MURRAY DOWNS MENS
Last Saturday, with the men playing from the shorter “gold” tee blocks, we saw some very good scores recorded at Murray Downs.
Was this because the greens were quite slow, stemming from their recent annual coring? Or was it because the two captains, along with their respective committees, put all the bunkers out of play, following the recent rain across the course?
Either way, players still had to get their ball into the hole.
Division 3 player James Downing (19) certainly found the conditions to his liking, recording the day’s best score of 44 points to take out his division ahead of Darryl Domaille (23) with 40 points.
Mark Grant (12) was the best in Division 2, scoring 42 points, and was closely followed by Chris Merritt (13) on 38 points – while in Division 1, Stuart Holt (11) led the way with 39 points, ahead of Bobby Kelly (9) on 38.
The ball rundown was red hot, as scores of 37 points and better were required to get a ball, while Craig Mathieson hit it the closest on the 2nd, Ken Gregory did likewise on the 5th, Joey Higgins had a good shot into the 11th and Darryl Domaille did similar on the 15th to claim the nearest the pins.
On Sunday, and again with the bunkers out of play, Andrew Spitty put together an excellent round of 67 off the stick to record a 43-point score from his handicap of 2 and take out victory in Division 1, with Tristan Ramadge (14) finishing as runner-up with 39 points.
Jason Baird (20) was the best in Division 2 with 41 points and was closely followed by Richard Johnson (29) on 40 points. Other players required at least 36 points to be eligible for a golf ball, with some on 36 missing out, while the NTPs were claimed by Andrew Spitty on the 2nd, Justin Toomey on the 5th, Matthew Loats on the 11th and Richard Johnson on the 15th.
This Saturday, we are holding the Mal Woolhouse Memorial golf day, to honour a former captain and club vice-president of the Murray Downs Golf & Country Club. The format is a shotgun start, stroke event, from the “black tees” for men and “red” tees for women.
The first series of the Swan Hill Windows and Kitchens 9-hole summer competition started on Monday of this week and will run through until Sunday, December 4.
The concept being a teams’ event of four players, with individuals submitting a 9-hole score each week, with the teams’ three best scores being tallied for the team score. Remember, it’s not too late to submit a team.
Tuesday’s competition was a medley stableford event across two divisions, with Jason Mangiameli (20) recording the best score of 44 points and take out Division 1, ahead of Darryl Domaille (23) on 40 points.
Division 2 went the way of a very promising up and coming junior in Mabel Spitty with 37 points from her handicap of 28, with Tony McDonald (30) finishing as runner-up on 35 points.
This was the magical mark required to be eligible for a ball, while the nearest the pins were taken out by Ross Hastings on the 2nd, Andrew Cameron on the 5th, Ian Gammon on the 11th and Mark Warren on the 15th.
Coming up over the first two weekends in November is the annual club championships for men.
All players must complete all four rounds for a chance to be crowned the club champion for season 2022.
The AGM for the men’s golf committee was held on Monday evening, which saw Mick Kiley elected to continue on for another 12 months as captain. James McLean comes on as vice-captain, Ken Gregory as secretary, Rob Merrett as handicapper and Andrew Petersen, Tony Ford, Luke Merritt, Rick Rundell-Gordon and Rob West as committeemen.
If any golfer has any issues, please don’t hesitate to contact one of the committee members and if your concern is of a more serious note, the issue must be put in writing for the committee to deal with.
MURRAY DOWNS LADIES
The annual meeting of the women’s golf and the presentation of yearly trophies was held at the Murray Downs Golf & Country Club on Wednesday.
Captain Mag Kiley will take on the position for a third term and thanked all the members and sponsors for their support of the club over the last 12 months. Special mention was made to the fact that this was the first year following Covid that all tournaments and special events were able to take place.
Georgina Douglas had a very consistent year and took out the golfer of the year prize, with Lynne Bishop also being awarded the Donnington Cup winner, Suzanne McLellan now holds the medal of medallist’s title and Jan Butcher won the Anniversary Cup. The Saturday star is Sarah Clark, four ball knockout titleholders are Lois Coady and Bev Holt, while Jenny Lynas is the singles knockout winner.
Seventy-five ladies enjoyed playing the modified Downs course on Wednesday – this is a shortened version of the course and handicaps are adjusted accordingly.
Jenny White was the star of the day, scoring an impressive 42 points from her 27 handicap, to win the C Grade competition from the ever improving beginner Kerry McDonald, who scored (36) 39 points.
In Division 1, Barb Cadd (20) and Michelle Holt (18) both scored 39 points, with the former successful in the count back, while in Division 2, it was Glenda Coulter (22) on 36 points who also survived a count back, with Barb Clark (21) runner-up.
Kath Brennan scored 38 points to lead the ball pool, while the next best on 37 points were Maralyn Morrison, Annette Lavey and Eilleen Morath. Jenice Krahnert, Julie Overall, Virginia Allen and Lyn Billing hit the most accurate shots to the par 3’s and took home the nearest the pin awards.
Michelle Holt (25) 41 points was the Division 1 winner on Saturday, with 41 points, with Marg Moore’s score of 38 points from her 19 handicap the next best. In Division 2, Barb Clark (28) 38 points and Eilleen Morath (27) 37 points were next best. Jenice Krahnert, Janelle Hogan, Sarah Clark and Ruth McAlister won the nearest the pin prizes.
Mag Kiley (17) 42 points and Wendy Talbot (43) 40 points were Sunday’s winners, with both these competitors also scoring a nearest the pin prize. Juniors Mabel Spitty and Phasinee Chaiyasit collected balls with 37 points.
