Tat Chat

We had 44 players in the Twilight event sponsored by our local electrician Mat Langley Electrical. The winner with 22 points was Sheryl Curran on a countback from the in-form Bob Hunter. Other place-getters were 21 points Lou Villani, 20 One Nation Les, 19 Jack Mark, Peter Fiddes, 18 Joshua McRae, Mark Jenkins. Last week’s winner of the Twilight event came back to Earth with seven but that’s golf.

A large field of men and women participated in the Saturday Stroke event and second qualifying round of our club championship which was played in cold, wet and windy conditions. The events were sponsored by John Steen, Shaz and Bec Jeffers. The Ladies’ Stableford event was won by Josephine De Ieso with 40 points. Second was Jan Coe 35, in third place was Robyn Butler 33 on a countback. Other place-getters were Mandy McGrath 33 points, Niki Miller, Larysa Phillingham 31. Nearest-the-pins: 9th Sheryl Curran (Tatura Engineering), 6th Larysa Phillingham (Tatura Post Office).

In the men’s event the winner of A-grade was Darren Carter with net 71 on a countback from John Fanning, B-grade was won by Jody Webber, net 68, from the reliable Graham Meneilly, net 70. C-grade was won by Sean McAllister, net 67, from Joe De leso, net 72 (one to watch in the finals).

Other place-getters were Daniel Maher, Neil McAntee, Scott Perry 70, John Owen, Jarrod Taylor, Anthony Devine 71, Steve Allison 72, Brad Ciavarella, Fred Andrews, Ryan Butler 73.

Nearest-the-pins were awarded to Bruce Gross, 3rd sponsored by Lewis Homes, Graham McIntosh, 6th Tatura Post Office, 9th and jackpot Graham McIntosh Tatura Engineering, Ashley Blake 14th A1 Freight.

The top eight qualifiers in each grade played the quarter finals on Sunday in winter conditions with one match going to the 22nd hole and another to the 19th; results as follows:

Club Championship: Matt Miller d Tim Nicholson 2-up, Anthony Devine d Drew Curtis 19th, John Fanning d Terry O’Brien 5/3, Ray Nicholson d Fred Andrews 6/5.

B-grade: Jody Webber d Bryan Miller 1-up, Jacob Chessells d Colin Barlow 3/2, Darren Carter d Jarrod Taylor 6/4, Leigh Thornton d Neil McAntee 1-up.

C-grade: Joe De leso d Brendan Ryan forfeit, Brad Ciavarella d Allen Gale 2/1, Alex Howson d Lou Villani 3/2, John Steen d Ray Whitfield 22nd hole.

Next round is to be played on Sunday, November 21, with the final on Sunday, November 28.

In the seniors the following qualified and will play as follows: Joe De leso v Terry O’Brien, Steve Allison v Leigh Thornton, John Fanning v Graham Meneilly, Colin Saunders v Colin Barlow with the knockout matches to be arranged by the players.

I always thought school teachers would be quick learners, not so Les Walsh, who hit his first ball into the lake on the sixth then his second, followed by his third all in the same direction, finally finishing with an eight. Lucky he can putt, unlike Mandy McGrath who also hit her ball into the lake but hers skimmed across the water and landed on dry land. Les you might need to have a chat to Mandy.

Marita Cornwall got the surprise of her life when she accidentally hit her ball into a tree on the 12th. It ricocheted up the tree but to her surprise two balls came down. Hope you continued with the right ball.

Next Saturday is the qualifying round of the Men’s 4BBB Net Stroke Event with the top four qualifying to play for the Summer 4B Knock Out. The women will play a Stableford event.

Don’t forget that ALL golfers need to be DOUBLE vaccinated to play and enter the clubhouse. Happy golfing.

– Bunkered

Hill Top women’s golf

The November Monthly Medal, sponsored by Drummond Golf and Newton’s Parcel Service, also the qualifying round of the Glad Robbins Knockout, was played in wintry conditions; unusual for late spring.

A-grade and Monthly Medal was won by Colleen Johns, who scored five pars to give her a 70 net. Runner-up was Niki Miller who has recently retired from a long nursing career, and is now finding time to sharpen her skills on the fairways. Niki parred five holes, which included the elusive 18th to give her a 72 net and a voucher to Chargrill Chicken.

