Murray Downs Men
BRENTON Halligan showed the rest of the field a clean pair of heals following last Saturday’s Stableford competition at Murray Downs.
Halligan, playing off his daily handicap of 13, compiled 43 points to easily record the day’s best score to take out Division 2 honours.
The next best score from the day was handed in by Colin Stewart (13) from Devil Bend with 39 points to get the runner-up’s prize in this division.
Division 1 was taken out by Shane Ingram (6), also with 39 points, from Scott Mathiske (5) with 38 points, while Stephen Cameron (21) was the best in Division 3 with 38 points ahead of Gary Slater (23) on 35 points.
Five points was the magical number required in the ball rundown, with some on this number missing out through the countback system.
The nearest the pins went to Daniel Cruickshank on the 2nd, Mick Kiley on the 5th, Graham McLellan on the 11th and Brenton Halligan topped off a good day by being the closest on the 15th.
Saturday’s competition was also played in conjunction with the second round of the LJ Hooker Summer Cup.
After the first two rounds, Troy Gnitecki leads with 74 points, from Graeme Cox on 73, followed by Justin Thompson, Colin Mewburn, Chris Merritt and Johannes Engelbrecht all on 72 points and another three players only one point further adrift at 71 points.
With only one round to play, which will be on March 4, the final result will go to the wire.
On Sunday, the competition was again Stableford, from the gold tee blocks and being played in two divisions, where Mick Burns (21), playing in Division 2, recorded the day’s best score of 38 points, just ahead of Mathew Filbin (19) who finished with 37 points.
Tyrone Parkinson (13) is steadily bringing his handicap down by being the best in Division 1 with 37 points, from Graeme Mathiske (11) with 36 points.
Other players required at least 34 points to get a ball, while the NTPs went to Daniel Cruickshank on the 2nd, Joel Travaglia on the 5th, Ross McFarlane on the 11th and Ian Gammon on the 15th.
Thursday last week the daily competition was against par in three divisions, where Gary Slater (23) was the best in Division 3 with four up, slightly ahead of Barry Caccianiga (31), who finished at three up.
The countback system decided the winner of Division 2, when both Greg Weybury (21) and Shane Kelly (2) both finished at one up, with Weybury getting the nod in his favour, while in Division 1, it was taken out by Ken Gregory (7) with two up, from Doug Grant (7) on one up.
Scores of one down and better were required in the ball rundown, while with the NTPs, they went to Graham McLellan, Gerard Moloney, Chris Merritt and Doug Grant on holes 2, 5, 11 and 15, respectively.
Up-and-coming junior golfer Noah Starrs recorded the day’s best score in Tuesday’s medley competition against par, with six up from his handicap of 19, to take out Division 1 from Mark Paech (20) from The SGA GC, who finished at one up.
Karen Mitting (35) from Helenvale GC was the best in Division 2 with one up, just ahead of Andrew Ferguson (30), who finished square with the card. Robert Frazer (22) from Green Acres led the ball competition with one up, which went down to scores of one down.
Frazer topped off a good day by taking out the NTP on the 11th hole, as did David Bourne on the 5th.
The second round of the WRDGA summer pennant was played at Deniliquin last Sunday, where Murray Downs took on Rich River Green, and Deniliquin hosted Barham. Murray Downs went down to Rich River Green 2½ to 4½, and Deniliquin beat Barham 6 and 1.
This week the matches will be played at Barham, with Barham up against Rich River Blue and Murray Downs doing battle against Deniliquin.
After the first two rounds, the ladder has Deniliquin on top, followed by Rich River Green, Murray Downs, Rich River Blue and Barham.
The 2023 Murray Downs Seniors tournament will be held on Monday and Tuesday, February 27 and 28. Entries are coming in very quickly, and at the time of writing these notes, it was at near capacity.
Murray Downs Women
JOAN Foster and Lois Heil play their winter golf at Lakeside, but in the summer, they adjust their game admirably to be very competitive on the grass greens at Murray Downs.
On Wednesday, they proved their adaptability by winning the foursomes event with a score of 70 net from their combined handicap of 38.
Second-placegetters were Maralyn Morrison and Lynne Lawry with 72 net, with Sue Davis and Barb Cadd next best on 74.5 net.
Avis Shipsides and Marie Cruickshank, Eilleen Willox and Jude Simmonds and Faye Palmer and Judy McMahon all scored 75.5 to lead the ball pool.
On Saturday, Rhonda Barrow (23) posted the winning score of 36 points, followed by inform Dione Heppell (9) and Virginia Allen (23), both 35 points.
Maralyn Morrison and Claris Bourne collected nearest the pin prizes.
Dione Heppell (9) continued her excellent form on Sunday with 38 points to win from Barb Clark (27) 36 points.
