From Tony Durkin
POM PERFECT: While the majority of Saturday’s field for the Single Par was obviously scared off by the inclement weather, ex-Pom Andy Whitmore revelled in the rain. “It was perfect English-like conditions for golf, and brought the best out in me,” said the tech business owner who emigrated from Bedford eight years ago. Only 30 players braved the conditions and finished their round, with Andy (handicap 10) scoring 77 off the bat for a return of plus four. It is his second-best score since joining Headland – he reaped 46 Stableford points from a round of 74 four years ago. A member of Pavenham Park Golf Club before emigrating, Andy once played off seven in England and his lowest handicap at Headland has been 6.7, a mark he hopes can still be within his reach. “I have been playing steady of late, but nothing great. This is my first round in ages where I have broken my handicap,” he said. Andy prevailed over Deon Breytenbach after a countback, while Narelle Hollowood (square) was the only woman to finish.
MIRACULOUS: An elated Michael Fortune described his golf on Wednesday – when he won the Medley Single Stableford event with 44 points – as miraculous. “I concentrated, relaxed and enjoyed the round as much as any I have ever played,” beamed the Mechanical Engineer who retired to the Sunshine Coast from Melbourne five years ago. His 91 off the bat – which included four pars and 10 bogeys – is his best since an 87 when playing off 18 at Rich River Golf Club ‘many years ago’. So impressed with Headland when he holidayed annually at Mooloolaba more than two decades ago, Michael initially joined the club back then but allowed his membership to slip, re-joining in 2018. He has since reduced his handicap from 35 to 25. NOTE: Michael plays regularly with Trevor Gourlay, and on Thursday Trevor spread the ashes of his dad Alife in the dam on the 15th, with each of the playing quartet – plus Trevor’s son Jay who is a member of the Headland ground staff – hitting ‘A’ stamped golf balls in to the dam. Michael won C Grade on Wednesday, while Nick Bolton (41 points) was best in A Grade and Mark Davis (40) won B Grade.
THANKS MUM: After a long period of poor golf, Trudi Russell returned to form with a vengeance on Thursday and firmly believed it was her late mother Jan who was her guiding hand. Trudi scored 43 points – which included a wipe – and won the Teachers’ Day C Grade Single Stableford on a countback from South Australian visitor, Nicola Whitmore. And while her card also revealed two four-point holes, six three-pointers and eight two-pointers, Trudi was convinced her mum – who passed 12 months ago – was looking down of her. “Mum had me when she was just 17, and we were ‘besties’. I could genuinely feel her out there with me on the course,” said the 2017 SWING graduate. The other defining component of her great round was using just three clubs on all but one hole. “Last week I had 37 points in the three-club event, my best score in a long, long time, so I decided to do the same today,” she said. Vicki Oxley won A Grade with 37 points and Raewyn Bissett (40) continued her recent good form to win B Grade.
LUCKY BEST: Eleven marker Mark Garcia shot his best-ever score on Tuesday, but was not sugar coating his round. “Any time you shoot a round like that, there is some luck involved. But I was still very happy with my form,” said Mark after his three-over 75 gave yielded the eleven-marker 44 points and a win in the Men’s Single Stableford event. Moving from Canberra to Brisbane with his family in 2009, Mark and his two children, Alisia and Greg, joined Headland but he did not play regularly until retiring six years ago. Now, playing up to three times a week, the former six-handicapper is enjoying the new challenges and his round on Tuesday – which included birdies at the first and 12th holes, as well as 11 pars and five bogeys – surpasses ‘a few’ previous best rounds of 76. His one-over 36 on the front nine garnered the recent first-time grandfather 23 points.
FIRST VICTORY: To suggest Mary Ann Sanderson took a gradual approach to golf would be an understatement. The retired retailer, who came to Australia from Canada 37 years ago, graduated from SWING in 2015, joined Headland three years later and did not start playing competitive golf until las year. And all those dots were joined on Monday when she won her very first event, the Vets’ Single Stableford, scoring 42 points in B Grade. Playing off a handicap of 43 – which has subsequently been sliced to 39.6 – Mary Ann had three four-point holes and five three-pointers on her card, and also collected the NTP at the par-three fifth. While her appreciation for the game increases as she becomes ‘a little bit better’, Mary Ann particularly enjoys the friendship of golf, and being out in the ‘beautiful’ Sunshine Coast climate. As well as playing Vets and occasionally on a Thursday, Mary Ann has a regular social round each Friday. Gail Young (40 points) won A Grade.
TOP FIFTEEN: Steve Eggins had fallen into the very annoying golfing custom of having half a dozen good holes in a round, with the remainder not so impressive. But on Thursday, in one of his best rounds in two years, Steve scored 40 of his winning 43 points on 15 holes in what he described as ‘a great game, which finished in less than four hours’. He started brilliantly – a four-point par at the first – then finished in grand style with five successive three-pointers coming home. In the two years that Steve’s game has been well below average, his handicap has ballooned from his lowest-ever mark of 18, to 25, from which he played on Thursday. But his gross score of 90 – which included an eight and a seven – has the decade-long Headland volunteer back to 22.5, and feeling much better about his game.