Rita Fairchild won B-grade and the Drummond voucher with 73 net, which included a great shot for par on the 14th and nearest-to-the-pin. Runner-up was Lois Rogers with 76 net, also sponsored by Chargrill Chicken.

Ball winners: Judy Baker 74 and Jan Coe 75 C/B.

Nearest-to-the-pins: 3rd Blossom with Love: Bec Jeffers; 6th Tatura Hot Bread: Mandy McGrath; 9th Hill Top voucher: Sue Turnbull; 14th Lindsay’s Jewels and Gifts: Rita Fairchild.

Glad Robbins Knockout Qualifiers: Colleen Johns plays Janette Hayward, Bec Jeffers plays Mandy McGrath, Sue Turnbull plays Bev Roberts and Sheryl Curran plays Judy Baker on or before the December 31.

Semi-finals championships:

All matches were played this week, with some close games witnessed.

The open semi-final, Bec Jeffers played Janette Hayward, with Bec winning on the 16th.

B-grade semis: Sheryl Curran played Robyn Downs with Sheryl continuing her purple patch, winning on the 13th.

Sue Turnbull played one of her best rounds, defeating Judy Baker on the 16th.

D-grade semis: Robyn Butler defeated Rita Fairchild on the 17th. In the other semi, Rosemary Hepworth playing in her very first final, played Di Day and took her to the 18th before losing to Di, 2-up.

The finals for both men and women are to be played on November 28.

Open championship: Larysa Phillingham/Bec Jeffers.

B-grade: Sheryl Curran/Sue Turnbull.

C-grade: Lyn Flett/Josie De Ieso.

D-grade: Robyn Butler/Di Day.

Congratulations to all the participants in the semi-finals, and we wish the finalists in each grade good luck.

Summer 4BBB Pennant: Bev is still looking for women to play in the summer 4BBB pennant, played at different courses over January and February.

Wednesday’s event: Stableford: Sponsored by Finnies and the Railway Hotel.

Nine-hole event: Back nine.

Tatura-Hill Top Bowls

Tatura-Hill Top's Division 1, following on from the encouraging first week pennant, narrow overall seven-shot loss to current premiership holder and dominant Shepparton Golf side, played Kyabram on their home ground at Hill Top and faced a severe reality check when soundly defeated by 28 shots, 76 to 104, failing to get any rink wins.

Tatura-Hill Top's Peter LeSueur, coming off a win the previous week, had a tight tussle against Kyabram's most capable Greg Shilling and lost narrowly by two shots, 23 to 25. Coach and skipper Brendon Boyd lost by seven shots, 18 to 25, against Glenn Fields, with David Cartwright down by eight playing Noel Reddrop. And finally Justin Spedding was well beaten by 11 shots, 16 to 27, against Ky's Paul McInnes.

Division 2 had a tough encounter against Shepparton Golf despite winning two rinks and losing two, but suffered an overall deficit of 15 shots, 88 to 103.

Tatura-Hill Top's Barry Ibbott (s), Dot Best, Paul Deane and Angie Serra defeated Roy Brown by six shots, 31 to 25. The "Doggies" Keith Smith, Terry Gale, Frank Niglia and John Crilly led all day against Robbie Betson and had developed quite a substantial lead early in the match.

However, in wet and windy conditions Betson's team fought back to close the gap and only ended up losing by two shots in a low-scoring game, 20 to 18.

In Tatura-Hill Top's losing rinks, Gary Mansfield lost 21 to 28 against Peter Fairgrieve and Peter Wallis had a late fade-out to be well beaten by Richard Warburton, 16 to 32.

Division 4, with a one-rink win and a draw from the four rinks competing, lost overall to Seymour by the relatively small margin of six shots, 88 to 94. The encouraging win of Ray Flett (s), Naomi Cartwright, Joe Mercaldi and Phyl Fiddes by 11 shots, 28 to 17, against Jan Wesselmen was not sufficient to get them over the line; the rink led by Rod Piggott versus Wendy Hutton lost by 12 shots. Paul Kerrins drew with Dennis Klein and Ken Parks lost to Gary Broderick by five shots, 21 to 26.

