By Ron Hottes
Final Club Championships results:
The Warburton Golf Club’s 2024 Club Champion is a new face to this iconic title. Clinton Toohey won the title with a gross 217, over 3 rounds. Congratulations Clint. The runner-up was 10-time Champion, Paul Mason, 4 shots behind. In 3rd place, was young tyro, Tim McKail, showing indications that he will be a force to be reckoned with in future years. The A-Grade Nett winner was another future bright prospect in Ryan Smith. His total Nett score of 205 was too slick for all others, as Clint finished 3 shots behind on 208. As mentioned last week, young Seth Spenceley’s 80 in the last round, with a total of 255, saw him declared the B-Grade Champ. Enjoy it while you can, Seth, because clearly, next year he will be competing against the ‘big boys’ in the Open/A division. Seth only won that title by the narrowest of margins, with Steuart Hawke and Lee Creedy hot on his heels (Seth also posted the best Nett result in B, but he can’t win both titles). This allowed Chris Fall to take home the Nett title, one behind Seth finishing on Nett 208. Robert Ferguson is the C-Grade Champion, returning a 3-round gross of 282. Well done, Rob. Jack Sheehan and Pacey Luttgens both tied for 2nd place on 284, but Pacey easily won the Nett event title with a Nett 203, 10 shots ahead of Rob.The Senior’s winner, for the Gross title, is David Hatt, achieving that honour by returning two fine 79s. Great effort, Hatty. The Senior’s Nett title was taken out by none other than Your Loyal Scribe ( Clearly a fluke). The Ladies Championships were concluded at the mid-week event. Results were as follows: Deb Hamment is the B-Grade Champion. Deb is one of the club’s most improved players, and her 3 steady rounds proved that. Great result, Deb. That saffron-smooth Georgie Houniet took out the C-Grade title with 3 great rounds, demonstrating that she is the most improved lady golfer. Merilyn McDonald has won the time-honoured Elva Eddy trophy for posting the best Nett score over the 3 rounds. Club President, Meredith Nursey, is the Open Ladies Champion for the umpteenth time. Great effort, Prez. Thanks to all the ladies for participating, the club hopes to have even more participants next year.
Monday 22 April, V.V.V’s:
The V.V.V’s totalled 6 on this day, as a similar number are away at this time. The clear winner this day was Deb Hamment, who posted a creditable 18 points. Deb seems to regularly collect the top vouchers. Anneliese Duivenvoorden took home the runner-up prize, on a countback, with 16 points. The unlucky loser in that tight countback was Merilyn McDonald, also with 16. There were no NTPs claimed on this day.
Wednesday 24 April, Par:
As said in past articles, Par is a comp that is loved by a few, and hated by many more. A new convert to this demanding event is Dale Horrobin, who recorded a +4 to take home the top prize with very consistent golf for the whole round. He didn’t win it easily though, as he had to survive a Countback over Geoff Sharp, whose back-nine could not match Dale’s. A great result for both men. The ball rundown reached -2. NTPs went home with Max Carvill (3rd), Your Loyal Scribe (5th), Darryl Ward (9th), Alan McDonald (12th) and David Hatt (15th).
Saturday 27 April, Stableford:
With the Club-Championships done and dusted and the pressure off, this old scribe suspected that big scores might result and they did. The biggest score was posted by Noel Cross, recording a solid 38 points. Crossey only won on a countback though, because Ray ‘Happy’ Gilmore also recorded a 38-point result. Great work by both boys. Balls reached 35 and NTP winners were Stuart Patrick (3rd), Liam Kay (5th), Paul Mason (9th), Josh Hin (12th) and Ross Archer, (15th).
The iconic Dick-Leith Matchplay Championships were also held, following the conclusion of the Club Championships. Results were as follows: In the Open event, Michael Batten defeated Paul Mason on the 18th hole after a titanic struggle throughout the whole round. The B-Grade Champion is Seth Spenceley who won over Lee Creedy at the 17th. Also at the 17th, Rob Ferguson won the C-Grade title, overcoming Jack Sheehan in another very tight struggle. Congratulations to all the winners.