WIN FOR LEE: While winning the Vets’ A Grade Single Stableford on Monday was another step in the recent journey of much steadier golf for Bruce Heseltine, the retired engineer was still thinking how unlucky his wife Lee had been the previous day. Lee, a SWING graduate from 2019 who works fulltime at the Royal Brisbane Hospital, is only able to play at weekends and last Sunday returned by far her best-ever score of 42 points. But Tom Holt, returning from a long-lay off, came in with the phenomenal 48 points, relegating Lee to second in the Medley event. “Nine times out of 10, 42 points will win an event at Headland, so I feel pretty ordinary winning on Monday with 39,” said Bruce, who claims Lee refers to him as his ‘wife-funded golf tragic’. Ironically Bruce, who recently purchased a new set of TaylorMade irons from the Pro Shop and credits them for a more consistent game, had a meagre return of 26 points on the same day, and finished second last in the field. His 39 points on Monday – the same score he had the previous Saturday – came from an 84 gross and featured eight three-point holes. Gus Walker (37 points) won B Grade and Phil Thistlewood (39) won C Grade.
PERFECT PRACTISE: That old adage ‘practise makes perfect’ has come to fruition for 2017 SWING graduate Jackie Walkington. Jackie won Tuesday’s Single Stableford for Women with 40 points, and reflected on her ‘really awful’ recent golf which had prompted her to contemplate not playing competition, but practising during social rounds. However, three good holes during a social round the previous Sunday gave her the ‘feeling’ she may have found something, and Tuesday’s score proved that assumption was correct. She started superbly, with Stableford scores of 3,2,4,3,2,4 on her first six holes, for 23 points on the back nine. And, she said, things could have been even better had she been able to master the bumpy greens following the recent renovations. Jackie beat Jenny Stokes (also 40 points) on a countback.
PINK JAMIE: On Thursday, pin-up boy Jamie Hill will be endeavouring to score his fifth hole-in-one at Headland’s 18th hole when he takes part in the annual Cindy McKenzie Breast Cancer Charity Day. Dressed in his usual pink tutu, the former Headland A Grade Pennant team member will be hitting shots for a donation, which he has done for the past four years, and during that time has dunked three aces, his fourth in the same period of time scored in an Ovarian Cancer charity day. An expected capacity field of women will play a four-person Ambrose, teeing off in a shotgun start at 8am. More than $5000 worth of raffle prizes will be available on the day, while Jamie will also have mulligan and ‘gimmie’ ribbons for sale. Proceeds from the charity day will be donated to the Cindy Mackenzie Breast Cancer Program at Buderim Private Hospital. NOTE: The odds of an amateur golfer scoring a hole-in-one are 12,500 to one, and the odds of an amateur golfer scoring a hole-in-one on the same hole, in the same event, on four successive years, is in the order of ‘a zillion to one’ according to real estate guru Jamie.
WEEKLY RESULTS:
Monday, Vets’ Single Stableford, Women (45 players) – A Grade, Gail Young (41 points), Kath Barford (39), Yvonne Henry (39); B Grade, Mary Ann Sanderson (42), Suzanne Pledge (37), Susan Stratford (34). Men (87players) – A Grade, Bruce Heseltine (39), Ross Itzstein (35), Rob Cunningham (35); B Grade, Gus Walker (37), Des McNee (37), Wayne Chugg (36), C Grade, Phil Thistlewood (39), Ossie Laurikainen (36), Gordon O’Neill (35).
Tuesday, Single Stableford, Women (57 players) – Jackie Walkington (40 points), Jenny Stokes (40), Althea McLean (39). Men (73 players) – Mark Garcia (44), Glenn Weekes (40), Greg O’Connor (40).
Wednesday, Medley Single Stableford (175 players) – A Grade, Nick Bolton (41 points), Dean Smareglia (39), Spencer Ives (39); B Grade, Mark Davis (40), Warren Gee (40), Phil Maron (40); C Grade, Michael Fortune (44), Barry Euston (42), Paul Taylor (42).
Thursday, Single Stableford, Women, Teachers’ Day, sponsors Kirsten Kaergaard, Norma Hobson, Wil Sprake, Robyn Homans, Pam Vincent, Lyn Nicholson (88 players) – A Grade, Vicki Oxley (37 points), Robyn Boreham (37), Helen Venter (36); B Grade, Raewyn Bissett (40), Sue Wake (40), Naomi Doyle (39); C Grade, Trudi Russell (43), Nicola Whitmore (43), Sue Hadenham (41). Men (69 players) – Steve Eggins (43 points), Mick Kinnear (42), Rod J Berger (42).
Saturday, Medley Single Par (30 players) – Andy Whitmore (plus 4), Deon Breytenbach (+4), Michael Rutledge (+2).
