Eleven players (who obviously hadn’t checked the program) turned out for a stroke competition on Saturday. The winner was Matt Willis (again!) with a net 69. Runner up was David “Robbie” Robinson with a net 72. All of the other players probably had to take their shoes and socks off to add up their scores.
The Mars Bars went to Richard “Pickles” Matz whose day must have been horrendous.
The annual Russell Nichols trophy was held on August 20. Mark “Mouldy” Millward won the competition comprehensively with a fine display of power and control to score 36 stableford points in cold windy conditions. As a comparison the best score from the rest of the field was 32 points. Mouldy’s score could have been a couple points better if not for some inexplicably missed short putts.
Golf Australia is running this competition in conjunction to the Australian Open. Any 9 hole score recorded between July 1 and September 30 and submitted to GolfLink will count as an entry to the competition. The committee has decided to play a 9 hole competition in lieu of the Mulligan competition until September 30.
The final qualifying round was played on Saturday with a few significant changes to to the standings taking place. The top 4 qualifiers in each grade playoff in match play for the title. In A grade David “Jack” Webster scored a red hot 79 to reduce his 2 game tally by 12 strokes coming from outside the top 4 to take number 1 position on a count back from Pat Hallion. The hapless Mark “Mouldy” Millward has thus been relegated to 5th and will have to be content competing for the Plate. Some of you may recall that I predicted Pat Hallion as a likely champion this year and he is well placed to prove me right. It should be noted though, that all A grade finalists have won the title previously and in the cut & thrust of match play anything could happen.
In B grade, Matt Willis has put in 2 good final rounds to take the number 1 spot from Andy Phillips on a count back. Don’t write Andy off because his steady play can wear down opponents in match play. Richard “Pickles” Matz & Philip “Tommo” Thomson make up the numbers in B grade.
C grade appears to be a 3 way tussle and the mercurial Peter Weiss, although qualifying 3rd, will be suited by the match play format.
BURRA GOLF CLUB CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS 2022
Best four qualifiers in each grade match play. Non qualifiers to play off in plate handicap match play]
Eight men played on Tuesday and three of them had reasonable scores. David “Robbie” Robinson and David “Jack” Webster scored handicap equaling 36 stableford points. One of them would have won on a countback (this information has not been passed on to your corespondent). Richard “Pickles” Matz was third with 35 points.
Saturday’s winner, Neil Webster, took the Mars Bar with a meager 21 points. This has been referred to ASADA.
Fouteen golfers voted early leaving the afternoon free for golf. Neil Webster score 36 points to win the day, narrowly holding off Matt Opperman on 35. The numbers were swollen by 2 Victorian visitors and their wives with Sandy Murray from Maffra finishing 3rd with 33 points. The less said about the remaining scores the better.
Peter Weiss took the Mars Bar with a score that makes it hard to believe he played the whole 18 holes.
Two visiting ladies played to add a bit of tone to the day.
David “Robbie” Robinson showed a return to top form with 40 stableford points on Tuesday to win comfortably. Andy Phillips was runner up with a respectable 38 points. Chris “Critta” Waters & David “Jack” Webster also broke their handicaps with 37 points each.
Sadly the scores fell away sharply after this and Richard “Pickles” Matz & Michael Shepley contested the Mars Bar with just 26 points each.
The 2nd qualifying round of the club championships was played on Saturday. There was some movement and some consolidation amongst the contenders. Three players who missed the 1st round played and they have the opportunity to qualify in the 2 remaining rounds in June.
The only player who played in round 1 but missed round 2 was Matt Opperman who is no doubt confident in qualifying easily after his impressive 1st round. Pat Hallion has played another good round of 82 while David “Robbie” Robinson also scored 82 an improvement on his first round. Robbie lies equal 2nd with Mark “Mouldy” Millward whose game was not suited to the wind but returned an 86.
In B grade, colourful local identity, Philip “Tommo” Thomson got swept from the number 1 spot by Andy Philips. Andy rattled in an 85 while Tommo slumped to a 96. Chris “Critta” Waters missed an opportunity to move past Tommo & Pickles with an 11 on hole 7.
C grade has only 2 players with 2 rounds so you C graders have haven’t shown up yet get off your backsides and have a go at qualifying.
Scores To Date
NAME
H’CAP
Grade
7-May
14-May
11-Jun
18-Jun
best 2
Pat Hallion
8
A
83
82
165
Mark Millward
8
A
84
86
170
David Robinson
9
A
88
82
170
Gus Wenzel
9
A
91
85
176
Matt Opperman
8
A
80
David Webster
8
A
91
Andrew Phillips
15
B
91
85
176
Phil Thomson
12
B
89
96
185
Richard Matz
14
B
94
92
186
Chris Waters
14
B
97
93
190
Peter Rundell
15
B
100
103
203
Matt McAuley
19
B
93
Trevor Maxted
21
C
93
98
191
Peter Weiss
20
C
95
109
204
Michael Shepley
23
C
107
Ben Dunstan
26
C
107
Handicap Results
Andy Phillips won the handicap event with a net 70 while Robbie was runner up with net 73.
Peter Weiss again demonstrated his ineptitude in stroke rounds taking home the Mars Bar.
Former club champion Matthew ”Oppy” Opperman is determined to stamp his authority back on this title, taking a 5 stroke lead over the field with 80 off the stick in the first qualifying round on Saturday. Pre race favourites Patrick Hallion and Mark ”Mouldy” Millward share second place with 85. Colourful local identity Philip “Tommo” Thomson leads B Grade and big “BigTrev” Maxted leads C Grade.
Standings by grade
NAME
H’CAP
Grade
7-May
Matt Opperman
8
A
80
Pat Hallion
8
A
83
David Robinson
9
A
88
Gus Wenzel
9
A
91
Phil Thomson
12
B
89
Andrew Phillips
15
B
91
Richard Matz
14
B
94
Chris Waters
14
B
97
Peter Rundell
15
B
100
Peter Weiss
20
C
95
Trevor Maxted
21
C
93
Ben Dunstan
26
C
107
It is early days yet with 3 more rounds to play. With 4 players to qualify for match play in each grade C grade is still a man short. The second round was played today so we look forward to seeing the progress in the next few days.
Pat Hallion won today’s stableford in a 3 way count back defeating Philip “Tommo” Thomson & the congenial Neil Webster. Neil took an unbeatable lead in the first 9 only to fritter it away on the run home. Pat & Tommo’s cards were very similar with the count back going down to the last 6 holes.
Paul Smedley collected the Mars Bar for his trip home to Denmark.