MURRAY Downs has taken out the WRDGA Division 1 Winter Pennant grand final.
Last Sunday, at the Deniliquin Golf Club, Murray Downs clinched the first winter pennant in the newly revamped WRDGA, defeating the Rich River team 3 and 2.
The match went right down to wire, with the last match, between Dallas Free and Matt Jeans, deciding the premier team for the season, with Free coming out on top, 2 up with one hole to play. Ash Free got Murray Downs away with a good win 3 and 2, over Troy Kenny, Lisa Jean had a convincing win over D’Arcy White, 6 and 4, James McLean went down 2 and 1, to Paddy Hannon and Luke Merritt also went down 2 and 1 to Aaron Loader.
Overall, it was a very competitive match, with the final result not known until the last match was completed. Unfortunately, the Murray Downs Division 3 team were soundly beaten by Rich River 4 and 1. The standout player for Murray Downs was, 14-year-old Tynan Perry, being the only winner, 4 up with three holes to play. Tyrone Parkinson went down by two holes, Brad Cockfield received a touch up, going down 5 and 6, Jason Perry lost 3 and 4 and Craig Fletcher lost 4 and 5. In Division 2, Deniliquin came out on top, beating Rich River 3 and 2.
With this first season now completed, work will start on how this pennant can be improved. Do we add more players to each division, do we add extra teams or do we have two conferences, an eastern section and a western section, with the winners of each conference playing off, for an ultimate WRDGA champion? All these ideas and more will be discussed over the coming months.
Last Saturday, at Murray Downs, there was a stableford competition played off the gold tee markers, which saw division 3 player Luke Tracey (28) record the day’s best score of 40 points, to take out his section from Chris Wilson (24) who finished with 34 points. Ross Kenyon (11) came out on top, with 35 points, in division 2, by way of the count-back system, from Stuart Holt (11), whilst in division 1, it was Colin Mewburn (9) showing the way with 39 points, from Lleyton McLean (9) who finished with 38 points. 34 points and more were required to be eligible for a golf ball and the lucky shots on the par 3 holes were shot by Luke Tracey on the 2nd, Matthew Collins on the 5th, Spencer McKenzie on the 11th and Colin Mewburn on the 15th.
On Sunday, the competition was a medley 4BBB stableford event, with the combination of Matthew Loats and David McClelland a clear standout, recording 50 points, from the pairing of Spencer McKenzie and Scott Mathiske who finished with 45 points and in 3rd position were David Bourne and Wayne Such with 44 points. The NTPs went to David Bourne on the 2nd, Matthew Wade on the 5th, Colin Mewburn on the 11th and Leighton Dullard on the 15th.Last Friday’s nine-hole competition was taken out by Joel Travaglia (26) with 17 points, whilst from last Thursday’s stableford competition, Neville Brady was a clear standout player, recording an excellent 40 points from his 4 handicap, to take out Division 1 from Laurie Shipsides (13) who finished with 38 points. One of our recently returned, travelling grey nomads, in Rob West (23) took out division 2 with 33 points, from Tori Ficarra (25) on 32 points and believe it or not, other players required at least 33 points to be eligible for a golf ball, meanwhile the NTPS went to Mark Warren on the 5th, Ray Power on the 11th and Peter Amezdroz hit a very good shot into the 15th and on Tuesday of this week, a small field of golfers took part in a medley competition against par, with Murray Conn (28) coming out on top with a score of 1 up, followed by Rob O’Brien (23) with square and Mary Johnson (35) at 2 down.
On August 27 and 28, Murray Downs will holding their 36-hole two-person Ambrose tournament. Entries have been coming quite steadily and will close at the end of business on Friday, August 19.
Also coming up very quickly is the Murray Open Pro Am, scheduled for September 5, followed by the Murray Open on September 6 and 7. The Murray Open is a qualifying round for the NSW Open, which will be held later in the year. Another event to put in your diaries, is the DoingitforJarrod Charity Day on Sunday September 18. This is an event to raise funds in aid of the foundation for Jarrod Lyle, who unfortunately passed away with cancer.
MURRAY DOWNS LADIES
JANETTE Tucker has featured in the prize lists quite regularly lately and her score at Murray Downs on Wednesday was also headline material.
Janette scored 41 points to win A Grade, and in doing so has continued to reduce her 22 handicap.
Lois Carnie, (20) was runner up in Division 1 with 34 points. Hay Golf Club visitor Cassie Barnett (35) won Division 2 with 40 points from Libby Millar (42) 37 points. Carol Wiseman 34 points and Marie Cruickshank and Rosie Ficarra, both on 33 points, led the ball pool. Janette Tucker added two nearest the pins to her prize list with the others going to Libby Millar and Marie Cruickshank.
On Saturday, new Murray Downs member Wendy Talbot (45) had a personal best score of 43 points. Belinda Gardner (29) was one point further back to claim the runner up prize. Joan Foster, Sarah Clark and Shelley Wilkins collected balls and Phasinee Chaiyasit hit the most accurate shots to the 2nd and 11th.
LALBERT
LAST Sunday a Stableford event was held, with the 18-hole Juniors leading the way. Max Parsons won with 34 points from Charly Kingwill on 33 points, Charly taking out the NTP. Danika Meehan took out the ladies’ event with 33 points, from one of the senior players, Marie Kingwill, on 31. In the nine-hole juniors, Blake Shepherd won the scratch prize with 57 and Bo Brown the handicap with net 36.
VETERANS
NDVGA held its Sandscrape Championship event at Murrabit Golf Club on Tuesday. Clubs represented were Murray Downs, Murrabit, Tooleybuc, Barham, Lakeside and Kerang.
The ladies’s champion was Marg Moore with a score of 91. Runner-up was Marg Learmonth with 96. Handicap winner was Jean Youl with 32 Stableford points and runner-up was Eilleen Willox with 24 points.
The men’s champion was Gary Thorne with a score of 81. Runner-up was Graham Wyte with 90. Handicap winner was Fred O’Bryan with 32 Stableford points and runner-up was Mark O’Shea with 30 points.
NTPs went to Ray Henshall on the 15th, Jean Youl and Ian Dodd on the 18th and M. Learmonth and Joe Tartaglia on the 9th. Prizes were donated by Fury Engines Swan Hill.
Next monthly event will be held at Cohuna Golf Club on September 13. Assembly is 9am for hitoff at 9.30am.
TOOLEYBUC LADIES
AUGUST 17 par competition
Winner: Ros Jennings – 2
Runner-up: Jill Coburn – 4
Balls down the line: Narelle Fraser
Nutrien Award: Narelle Fraser
Nearest the pin: Ros Jennings 1st and 10th
Nearest the pin: Ros Jennings 5th and 14th
Trophy donor: Jill Coburn
