Despite being a long weekend, a healthy field of almost 120 players contested the City Centre Apartments June Monthly Mug last Saturday. Several visitors from Clubs such as Nelson Bay, St. Georges Basin, Mt Coolum and Coffs Harbour helped bolster the number of players taking part. A Grade player, Simon Loadsman (7) was the early Club house leader with a excellent score of 70 nett, a position he held for most of the day. However David Gilbert (18), playing in almost the last group, if not the last, came in with a 69 nett to claim the overall victory, relegating Simon to the win in A Grade. Simon’s down fall was due largely to a unhelpful disaster on the par 3, 1st hole, but that should not detract from David’s gross score of 87 hits, to record his popular win. A round that included 6 pars and 1 birdie. The r/up in A Grade was Matt McKee (2) with 71, which equates to a one over par 73 gross. A Coffs Harbour visitor, Jay Kirkman (12), took the honours in B Grade with a 74 from Grafton’s Chris Miller (10) who claimed the r/up spot with 75 following a countback. Only the one shot separated the place getter’s in C Grade with Phil Tarrant (16) eventually winning with a 70 from Aaron Hancock (18) on 71, again on a countback from several players. The winning score in D Grade was 73 with a countback required to determine the runner-up spot which eventually went to Matt Katon (22) on 74 from James Hough (26), the unlucky player to miss out, that’s despite some excellent advice from Tony Blackadder, regarding a remedy for avoiding the odd shank. It was good to see Georgie Cowan make a welcome return to Grafton Golf, but it was his son Ashley (9) who brought fame and fortune to the family with his 2nd shot on the par 4, 14th hole finishing just 65cm from the cup to claim the Eyecare Plus Optometrists nearest the pin trophy for that hole. Darryl Toms 2nd shot on the Ralf’s Mechanical 13th sponsored hole finished a mere 87cm away to claim that trophy. In other nearest the pin trophies, on the 1st sponsored by Mark Harvison, Dan Hillier was the best, 268cm away. Simon Loadsman 198cm on Advantage Hospitality supplies and Clarence Valley Window Tinting 6th hole. The Hanks Kitchen nearest the pin on the 10th was awarded to Bob Turns with his tee shot finishing a remarkable 60cm away with Adam Carroll claiming the 17th 181cm. The 2nd shot into the par 4, 4th Solar Plumbing hole was easily the best of the day finishing 54cm away, awarded to Ian Langley. Tim Newsome claimed the Reece Plumbing Centres trophy with his 2nd shot on the par 4, 8th 675cm away. To claim a pro-ball on the day all you needed was 76 or better on a countback. The course proved to be fairly difficult for the Midweek players with the best score on Tuesday being achieved by Paul Ricketts with 39 points from Ron Phillips and Brian Scanlon on 37. Pro balls went down to just 29 points. In the Thursday competition the course played a little easier with three players finishing on 40 points, John Sydenham, Clint Corbett and Peter Johnson. Proballs went down to 32 points on a countback. There are still 3 or 4 matches remaining to be completed in the first round of the Grafton Undercover Storage singles knockout. The original compliance date for that series was extended due to the washed out play a week or so ago. However, regardless of that, the 2nd round of this knockout series must be completed no later that 23rd July. Next Saturday we revert back to Stableford play with Club Member, Bob Pike, providing the trophies for the day. Bob has been associated with the Club for more years than he would admit to, including five years as Hon. Secretary, back in the mid 80’s. There is no doubting ‘Pikeys” commitment to the Club for all those years and his sponsorship is really appreciated by our members. Players are also reminded that the mixed/medley golf competitions originally scheduled for 5th June will now be held on Sunday 26th June. The event, sponsored by Coles Supermarket will take the form of a 2BBB Stableford and will require fresh nominations. Ray Hopwood