Portarlington Golf Club – December 14, 2017

WITH the festive season now right on our doorstep, the club is busy making various arrangements for the influx of visitors that are welomed to the club in various capacities. One very popular attraction is the Christmas Eve Dinner, which is almost sold out already, and the club runs a Courtesy Bus daily from Boxing Day until January 27 to ferry patrons to and from the club. Our Barwon Cleaning Supplies ProAm is on February 6, and entries have just opened, so get in quick if you want to be a part of it, because places fill up fast.

Tuesday December 5, Men’s Stableford
A big day for the men’s Christmas lunch day, with 162 men playing and enjoying the festivities; 40 points was a great score for the day, and our top three all managed that score, although it was only Bob Dalton who could get Trophy of the Day on a countback. He also topped C Grade by a point from Wayne Pavletich, Mark Anderson’s 40 got him the A Grade honours from a 38 by Ross Murrihy, Peter Solohub’s 40 won him B Grade from Peter O’Neill’s 38, and a 38 by Ian Davis won him D Grade by a point from Darren Orr. The NTPs were scored by Ross Murrihy, Peter Kavanagh and Ron Howell, and Kane McKenzie hit the longest drive.

Thursday December 7, Men’s and Ladies’ Stableford
I will report on the Thursday comp instead of the Wednesday Ladies, who held a social Christmas breakup day instead of their normal comp. The Thursdays continue to be a very popular day for golfing members, confirmed by the 100 players that turned out for the day. In the men’s18-hole event, Neil Ryan came out tops with 42 points, edging out John Oldfield by a point. The best lady was Jacky Rowe with a score of 36, beating Christine Watson by a point. In the combined 11-hole event, Brian Cook headed the ledger with 26, a point clear of Bill Reid and John Bugge. The pinshots were struck by Captain John Bowman, Rod Gurney and Norm Evans.

Saturday December 9, Men’s Open four-man Ambrose
This annual event is very popular with the men, not so with the ladies who missed out on their Saturday golf. A strong entry of 164 men combined in teams of four, with a spectacular net score of 56¼ being recorded by David Webb (Barwon Valley), Neil and Shane van Oosten and Jay McKenzie (Barwon Valley) to win the day, very closely followed by Torquay’s Kevin Leeman, Wes Bumpstead, Paul Horne and Glenn Mifsud who carded a 56⅜. Both the leading teams teed off in the afternoon, the best morning team being our own Anthony Swain, Skeeta Howard, Dave McNamara and Sean Walton with 56⅞.

Coming Events
Saturday December 16, Men’s and Ladies’ Stableford
Tuesday December 19: Men’s 4BBB Par
Wednesday December 20: Ladies’ Stableford
Thursday December 21: Men’s and Ladies’ Stableford (11- and 18-hole comps)