MURRAY DOWNS MEN’S
THERE was a large field of 98 players on Thursday last week, with everyone looking ahead at the rain forecast and taking the opportunity to play in the beautiful sunshine before it became soggy underfoot.
Three Melbourne golfers were in the top 10, but none of them could beat Graham McLennan (12), who found a touch of form with 39 points to come home as the overall winner on the day.
Doug Grant and Jonathan Hirst, both playing off seven, finished second and third with 36 and 35 points in A grade, behind a visitor from the Peninsula Kingswood Golf Club.
After a recent string of flagged rounds, Christy Merritt found form again to finish third in B grade with 38 points behind Graham, but also behind returning local Andrew Bethune (15) with 38 points who was in town for the weekend.
Bruce Wilson (18) and Ron Munro (21) were the members amongst the places in the C grade with 37 and 35 points, while Allan Lehman (34), Michael Pickert (26) and Garry Steinmann (38) were the trifecta in D grade with 39, 38 and 36 points in that order.
On Anzac Day, 68 players teed it up after the early morning remembrances – lest we forget.
The players who got out earlier would have seen the best of the conditions as the rains started to tumble later in the day.
Brenton Cruickshank (7) and Luke Wilson (6) both scored 40 points, with Brenton winning on a countback, while Brad Cockfield (12) finished third in A grade with 39 points.
Eugene Dunn (15) was the only player in B grade to beat his handicap with 39 points, while Noah Sherlock (34) with 39 points, Lachie Carrol (20) with 39 points and Wally Grant (27) with 37 points were the winners in C grade.
While the cloud cover looked heavy with rain on Saturday morning, 83 players still came out for a hit.
George Sidorow (10) scored 42 points, which was almost exactly the number of millimetres of rain that fell the night before.
All were happy to see some of the local “Cockies” get good rain after sowing, so everyone had smiles on their faces.
Dave Hogan (10) and Mark Robertson (8) both finished behind George in A grade with 37 points each, while Bob Burns (14) with 39 points, Dale Smith (11) with 36 points and Stuart Holt (13) also with 36 points filled up the complement in B grade.
Col Hedwards (16) scored 39 points to win C grade, with Gary Slater (23) scoring 37 points and Mick Burns (18) 36 points.
George almost topped off his overall win with a near miss on the 15th, hitting his tee shot to 57 centimetres.
On the PGA tour last weekend there was a team competition at the Zurich Classic, where pairs of players competed in a 4-Ball Best Ball format.
To get in the spirit of things, Murray Downs had a 4BBB format on Sunday against Par, with congratulations going to Robert Forster (7) and Brian Hinton (15), who finished streaks ahead of the pack with a spectacular 11-up final score.
Chris Wilson (26) and Jake Budde (25) took out second place on a countback with eight ahead of the pairing of Jamie (29) and Adrian Knee (23).
Luke (5) and Harper Wilson (10) also followed up their recent Ambrose victory with fourth place with seven, with Harper surely getting sick of winning, having been mentioned in almost every golf report in the month of April
Notable mention also to Steven Emberson who hit it to 92 centimetres on the 11th.
A small group of golfers took to the course on Tuesday this week for the par competition, with Andrew Spitty returning to Murray Downs after a short time away to take out first place with six birdies and three bogies on his way to 69 off the stick.
John Tripodi finished just behind Andrew even against par.MURRAY DOWNS LADIES
THE annual club championships are on the agenda at the Murray Downs Golf & Country Club for the next three weeks, with the participants able to choose whether to play on either Wednesdays or Sundays.
Hot favourites to take out the 2025 title are the Spitty sisters, Olive and Mabel, with 15-year old Olive, who plays off a handicap of one, recently returning from the Australian Junior age division championships at Royal Pines, where she took out the title with rounds of 73, 69 and 68.
Mabel, 12, is quickly catching up to her talented sister and plays off a handicap of seven, while Lynne Bishop is not to be discounted, with Lynne investing a lot of time into improving her golf having recently posted some of her personal best scores, while Jo Watts also has the ability to feature in the winner’s list.
