MURRAY DOWNS MEN’S
2025 Golfer of the Year
THE Golfer of the Year award will be decided in the coming months and this report will commence with a look at who is in contention for the 2025 crown.
The Golfer of the Year is the golfer who accumulates the most points in eligible Saturday competitions throughout the year, with golfers accruing points if they make the top 10, with the first-place finisher receiving 10 points down to 10th place, who is awarded one point.
Troy Gnitecki is leading the field of all local golfers in pursuit of the coveted prize, with 32 points, but is closely followed by the trio of James Downing, Dave Hogan and Oliver Rhode on 26 points.
Other players in the top 10 on the ladder include Brian Hinton, Sebastian Parseghian, Mathew Collins, Tony Ford, Graeme Cox, and Barry Lacey.
The golfer who wins will have the privilege of having their name added to the board with perpetual winner Ross Kenyon, who has won the award more times than he can care to remember.
Stableford – Thursday, August 21
DOUG Grant (9) beat allcomers on Thursday with 41 Stableford points after shooting 76 off the stick.
Doug birdied the first and kept his fine round going all the way to the end to finish on top.
Laurie Shipsides (15) had another good round with 36 points and finished second in A Grade, with Ross Hastings (10) third on 33 points.
The B Grade winners included Gregory Daniels (24) as the only local to feature in the prize money.
Captain Mick Kiley (26) had another 40-point round in C Grade to take out the top spot, with David Wilkins (30) finishing second on 36 points.
4BBB Stableford – Saturday, August 23
FORTY-SIX pairs lined up on Saturday for the 4BBB Stableford competition from the tips.
Everyone got a handicap boost because of the black tees being in use, with Tim and Sam Hoare on handicaps of 36 and 40 respectively streaks ahead of the field, contributing evenly to their enormous haul of 48 stableford points.
Chris Fordham (19) and Eugene Dunn (15) finished outright second on 46 points ahead of the high-powered pairing of Jörgen Leschke (9) and Jimmy McLean (3) on 42 points.
Mitchell Croft (11) and Damian Mangiameli (24) were the last pairing in the prizemoney with 42 points in fourth.
Par – Sunday, August 24
DENNIS Kelly has played five rounds in August and he was back in the winner’s circle on Sunday.
Dennis, playing off 22, found form to beat the field on +4 to take out the overall winners prize on a countback.
In A Grade, Mathew Collins (1) finished first with +1 and Ken Gregory (8) inched out Noah Starrs (1) for second place, with both players finishing even with the card.
B Grade saw some strong scores in the places, with Malcom Talbot (17) finishing in front on +4 ahead of Wayne Such (19) and Dale Smith (12) on +3.
Dennis won C Grade, but Rory Davies (33) wasn’t far behind in second with +3, while Koa Wilson (29) was third on +3 also.
Players were peppering the pins, with Noah Starrs taking out two nearest the pin awards on the second and fifth holes and Jack Cornelissen and Paul Wright winning the prizes for the 11th and 15th holes respectively.
Stableford – Tuesday, August 26
WITH the rain tumbling down on Tuesday, it was surprising to see 24 players still complete their rounds to submit a score.
Well done to Wayne Such (17), who continued his vein of form from Sunday with another good round on 42 points.
John Tripodi (16) finished second on 38 points, while the last player to beat their handicap was Malcolm Talbot (15) in third on 36 points.
MURRAY DOWNS LADIES
WINTER conditions certainly made their presence felt on the last competition day for the season on Wednesday.
Captain Pam Austerberry has just returned from the remnants of a European summer and found the southerly wind and icy showers to her liking with a score of 37 points from her 25 handicap to win Division 1 ahead of Lois Carnie (19) on 34 points.
Melita Sartori (32) and Julie Overall (34) both scored 33 points to collect the main prizes in Division 2, while Anne Webb, Paula Pickert and Mandy McCallum all posted 33 points to lead the ball rundown.
The nearest the pins went to Chris Warburton, Lynne Bishop, Paula Pickert and Tamika Hogan.
On Saturday, Sue Hill and Kelly Mulligan from the Rosedale Golf Club scored 47 points in the fourball competition to win ahead of Jenice Krahnert and Ruth McAlister and Norma Everett and Barb Cadd, both on 46 points.
Sarah Clark won the nearest the pin prize and also led a small field on Sunday with a score of 2-up from her 17 handicap.
The Holts Auto Service Spring Brooch commences next Wednesday.
This competition is held over three weeks with the three iterations of the game, being stroke, Stableford and par.
Points are awarded to the players with the top 10 scores posted on each of the days.
MURRAY DOWNS DAD’S ARMY
ON Monday, August 25, members of Dad’s army played the back-nine, with new member Andrew Ferguson coming in with 22 points to lead the field, followed by Robert Smith on 18 points.
Andrew and Robert were followed by John Brereton on 17 points, Barry Ingram on 16 points, Ian Dickson on 15 points, Kevin Maddy on 14 points, Andrew Millar and Barry Bishop on 13 points, with the rest finishing on 12 points and below.
On Wednesday, August 27, being the last Wednesday of the month, was deemed fun day, with an Ambrose event played.
Play got underway, but just over halfway through the round the weather changed for the worse, with members choosing to abandon play and adjourn to the clubhouse, with no winners declared on the day.
As it was also the last round for month of August, the monthly winner was announced, with Robert Smith on 110 points receiving the tin of fruit ahead of runner-up John Brereton on 106 points.
NYAH WEST
IT was a busy day on the course last Sunday, with the resumption of the junior development program in the morning, then a good rollup of members for the daily Stableford round, with the final of the monthly medal of medals and the final of the Hobson Cup also contested.
Young Eli Dickeson defeated Michael Watson to claim the Hobson Cup, while John Manser successfully held off challengers Michael Watson and Gary Farley to claim the monthly medallist title.
John Manser also won the daily event, scoring 32 Stableford points ahead of Gary Farley on 31 points and Dennis Pretty on 29 points.
Nearest the pins were won by Gary Farley on the Goodyear Autocare 2nd hole, Matt Batten, who returned to the club after a six year absence, claimed the Nyah West Pharmacy 12th hole, with John Manser continuing his day out by winning the Nutrien Ag Solutions 15th hole and the Rutherford Street Tyres 16th hole.