Division 5 was outclassed by a dominating East Shepparton side that only allowed one Tatura-Hill Top rink, in winning skipper Laurie Merritt and his team of Bill Milner, Charlie Lawson and Jeff Hussey, to savour victory on the day. Merritt led his team to a strong and high-scoring 12-shot win, 30 to 18, against Norm Jeffery. The "Doggies’" Peter Ibbott was belted by 25 shots, 16 to 41, when he played Eric Cook. Andrew Willaton succumbed to Gilbert Nogare, 17 to 28, and Rod Kirby lost narrowly by four shots, 21 to 25, against Ronald Le Lievre.

Tatura Bowls notes: Coming event - Christmas Dinner and Members Draw at clubhouse from 6.30pm on Friday, December 3. Club events are all listed and players are encouraged to get them under way ASAP.

– John Crilly

Merrigum Bowls

On Saturday our pennant team received a forfeit from Shepparton Golf who could not find enough players to make up a game. While this was disappointing because we had everything prepared, we surely didn’t miss standing out in that cold wind all afternoon.

Last Tuesday we began our midweek pennant and had a narrow two-point win against Shepparton Golf. The rink of Joe Chant, Wayne Shepherd, Noreen Earl and Lee Chant had a good win by 14 shots against the rink skipped by D Fallon. This was in spite of dropping a six on the third end. All players made a contribution to the win and the game was played in a very friendly fashion.

John Firmer lost by two shots to Bruce Giovanetti and Gary Mott went down by 10 shots to K Cooper.

Please make sure you book your meal on Thursday night as this makes it much easier to cater for. Meal starts at 6pm and the new cost is $10 for members and visitors. Thanks to all those good people who bring along a salad each week.

The hamper is progressing very well, please make sure you have your book and extra books can be obtained from Lee Chant. Donations for the hamper would be greatly appreciated.

We have taken delivery of the new “super” probe that gives the greenkeeper the much-needed vital information about the condition of the green.

On December 18 the pizza night will be held as usual to finish off for Christmas and the hampers will also be drawn. The cost of the pizza night is $10.

– Young Joe

Merrigum golf

A return to winter weather meant a reduced field contested Merrigum’s par event on Saturday. Showers threatened throughout the day but fortunately for those on the course they didn’t eventuate. The wind however provided a challenge and this meant that nobody was able to equal par. James Campbell was the winner with a round of -1, a very good effort for someone off his handicap in the prevailing conditions. At least with par, once you have run out of shots you can pick up and go to the next hole, something he would have liked to have done on his first twilight hole a couple of days earlier.

Greg Hall also scored -1 but had to settle for runner-up after the countback. Good to see Greg back after work has kept him busy for a few weeks. Nearest-the-pins were won by Ash Sanders on the ninth, Phil Savage on the jackpot 12th and Simon Doherty on the 14th.

Just an update on last week’s summer four-ball round and an eagle scored by Tommy Ladhams on the par five seventh hole which almost passed unnoticed. It didn’t go unnoticed by his playing partner John Fuller though, whose head was almost taken off by Tom’s shanked third shot, which then ricocheted from a tree into the hole. As they say, you don’t have to draw pictures, but it resulted in a handy 3, net 2, on the hole and meant Tom almost took Simon Doherty’s title of luckiest golfer in the club (LGITC) – but not quite. It was also lucky another player on Saturday lives close, handy when he picked out an odd pair of golf shoes from his Imelda Marcos-like shoe closet and had to return to get a matching pair.

Damien Sceney had a great win in Thursday’s twilight competition with a round of 55-17-38. He was half a shot ahead of runner-up Russell Dunn who scored 51-12.5-38.5. Russell also picked up the double jackpot for nearest-the-pin on the ninth, while James Campbell was closest on the 14th. Simon Doherty won least putts for the second week in a row, this week with 16. The two point cut was 40.

This Saturday’s event is stroke for the Privilege Cup.

Three of our golfers are taking on the Cancer Council’s longest day challenge, raising funds for that charity. It involves playing four rounds of golf on the one day, with Simon and Craig Doherty and James Campbell taking up the challenge on December 12. If you would like to support them for a good cause you can go to longestday.org.au/find-a-friend and search for their names.