Sixty seven women enjoyed an immaculate golf course on Wednesday, with Jan McEwan (32) returning the best score of 40 points to win B grade ahead of Kayla Shadbolt (32) with 36 points and Carol Wiseman (27) with 32 points.
Marg Moore (20), Maree Thurwood (14) and Shelley Wilkins (22) all scored 37 points to win the prizes on offer in A grade, while the C grade victors were Therese McLennan (36) with 38 points, Deb Watson (39) with 36 points and Mandy McCallum (41) with 34 points on a count back from Jill Brown (35).
Bev Holt scored 37 points and Val Hedwards 35 points to lead the ball pool, which went down to 33 points.
Bianca Brasser, competing in only her third round of competitive golf, claimed the nearest the pin prize on the par 3 second hole, with Tamika Hogan, Maree Thurwood and Mag Kiley claiming the others.MURRAY DOWNS DAD’S ARMY
ON Monday, April 14, members played the back-nine, with Ian Dickson, Ross Cox and Robert Deighton all recording 17 points.
They were followed by Ian Ray, Robert Smith and Gavin Scown on 15 points and Tom Wilkins and Brain Devlin on 14 points.
On Wednesday, April 16, members played the front-nine, with Robert Deighton leading the field home with 18 points.
He was followed by Ian Dickson on 17 points, with Ross Cox, Robert Smith, Tom Wilkins, Barry Bishop and Kevin Maddy on 15 points.
The weekly winner was Robert Deighton with 35 points, ahead of Ian Dickson on 34 points, Ross Cox with 32 points, Robert Smith on 30 points, Tom Wilkins with 29 points and Ian Ray and Brian Devlin both on 26 points.
On Monday, April 21, Rob Deighton won with 19 points, ahead of Rob Smith on 18 points, with Tom Wilkins finishing third with 17 points.
Arthur Graham followed with 16 points, with Barry Bishop and Barry Ingram both finishing on 13 points.
On Wednesday, April 23, Rob Smith and Barry Ingram came home best with 18 points, with the pair followed by Rob Deighton and Ian Ray on 17 points, Kevin Maddy on 16 points, Brian Devlin on 15 points and Ian Dickson, Damian Kelly and Col Hayward on 13 points.
The weekly winner was shared, with Rob Deighton and Rob Smith both finishing on 36 points, ahead of Barry Ingram on 31, Kevin Maddy on 28, Ian Dickson and Brian Devlin on 25 and Barry Bishop on 24 points.
On Monday, April 28, Col Hayward claimed victory with 21 points, ahead of Graeme Bray and Ray Frame on 19 points, Kevin Maddy on 18, Ross Cox on 17, Barry Ingram on 16, John Brereton, Rob Deighton, Barry Bishop and Andy Millar on 15 points and Rob Smith on 13 points.
On Wednesday, April 30, members played a fun day off the short course orange tees, where players could not use their drivers off the tee and could only putt with their drivers on the greens, which proved to be challenge, as the scores showed.
Barry Ingram finished with 15 points, ahead of Rob Smith on 13, and seven members finishing between 12 and nine points.
The weekly winner was Col Hayward on 32 points, ahead of Barry Ingram on 31 points, Ray Frame and Kevin Maddy with 30 points, Barry Bishop with 27 points, Rob Smith on 26 points, Ian Dickson on 24 points, Brian Devlin on 23 points and Damian Kelly with 21 points.
The monthly winner for April was Robert Smith, who took home the tin of fruit.NYAH WEST
COMPETITORS playing in the Heritage weekend Stableford event on Sunday had to contend with a rare course phenomenon – water hazards – following the great rain. The day also coincided with the club’s annual Charity day, with the Woorinen RSL being the beneficiary.
The winners of the Heritage trophies were John Manser for the men and Bev Beasy for the ladies, while the nearest the pins went to Dennis Pretty on the Goodyear Autocare 2nd hole, Andrew Flanagan on both the Nyah West Pharmacy 12th hole and Rutherford Street Tyres 16th hole, while young Ely Dickeson took home the Nutrien Ag/Landmark 15th hole.
Course conditions did not assist players claiming the Country Tracks 4WD Swan Hill Eagles Nest.
This Sunday will be the Monthly Medal against par.
