From Tony Durkin
HOLT THE PHONE: No, it is not a misprint. And no, it was not a fourball event. But yes, Tom Holt did score 48 points in Sunday’s Single Stableford to win the event by a massive six points. And, just to add a little more intrigue to the narrative, it was Tom’s first competition game in almost 18 months. Tom (aged 22) joined Headland as a junior in his final year at Mountain Creek SHS, and he and his dad Peter actually teamed together back then to win a fourball. But playing AFL for Maroochydore took precedence over golf, as did his carpentry apprenticeship and – earlier this year – a three-month overseas sojourn. However, his 90 off the bat on Saturday – the first time he has broken 100 – with four four-point holes, five three-pointers and no wipes, has whet his appetite for more competitive golf, and he and his dad have decided to enter the Fourball Best Ball Handicap Match Play Championship, the qualifying round of which tees off on Saturday, October 29. NOTE: Tom again played alongside his dad on Sunday, and bettered Peter’s score by 19 points.
SAM FIRES: Another father-and-son story emerged on Sunday when 12-year-old burgeoning star Sam Fichera produced his best-ever competition round of 84, beating his PB by six shots. Playing off 17, Sam scored 41 points and chastened his dad Anthony (handicap six), also by six points. The pair was almost faultless on the front nine with Anthony scoring 21 points from his par 36 and Sam’s three-over 39 harvesting 23 points. Sam, a Grade 7 student at Sunshine Coast Grammar, has been playing competition golf at Headland for just two years and in that time has wiped 19 strokes from his handicap. And like Tom and Peter Holt, Anthony and Sam have entered the Fourball Best Ball Handicap Match Play Championship, again to be sponsored by Michael Thomas of Zenfind Accounting.
PB WITH THREE: Rookie Narelle Hollowood has scored her PB on the front nine at Headland – 42 – with three clubs and a putter. Narelle (handicap 19) scored 39 points to win A Grade on Thursday in the Three-Club event, for her fifth victory since graduating from SWING in April last year. “I love the three-club event,” beamed Narelle, who only has nine clubs – and a putter – in her bag anyway, and rarely uses them all in a round. “The girls laugh at me because – apart from the 18th – I tee-off with a 15-degree driver on every hole. But it works for me, so why change.” And while her three clubs – the driver, a five-wood and an eight iron – worked a treat, so did her putter when she rolled in a 10-metre effort from off the green at the eighth for birdie. Narelle – who had four pars and nine bogeys on her card as well as the birdie – was not the only woman to break her handicap with three clubs when the front nine was played twice. Raewyn Bissett (38), Raewyn Anderson (37) and Trudi Russell (37) also scored well, to take the placings in B Grade.
SWIFT MONEY: Fourteen-handicapper Mark Swift has played some quality golf in the past – including a 78 at Canberra’s Yowani Country Club almost four decades ago – but he has never pocketed a prize as big as the one he snared in Saturday’s Single Stableford. The Canberra Raiders’ fan shot 80 for the first time as a Headland member, garnering him 42 points and a win in B Grade. And thanks to the generosity of sponsor, Dave Mayes of U Blinds Australia, Mark pocketed $100 for his victory, then added an additional $54 for snaring the Pro Pin at the par-four 11th hole, which he birdied. But while he was obviously delighted with his win – and his score – Mark was lamenting his par at the par-five 13th. “I hit driver and five iron to the back of the green, then three putted,” he bemoaned. His impressive card revealed two birdies, seven pars, eight bogeys and a double at 16, but – again for the first time as a Headland member – no wipes. Mark Wittholz (43) won A Grade with the best score of the day and Headland House Director Roger Van Ginkel (41) won C Grade.
