken 17. Needless to say, the gardeners have agreed to partner again very soon.
PINK AND BLUE: Entries will open at 6.30pm on Thursday (October 10) for Headland’s annual Pink and Blue Charity Invitation day, which raises money for breast and prostate cancer-aligned charities. A shotgun start on Thursday, October 24, will get the Scrambled Ambrose events underway, with the ladies teeing off from 8am and the men starting at 1pm. A ‘home-made goods’ for sale table will operate throughout the day and further funds will be raised through raffles, while a ‘lunch-only’ option is available for $15. Ladies will pay $25 for lunch and golf, while the men will play $15 for golf. Charities being supported are the Cindy McKenzie Breast Cancer Program and the Sunshine Coast Prostrate Support Group.
WHOOPS: Lindsay Parchert and Barry Potter were whooping it up after scoring an unbelievable 20 points on the seventh hole in Wednesday’s Medley Tiger Fourball. Both had two shots on the hole and Lindsay (handicap 25) scored a birdie for five points and Barry (21) a par for four points. Multiplied, that gave them 20 points on one hole, a score no other team in the field went close to equaling. Unfortunately, the pair could gather only 46 points on the other 17 holes.
WEEKLY WINNERS:
Tuesday, Medley Single Stableford – cancelled because of inclement weather.
Wednesday, Medley Texas Stableford (88 players) – Paul Andrews and Van Wild-Baldock (98 points), Donald Marek and Barry Rawlings (91), Graham Sargent and Ross Carvel (84).
Thursday, Ladies, Single Stableford, three clubs plus putter (58 players) – Marie Flegler (40 points), Carolyn Schwartz (40), Jane Boaler (39).
Men, Fourball Best Ball Stableford (44 players) – Jim Snowball and Ken Scanlan (51 points), George Rodman and Ted Banaszczyk (47), Peter Keane and Brian Garnett (47).
Saturday, Single Stableford, Ladies (36 players) – Lisa Ramen (41 points), Robyn Muir (39), Anne Callanan (38). Men (187 players) – A Grade, Jay Gourlay (43 points), Terry Ward (43), Jason Meehan (41); B Grade, Mark Postles (43), Steve Rose (43), Chris McArdle (43); C Grade, Barry Euston (44), Graham Sargent (43), Barry Potter (42).
