From Tony Durkin
JUNIORS WIN: Promising Sunshine Coast juniors Shae Coghlan and Ionna Muir – both 14-year-olds – have combined to become Headland’s youngest Mixed Foursomes Champions. The teenagers shot rounds of 78-79 for a 36-hole 15-over total of 157 to win by four strokes from mother-and-son combination, Sharon and Chris Thomas (80-81-161). Shae (AGU handicap 1.6) and Ionna (plus 2.1) are junior members at both Maroochy River and Headland and while they have rarely played competition golf at Headland, both say they play socially and practise often. Their winning card revealed just three birdies, with their lone double bogey – at the par-five tenth hole in the second round – the result of a visit to the dam. Otherwise, they had 18 pars and 14 bogeys, with Sienna Catholic College student Shae declaring the youngsters had both ‘played well, and shared the notable shots’. The last junior pairing to win the Headland Mixed Foursomes was Matt Lonergan and Rebecca Sykes, in 2000. NOTE: Playing the same group as Shae and Ionna on Saturday were Tony Kelleher and Terry Grogan, who both taught at Stella Maris Primary School when Shae was a student.
HOT STUFF: Karen Wilson (handicap 11) was the hottest member of the hottest team in Thursday’s Irish Team Stableford event for women, getting her foursome off to a very hot start on their second nine. A retired physio and unbeaten member of Headland’s winning A Grade Pennant team last year, Karen garnered 14 points from holes one to five on her way to scoring 36 points in the team’s winning total of 86. Her celebrating partners were Anne Callanan (handicap 20, 33 points), Robyn Muir (16, 28) and Sharon Thomas (9, 31), with the best two scores on each hole contributing to the total. For Karen, who has had an abridged golf career in the past two years because of surgery as well as a trip back to Scotland to care for her mum, is back playing some of the best golf of her once-glittering career. The previous Thursday she won the A Grade Single Stableford with 39 points, and 83 gross – the best round from the former six-marker in at least three years. NOTE: On Tuesday Karen plays Jenny Ingham in the semi-final of Headland’s Consolation Handicap Match Play competition, a selection trial for the 2022 Pennant season.
DOUG’S BACK: He’s had two months out of golf following surgery, but recently-retired Financial Advisor Doug Bannam has returned with a vengeance to the game he loves. Doug (handicap 16) finished with 40 points in Wednesday’s Medley Single Stableford event to claim the second-best score of the day in the field of 204, and runner-up in B Grade. It was his first round at his home course since late November, although he did play three games in Melbourne and one in the Hunter Valley during a golf trip in mid-February. And although his ‘comeback’ round fell one point short of victory, it produced a first in his 23 years as a Headland member – three birdies on the one nine. Playing the back nine first, Doug added three pars, two bogeys and a double bogey for a best-ever one-over 37, and 25 points. Although he started his second nine clumsily with a bogey, the 72-year-old kept it ‘steady and generally up the middle’ for 15 points coming home.
DEFENDING JOSIE: Despite having spent the past three months in Thailand and then contracting Covid on her return, perennial Headland Women’s Champion Josie Ryan has confirmed she will be defending her title when the 2022 Championship tees off on Saturday week, April 2. Josie, who has won 19 Headland Women’s Championships and whose name appears on the Honour Board a remarkable 38 times, had to withdraw from Saturday’s Mixed Foursomes event with regular partner Sean McGill because of her Covid isolation. New mixed Foursomes Champion, 14-year-old Ionna Muir, has confirmed she will be contesting the Championship for the first time and will provide Josie with tough opposition, as will the now Brisbane-based Dom Paice and the in-form trio of Sharon Thomas, Kate Wilkie and Karen Wilson. Entries for the Championship, to be sponsored by B By Halcyon, close this coming Thursday (March 24), and will be played on Saturday and Sunday, April 2, 3, 4 and 10, will 18 holes each day.