BOB AGAIN: The ageless Ken Anderson, generally regarded as a Headland icon, is in danger of losing his record as the most-capped age shooter at the club. Former telephone technician Bob Trevor shot 76 in Saturday’s Single Stableford, giving the 77-year-old his 15th round in which he has either broken or equalled his age during his 34 years as a Headland member. Ken, who turned 81 in January, has achieved this remarkable feat 16 times, the last just 12 months ago when he scored six-over 78. But sadly Ken, who has not been enjoying the best of health, is considering not re-joining the club. Bob’s round of 76 on Saturday featured two birdies, 10 pars and six bogeys, for 40 points. He shot one-over 37 on the back nine.
CHIPPER ROUND: Trevor Simpson is 81 years old, has been playing golf ‘seriously’ since he joined Headland in March of 2016, and says he has finally ‘figured out’ a few things about the game. “My chipping has really improved in the past couple of weeks,” Trevor claimed after winning Thursday’s Single Stableford for Men with 39 points. After realising his short game had been ruining potentially good rounds, Trevor has worked on his chipping, and it has had a positive result. “I was very happy with my round,” said Trevor, whose card revealed no wipes, but a consistent seven pars and seven bogeys from the 18 marker, for a gross score of 87. The former Mercedes Benz sales executive who has worked in London as well as Sydney, before moving from the NSW Central Coast to retire at 75 years of age, and finally to the Sunshine Coast, regularly plays Tuesdays and Thursdays.
BETTER JOY: In October, 2014 SWING graduate Joy Logan was ecstatic when she produced her best-ever round of golf at Headland – a breakthrough 99 off the stick for 41 Stableford points, and a win in the Women’s Tuesday event. But she went a couple better on Saturday, breaking her PB by two strokes, with her 97 gross landing her 40 points from her 28 handicap, and a win in the Women’s Single Stableford event. Joy’s winning card revealed seven three-point holes – four in succession to open her round – and, importantly, no pick-ups, as was also the case back in October. Joy, playing from her lowest-ever handicap, won on a countback, with her 20 points on the back nine prevailing over Colleen Berger (19 points on the back) and Tracey O’Connor (18).
AMBROSE SUCCESS: If results this past week can be a yardstick, those looking for a future Ambrose partner could do worse than seek out Dean Smareglia and/or Dave Sims. The duo both had success on Tuesday and Wednesday, with Dean scoring successive second placings and Dave a first and a third. Dean partnered with Mark Garcia to finish second in Tuesday’s Two-ball event with 63 nett, then backed up the following day to again finish second, this time with Leigh Mansfield (61.25). For Dave, it was a third placing on Tuesday alongside Bob Trevor (64 nett), before partnering with Gary Marr (60.25) for victory the following day. Geoff Sawyer and Ken Scanlan (62.25) were Monday winners.
WEEKLY RESULTS:
Tuesday, Medley Two-ball Ambrose (62 players) – Geoff Sawyer and Ken Scanlan (62.25), Dean Smareglia and Mark Garcia (63), Dave Sims and Bob Trevor (64).
Wednesday, Medley Two-ball Ambrose (118 players) – Dave Sims and Gary Marr (60.25), Dean Smareglia and Leigh Mansfield (61.25), Scott Simpson and Tony Pattinson (62.25).
Thursday, Women, Three clubs plus putter (64 players) – A Grade, Narelle Hollowood (39 points), Rebecca Masters (36), Gillian Thomas (36); B Grade, Raewyn Bissett (38), Raewyn Anderson (37), Trudi Russell (37).
Men, Single Stableford (47 players) – Trevor Simpson (39), Tony McDonough (38), Phil Kornmann (38).
Saturday, Single Stableford– sponsor, Dave Mayes, U Blinds Australia – Women (27 players) – Joy Logan (40 points), Colleen Berger (40), Tracey O’Connor (40). Men (212) – A Grade, Mark Wittholz (43), Burgess Stephenson (41), Mick Kinnear (40); B Grade, Mark Swift (42), Ross Wedmaeir (42), Mark Gersbach (41); C Grade, Roger Van Ginkel (41), Doug Gorman (41), Andrew Murray (40).
Sunday, Medley Single Stableford – (49 players) – Tom Holt (48), Lee Heseltine (42), Sandra Murphy (41).
