MURRAY DOWNS MEN
THE grand final of the Swan Hill Wholesalers premier league competition was played last Saturday, with the Royal Goat Trackers declared premiers for 2023.
This is the fifth time the Royal Goat Trackers have been successful since the conception of this competition some 7 years ago.
With each team having only five players available, the pressure of playing in the grand final became too much for the Wannabees, going down by 10 points, 98 to 88.
Gaye Legudi went out early on Saturday morning in an attempt to put early pressure on the Goats, but could only muster 25 points, which along with Sue Davis’s 32 and Nadine Cox’s 31, got their score to 88.
Deb Watson scored 22 and Shiela Beard 24, which would not be enough to put pressure on the Goats team, as George Sidorow came in with 34 and both Tony Wilson and Geoff Frame each finishing with 33 for a combined total of 98.
They were followed by Tony Ford with 31 and Graeme Mathiske with 28, giving them the premiership cup and bragging rights for the next 12 months.
Presentations and awards followed a barbecue, with the best player of the series award taken out by Geoff Frame from the Royal Goats with 14.5 points, just ahead of Geoff Brasser who finished with 14 points and Daniel Lavey in third on 11 points.
The leading points scorers over the competition, making up the team of the series were, Geoff Brasser (Royal Capri) with an average score of 37.33, Geoff Frame from the Royal Goats (36.33), Nadine Cox from the Wannabees (36.17), Daniel Lavey of the Mavericks (35.0), Daniel Cruickshank from the Sticky Bandits (35.0), James Beard of Royal Capri (34.83), Jonny Hirst from the Sticky Bandits (34.83) and Mick Kiley from the Mallee Bulls (34.83).
Congratulations must go to the Royal Goat Trackers and thanks to all the players who made the competition successful.
In the daily competition, the best score of the day was 42 points, which was recorded by Ian Read from his handicap of 19, with Read taking out Division 2 ahead of Rob West (25) with 37 points.
The evergreen Laurie Shipsides (13) was the best in Division 1 with 38 points, finishing ahead of Dale Rogers (15) with 37 points.
Leigh Paynter led the ball rundown with his 36 points, which went down to scores of 33, while the lucky shots on the par three holes went the way of Sam Rovere, Craig Burrell and Stuart Holt, who hit them on holes 2, 5 and 11, with nobody getting close on the 15th.
Sunday’s competition was a medley event, which was played against par over two divisions.
The best score of the day was a very impressive 5 up, recorded by Division 1 player Hugh Thompson, from his handicap of 15, while the runner up, with an equally impressive score, was Noah Starrs (12) at 4 up.
Division 2 went the way of Anthony Carroll (19) ahead of Mattew Battenally (40), with both players finished at 3 up.
The ball rundown went to scores of square and better, while Steven Emberson hit it closest on the second hole, as did Oliver Rohde on the fifth, Dione Heppell on the eleventh and Scott Mathiske on the fifteenth.
Thursday of last week saw a stableford competition played over two divisions, with the best score of day coming out of Division 1 by Doug Grant (7) with 37 points, ahead of Ian Johansen (12) with 36 points.
Ian Gammon (23) got the nod in his favour to be the best in Division 2 with 36 points, with Rob West (24) finishing as runner up.
Ron Munro, Justin Thompson, James McLean, Rob Hinton and Colin Mewburn all also recorded 36 points, but had to settle with a receiving a ball each, while the nearest the pin shots were hit by James Mclean on the second, Sean Baumgurtel on the fifth, Rob Hinton hit to 46cm on the eleventh to also claim the jackpot and Mark Warren on the fifteenth.
This weekend’s event is the annual two person, 36-hole Ambrose tournament, with over 170 players entered, with separate scratch and nett competitions for both men and women.
MURRAY DOWNS LADIES
JUDY and Andrew Cameron from Cameron’s Fine Jewellers are renowned supporters of local community events and have been long time sponsors of the Gold Links tournament at Murray Downs Golf & Country Club.
Numbers were slightly down for this years’ event, with the imminent return of the grey nomads expected to swell the numbers over the coming weeks.
Jenny Lynas is a renowned big occasion player and this year she combined with Di Atkin to get their names engraved on the perpetual trophy.
Playing off handicaps of 29 and 32 respectively, they scored 1 down in the aggregate against par format.
The runners up were brand new sexagenarian Georgina Douglas and Carolyn Zambelli, with 3 down, while the Sue Davis, Tracey Hooper combination and Jude Simmonds, Chris Warburton pairing scored 6 and 7 down respectively to be the next best.
Chris Warburton hit her tee shot within 150cm to claim the jackpot on the par three 11th hole, while the other nearest the pins went the way of Marg Moore, Shelley Wilkins and Georgina Douglas.
Jill Bath (30) with 34 points led the field on Saturday, with Lynnne Bishop and Melita Sartori, both with 34 points and Jan McEwan on 33 points were the next best.
LAKESIDE LADIES
A STABLEFORD event was played this week, with a heavy start to the day.
Mandy Ackland (26) found the conditions to her liking however, scoring 29 points to win ahead of Laurel Dewhusrt (26) with 28.
The ball rundown, saw Jean Youl win on countback ahead of Deanne Free with 27 points, while the nearest the pins went the way of Jean on the Lake Boga Café third, Deb Kelly on the Lake Boga Marine 7th, Sue Notting on the HEC 12th and Laurel on the J.Foster 18th.
Lakeside will be holding a Pink Day on Wednesday, September 6, so please come along for a fun day of golf.
LALBERT
ON Sunday, August 20, a stroke event was held at the Lalbert Golf Club, with the scratch winner being Charlie Kingwill on 81, ahead of James Meehan Snr. and Maurice Meehan with 82.
The handicap winner was Maurice Meehan with a score of Nett 72, ahead of Charlie Kingwill with a Nett 73 and James Meehan Snr. with Nett 74.
In the nine-hole juniors, Dakota Meehan was the winner with 51, with no nearest the pin winners.
On Sunday, September 3rd, the club will hold the North West Ag 2 person Ambrose day, which is an any combination event.
VETERANS GOLF
A GROUP OF 26 golfers arrived at Murrabit for the Stableford event on Tuesday but golf was unfortunately cancelled after five holes due to the course being unplayable thanks to heavy rain. All golfers enjoyed the pumpkin soup and goodies provided by Pauline and Lee.
The next veterans’ event will be at Tooleybuc on Tuesday, September 19, with a 9am assembly for 9.30am start, with a $35 a head entry, which includes green fees and an Asian buffet lunch.
TOOLEYBUC LADIES
Wednesday, August 23 – Stableford
Winner – Janet Brauer (on countback)
Runner up – Narelle Fraser
Balls down the line – Jill Coburn, Lois Jordan
Nutrien Award – Narelle Fraser
Nearest the pin 1/10 – Narelle Fraser
Nearest the pin 7/16 – Janet Brauer
Trophy Donor – Clarks
NYAH WEST DISC GOLF
ABOUT 30 district Joeys and Cubs descended on Nyah West Golf Club to test their skills in the annual disc golf competition, with 1st Swan Hill Joey Scouts participating, as well as Cubs from Boort, Lake Boga and Swan Hill.
Graham Muir and Dennis Pretty, who originally designed the Disc Golf course with the help of a donation from Swan Hill & Kerang Toyota, showed the cubs and joey scouts what they had to do.
While there was some fierce competition from some, the eventual winners were the 1st Lake Boga Boys Group.