WINNING SERGE: Headland Director of Finance, Sergio Nogarotto, has obviously had his mind on issues other than golf of late with the club finances suffering from a spate of bad weather. But as the weather has improved, so has Sergio’s golf with the retired Accountant winning Tuesday’s Single Stableford for men after tallying 39 points. And while it was his major ‘big golf moment’ since his first hole-in-one back in August, stringing together six three-point holes for the first time since he joined Headland in 2018 was a highlight. Starting from the tenth hole, he felt ‘okay’ with a back nine of 16 points considering he wiped the 16th, but was ecstatic with his front nine, coming home in five-over 41 for 23 points, with three-pointers from holes three to eight. “With the rough long, the secret was hitting it on the fairway and the only one I missed was seven, and I still managed a three-point bogey there,” the 22-handicapper revealed.
WARMING UP: Back in November when Leeanne Ptak became one of four Headland members to qualify for the National Handiskins final to be played at Royal Pines from May 4 to 8, she had a feeling her recent ‘purple patch’ may be coming to an end. And she was right, with her game falling away somewhat through to the start of the 2022 competition rounds kicking off at her home club. But gradually, with victory in the first event of the year, Leeanne has found some form, culminating in another win in Tuesday’s A Grade Single Stableford with 35 points. The win is her fourth trip to the prize podium for the year, and she hopes her ‘plodding’ golf will continue to improve with the Club Championships and the Handiskins on the horizon. A wipe at the seventh on Tuesday was the only blemish on an otherwise consistent card that revealed 12 two-point holes and three three-pointers.
MAVRICK MAGIC: He prescribes to the popular golfing theory of ‘swing it easy and allow the club to do the work’, but retired Sales and Marketing Executive Geoff Sawyer also salutes his new set of Callaway Maverick woods and irons. Geoff (36 points) spearheaded the team of Darryl Pettingill (34 points), Russell Harris (32) and Steve Rose (30) to victory in Thursday’s Irish Team Stableford for men, scoring a very impressive 89 points to win by four. Playing off his lowest-ever handicap of seven, Geoff had a birdie, 10 pars, six bogeys and a double at 16 on his card in the event where the best two scores from the team on each hole are tallied. It was Geoff’s second round in a week which had him ‘in the money’, with his 37 points the previous week gaining him a third placing. But he was keen to salute his team, claiming all four members had played a role in the win. NOTE: While Geoff’s Thursday handicap of seven is the lowest from which he has played, he made a point of emphasising the shortened course and the fact bunkers were out of play.
NEW ADAM: A month ago very few of the 1055 Headland members knew of Adam Robins, or had heard his name, let alone played golf with him. But in the space of a month the owner of AR Coastal Scaffolding has shot to prominence, not only with a golf club in his hand but through the generosity of his recently-acquired corporate sponsorship. On Wednesday Adam beat his previous PB of 88 by three shots, with his 41 stableford points winning B Grade and scoring him his second win in three weeks and his third visit to prizewinner’s list. As well, he has been mentioned in sponsorship despatches with both his recently-sponsored Wednesday events affected by weather conditions, resulting in his business soon to have its third ‘airing’. A Headland member for 4½ years, Adam toiled hard merely to play a round as work, a young family, two new dogs and a house renovation took top priority. But since he decided to focus more on his game – with a new set of TaylorMade clubs – success has flowed and his handicap in three weeks has been cut from 24 to 18. IT Consultant Scott Lindsay (38 points) also continued his recent red-hot form with a win in A Grade, while veteran Bruno Ciot (39) saluted in C Grade.
ANOTHER SON: Considering the handicap gap, Sharon Thomas and her eldest son Chris performed brilliantly to be runners-up in Saturday’s 2022 Mixed Foursomes Championship. The Thomas duo – Sharon (AGU handicap 11) and Chris (7) – finished just four shots behind teenage Champions Ionna Muir (plus 2) and Shae Coughlan (1) in the 36-hole gross score, despite the 8.5 handicap difference. And while they were awarded second place in the Championship and thus forfeited the overall best nett prize, they were the only couple in the field of 36 pairs to break their handicap, returning an impressive 143 nett. Sharon has won the event twice previously, but that was with her other son, Blake, who has become a country member since working and living on the Gold Coast, and because of that was ineligible to play in the Championship.
