MURRAY DOWNS MEN
LAST Saturday’s competition at Murray Downs was a 4BBB Stableford event, with 47 pairs of men and 25 pairs of ladies taking part – along with a huge contingent of green fee players, who were enjoying the magnificent layout.
The men’s competition was taken out by the father and son combination of Stuart and Koby McMillan with 49 points – of which Koby claimed he scored 42 of them.
Runners-up were the pair of John Tripodi and Joey Higgins with 47 points, ahead of John Webb and Rob Merrett who finished third by way of the countback system.
The magical marker required to be eligible for a golf ball was 42 points, while the nearest the pins went the way of, Andrew Gilchrist on the second, Wayne Wisby (Barham) hit it very close on the fifth, Mark Grant hit it closest on the 11th and Jackson Quirk was the closest on the 15th.
Gilchrist also took out the eagle’s nest on the seventh hole to go with his nearest-the-pin prize on the second.
This Saturday brings the first round of the men’s club championships and will be followed by the second round on Sunday.
With a number of quality players all on very low handicaps, it should be a shootout between the 2021 champion James McLean, two-time winner Stuart McMillan, multiple title winners Dallas Free and Lindsay Watts – along with Luke Merritt, Daniel Cruickshank, Spencer McKenzie, Ash Free and Andy Graham.
The final two rounds will be played on November 12 and 13.
On Sunday, a field of 54 men enjoyed a Stableford competition off the short Downs course. With the adjustments to handicaps because of the shorter course, division 1 was from handicaps of +6 out to 7 and division 2 started from handicaps of 8 and outwards.
Division 1 was taken out by a visitor from the Maffra Golf Club in Nathan Wallace (1) with a score of 39 points, ahead of Jason Perry, who was playing from his lowest handicap ever of 7, by way of the countback system.
Hugh Thompson (19) recorded the day’s best score of 47 points and took out division 2 from Jason Baird (9) who finished with 42 points.
Other players required at least 36 points to be in the hunt for a ball, meanwhile the nearest the pins went to Andrew Cameron on the second, David Bourne on the fifth, Ian Gammon on the 11th and Andrew Spitty on the 15th.
Last Thursday, the competition was against “par” and was played across three divisions. Division 1 wad taken out by Jonny Hirst (9) with four up, ahead of Wayne Wisby (9) from Barham with three up.
John Tripodi (16) hit some good form with a score of four up, to take out Division 2, ahead of Gary Wilkes (15) at three up, while in Division 3, the countback system came into play to separate Ken Veale (25) and Geoff McDonald (36), who both finished on two up, with Veale coming out on top.
Scores of square and better were required for a ball, while the nearest the pins went to Stephen Matthews on the second and Neville Brady on holes 5 and 11.
On Tuesday, which was the Melbourne Cup Day public holiday, the daily competition was stableford that was played in two divisions. Jack Shannahan (27) recorded the day’s best score of 41 points, to take out division 2 ahead of Daniel Lavey (29), who finished with 36 points. Division 1 went the way of Mathew Collins (9) with 36 points, who was closely followed by Jonny Hirst (10) on 35 points.
The ball rundown went to those with 32 points and better while nearest the pins went the way of Tony Ford, who hit a very lucky shot into the second and Ben Sheridan, who did likewise into the 11th.
After the first two weeks of the Swan Hill Windows & Kitchens nine-hole summer competition, the Cadd Magic team, consisting of Barb Cadd, Carol Wiseman and David and Claris Bourne, have taken the early lead, with 120 points.
They are followed The Frogs, which comprises Josh Ewart, Sean Ewart, Matt Harrop and Nathan Moon on 112, in turn closely followed by Opshop, which is Col and Val Hedwards and John and Anne Webb on 111 and last year’s first series winners, the Golden Oldies on 110.
With six weeks to go, in this pre-Christmas nine-hole competition, all nine teams are still in contention to take out the event. Nathan Moon and Claris Bourne recorded the best scores of 22 points each in week one and in week two, it was John Webb with 23 points and Brad Cockfield with 22 leading the way.
MURRAY DOWNS LADIES
SIXTY-one women teed off in the November Monthly Medal on Wednesday. Sue Davis found the wintry conditions to her liking, scoring 91-24-67 to win the medal and the Division 1 prize, ahead of Division 3 winner Maryann Mathiske, who put together the next best score of 105-35-70.
The runners-up in these two divisions were Mary-Anne Davis (12) 71 and Judy McMahon (32) 74, while 30-marker Jenny Lynas scored a 71 net score to win division 2, ahead of Suzanne Napier with a score of (26) 73 net.
Leading the ball pool were Noni Domaille 71, Lois Carnie 72, Paula Pickert 72, Clare Nalder-Martin 73 and Mag Kiley 73 – while Marg Moore’s accurate putting score of 28 won her the putting competition.
Finally, the nearest-the-pin winners were Bev Holt, Barb Cadd, Clare Nalder-Martin (jackpot), Sue Davis and Jenny Lynas.
Junior golfer Tara Free teamed up with Sue Davis to win the Stableford four-ball on Saturday. Their amazing score of 50 points was one point clear of Laurel Dewhurst and Jenny Lynas, while the next best, on 48, were Joan Foster and Deb Watson, who were closely followed by Wendy Talbot and Sarah Clark on 47.
Jude Simmonds, Sue Davis, Barb Clark and Suzanne McLellan collected the nearest-the-pin prizes.
Sadie is the newest member of the Spitty family to make her mark on the golf course – and playing off a handicap of 42, Sadie scored a matching 42 points to win on Sunday, ahead of new golfer Deb Patterson (42) on 40 points.
Claris Bourne and Rhonda Barrow hit the most accurate shots to the par threes on the 11th and 15th holes.
