By Ron Hottes
The 2025 Warburton Golf Club Championships are now complete.
Open Championship:
After winning his first title last year, Michael Batten played two solid opening rounds to take a large lead into the decider. Although it proved to be his worst round, Michael still prevailed to win overall by 4 shots. The chasing pack saw 11-time champion Paul Mason and previous Open winner Clinton Toohey tie for 2nd, with both recording solid 3-round scores to just fall short. The Nett Open champ is Seth Spenceley, the most improved player in the Club over the last 12 months and only 19. He won that title easily.
B-Grade:
Chris Leighton finished a comfortable winner here and was never threatened at any time. Unfortunately for Chris, he would have won the Nett as well, in this division but you can’t win both the Open and the Nett. Therefore Simon Spenceley was the fortunate recipient of that ruling, and is the B-Grade Nett winner, just one shot in front of Angus Hall and Lee Creedy.
C-Grade:
Scott Atkinson won by the prodigious margin of 18 strokes. Jodie Burge and Andy McMath formed the chasing pack and although Scott would have easily won the Nett title too, at least that honour went to his mate, Jodie Burge, who just ousted Tex Van Der Kooi.
Ladies Titles:
Meredith Nursey, our popular President, won her ‘umpteenth’ Ladies’ Open title, shooting a fine Nett 67 in her last round to put the result beyond doubt. The B-Grade winner is the hard-working Georgie Houniet, and Deborah grabbed the Nett title here. Both were popular wins for two popular members. In C-Grade, more popular members came out on top. Hard-working committeeperson, Merilyn Macdonald easily won the Gross honour, but Trish Eldridge took home the prize for the Nett honour.
Junior Title:
The junior champion is Manny Humphris, Manny played so well in the first two rounds, he scared off the opposition and only had to beat the course on the last day and of course, he did.
Seniors Title:
Finally, in the Seniors Grade, that old stager Noel Cross, blew away the rest with two fine rounds, including a sub-80 on the last day. Crossy is the Open champ, but Simon Spenceley took home the Nett Senior title this year.
Regular results:
The V.V.V’s:
Another smallish field contested for the vouchers on this day, and Sally-Anne Clark, after a great start, amassed 19 points to win. Suzanne Barratt was the runner-up (on a countback from Michelle Jordon), both girls with 18 solid points. Sally-Anne achieved an NTP on the 3rd hole and followed it up by draining a long putt for a birdie and 2 for 5 points.
Wednesday 26 February, Alternate Shot Pairs:
This is really just Foursomes, loyal readers, which is a demanding event because if you play a shot that puts you in trouble, it’s your partner who has to extricate himself from it. Not much extricating occurred between the pair of Mario DeVincentis and Kevin Conway. In the end, their Nett 67 really had the rest of the field covered. Deborah and Seth Spenceley grabbed the runner-up prize with a respectable Nett 70. The ball rundown reached Nett 72 only. The 3 NTPs went to Mr Conway (3rd), David Hatt (9th) and Neil ‘Mr Scotland’ Leckenby (12th).
Twilight:
With pleasant weather conditions for golf being in evidence, there were plenty of good scores in evidence as well. The best of those scores was achieved by Troy Veenker, who posted a fine 23 points. This proved impossible to beat, although Georgie Houniet’s 21 points was also a result to be proud of. The balls reached down to 19 only. The three NTPs on offer went home with John Wilson, a welcome visitor from Yering Meadows G.C, (3rd), ‘Bomber’ Campbell (5th) and Benny Lever (9th).
Saturday 1 March, Stroke and Monthly Medal:
The March Medal has been claimed by Darryl Ward, who recorded a fine Nett 63. This polished performance also provided Dazza with the B-Grade voucher. The runner-up was Captain Whitehead with his best result in a while, a Nett 68. In A-Grade, Michael Pinkster won with a Nett 67. Well done, La Pinkster. The multi-talented Tim McKail was the runner-up with a Nett 68. Mick Eldridge took home the C-Grade prize with a fine Nett 68. The runner-up in this grade was Rob Ferguson returning a solid Nett 70. In A-Grade the balls extended down to 74; also in C-Grade-but in B-Grade, it was only down to Nett 72. In the Ladies’ results, President Meredith returned a superb Nett 68. Georgie Houniet posted a good Nett 72, to take home the B-Grade voucher; and Merilyn Macdonald posted a Nett 80 to be the C-Grade winner. Finally, the NTP winners were Peter Fox (3rd), Lee Creedy (5th), Jodie Burge (9th), Michael Batten (12th) and Meredith Nursey for a fine tee-shot on the tough 15th.