MIKE SPARKES: Electrical contractor Mike McQuarrie says Saturdays at Headland are the best days of his week, win or lose. Yet despite finishing five-over for his final four holes, Saturday’s Medley Single Stableford round in the Overflow event, Mike conceded it was even more enjoyable than normal. The seven-year member scored 82 from the Championship tees for 41 points and a two-point win in the field of 78. And while it was one of his best rounds from the black tees, Mike was disappointed with his bogey, double bogey, bogey, bogey finish after the 15-handicapper was just six overt the card for his first 14 holes. Only a casual golfer before he joined Headland in 2015, Mike last won an event in March 2020, but says his greatest enjoyment of playing only on Saturdays is the company of his fellow competitors, and the quality of the course.
PB FOR JOSH: A new 58-degree Mizuno wedge, acquired recently from Adam Norlander in the Headland Pro Shop, has given Josh Poole the edge in Sunday’s Medley Single Stableford. Josh, who played some golf as a junior in North Queensland but did not join Headland until 2015, scored 41 points during his personal best golf round of 81. His 38 shots on the front nine – which included his only birdie, at the par-three fifth – contributed 23 of his winning points and set him up to beat his previous best round of 83. “My chipping was much better today, and I felt really confident with the new wedge in my hands,” said the popular Headland member who plays three times a week. In his seven years as a member Josh has halved his handicap, from 28 to 14. Following a sterling display by his wife Sharon and son Chris in the Mixed Championship the previous day, Michael Thomas finished second with 38 points from his round of six-over 78.
WEEKLY RESULTS:
Tuesday, Single Stableford – sponsor Headland Veterans – Women (49 players) – A Grade, Leeanne Ptak (35 points), Mary Barclay (35), Catherine Peterson (33); B Grade, Wendy Burnie (33), Marion Dennis (32), Jenny Stokes (32). Men (51 players) – Sergio Nogarotto (39), Alan Stratford (37), Steve Eggins (36).
Wednesday, Medley Single Stableford – sponsor Prime Property, Brendan Southey and Bevan Horsnell (204 players) – A Grade, Scott Lindsay (38 points), Mark Selig (37), Spencer Ives (37); B Grade, Adam Robins (41), Doug Bannam (40), Rob Ingham (39); C Grade, Bruno Ciot (39), Brian Peter (38), Duncan Watts (38).
Thursday, Irish Team Stableford, Women – sponsors Mary Young, Josie Ryan, Colleen Berger and Gay David (118 players) – Anne Callahan, Robyn Muir, Karen Wilson and Sharon Thomas (86 points), Sue Jones, Monica Knowles, Roz Brandt and Lyn Mansfield (83), Kay Campbell, Kathy Petrie, Kym Mason and Norma Hobson (79). Men (78 players) – Darryl Pettingill, Steve Rose, Geoff Sawyer and Russell Harris (89), Tim Nunan, Glenn Weekes, Terry O’Keeffe and Glen Evans (85), Joe Stotscheck, Ed Hoey, Steve Nash and Dick Gibberd (84).
Saturday, Mixed Foursomes Championship (72 players) – Champions, Shae Coghlan and Ionna Moore (78,79 – 157); runners-up, Chris and Sharon Thomas (80, 81 – 161); nett, Ryan Tomlinson and Jodie McDonell (72.5, 73 – 145.5); runners-up, Scott Walker and Coralie Walsh (72, 75 – 147); 18 hole gross, morning, Andrew Hay and Kate Wilkie (84); afternoon, Dennis Mikolic and Carol Dwyer (84); 18 hole nett, morning, Peter Dickens and Odette Day (74); runners-up, Tony and Sue Briffa (75); 18 hole gross, morning, Wayne West and Dom Paice (85); runners-up, Dave Sims and Robyn Muir (89); 18 hole nett, afternoon, Haenga and Jenny Pirini (71); runners-up, Geoff Montgomery and Wendy Burnie (73).
Overflow, Medley Single Stableford (78 players) – Mike McQuarrie (41 points), Paul Morton (39), Greg McDonald (38).
Sunday, Medley Single Stableford (57 players) – Josh Poole (41 points), Michael Thomas (38), Darryl Kong (37).
