The usual cringe-fear of a par event may have been mitigated as results seemed to generally improve. There were three scores of +5, and 20 golfers finished with a plus score.
Darryl Phillingham received the benefit of the count-back to win B-grade while Ryan O’Connor won A-grade, also with 5. Phillingham had losses on the first and third holes but a double-plus on the seventh helped him to turn 2, and a solid 3 on the back nine gave him the win on a count-back. Brad Deane won runner-up in A-grade with 4 and Shorty McNaughton was runner-up in B-grade with 5.
NTP trophies went to Ryan O’Connor on the third and sixth holes, Merv Knight won on the ninth and Matt Miller won on the 14th. Unfortunately for Knight, he failed to enter the jackpot competition which was won by a female golfer somewhat further from the pin.
Ball winners: Alex Bell 4, Dale McNair and Jacob Chessels 3, Alex Howson, Bob Hunter, Ryan Butler, Ty Guiney, Peter Hutton, Matt Miller, Jeffrey Baker and Jono Kerrins 2, Jeff Huddle, Bill Ashcroft, Josh Danaher, Paul Cornelius and Paul Newman 1.
The women’s competition was won by Bev Roberts with 2, Joyce Baird was runner-up with 1 and consolation balls were won by Barb Nation and Joan Hill, who were square, and Sheryl Curran -1. Bev Roberts won NTP on the third hole, Shery Curran won on the sixth and 14th while Judy Baker won on the ninth and also scooped the jackpot.
Midweek: Travis Worm blitzed the field on Tuesday, scoring 77-12-65 to win by three shots from Peter Hutton, who had 85-17-68. On the front nine holes, Worm had three birdies, three pars and three bogeys for a par score of 35 but on the back nine he could only manage four pars and 42 off the stick. In the ball run-down, Bob Hunter had 69, Steve Allison 71 and Ty Guiney 73 while Peter Hutton also won NTP.
The Thursday Stableford event was won on a count-back by Ty Guiney with 38 points off a six handicap and Ian Elders was runner-up. Hamish Roberts had 37 points, Bob Hunter and Steve Allison 36 and Frank Hill had 34 on a count-back while Garry Reese won NTP.
Mat Langley Twilight: Merv Knight won Thursday’s competition with a nett 28 and Rocco Barca was runner-up with 28.5. Bev Roberts won NTP and line-balls went to Judy Ashcroft and Michael Downs 31; Janette Hayward 32; Alex Howson 33.5; Mark Jenkins 33; John Steen and John Mapson 33.5; Paul Hugen, Ryan Lindsay, Les Nation and Brendan Ryan 34; Joe De Ieso, Rob Montgomery and Darren Carter 34.5.
Coming events: Predicting which scheduled events will actually take place is hazardous in the present COVID-19 climate, with the GMGA mixed event next Sunday already cancelled and GV veterans’ events cancelled for now. However, club events should continue as long as everyone observes separation as required.
Saturday’s competition will be Stableford for the Privilege Cup, sponsored by Peppermill Shepparton, and previous winners will play for the Hill Top Shield.
Shocker: Can it be true that golfers will not be permitted to handle flagsticks or bunker rakes to avoid COVID-19 contamination? And will we be required to mark our own cards? Just not shaking hands with your group at the conclusion of play is difficult enough to remember, and elbow-bumps hardly replace the strong Ted Whitten grip that many mates employ. Perhaps computer golf will be our only outlet as things get worse.
