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Grafton District Golf
One sure way to feature in the results of any Ambrose event, is in the construction of your team, especially in a 4 person Ambrose competition.
Last Saturday’s memorial Ambrose was in honour of the memory of Johnno Johnson, which was sponsored by his family, and especially a great mate of Johnno’s Bruce Wotton. Thirty three teams, (130 players) attacked the course in glorious weather conditions, on a course that could use some rain.
Only the single shot separated the top 3 placegetters with the best score being a nett 57. It was no surprise that was the score which was produced by the team comprising of Kahu Tweedie (31) Jon Bellamy (3) Paul Grieve (8) and Leon Glynn (30). The r/up position was taken out by the foursome of Theo Agiannittis (11), Nick Bryant (21), Paul Danvers (16) and Peter Sinclair (10) with a score of 57 3/4. It was only fitting the team that finished in the 2nd r/up spot comprised of Tony Johnson (12) and Bruce Wotton (17), two of the principal sponsors of the event, together with Scotty Davis (7) and Keith Worthing (20) with a well earned score of 58 nett. A team only put together Saturday morning.
Seven teams with a score of 60 or better achieved a pro-ball for their efforts. In the various nearest the pin awards, Mark Dougherty won the Pro Pin on the 1st with a tee shot finishing just 130 cm away. David Gilbert took the 6th, finishing just 256cm away. Brian Napper demonstrated exceptional skill to put his tee shot just 382cm from the cup on the new 10th hole. Even more remarkable, he was successful with his putt to record an unlikely birdie. Especially after hearing of some horrendous stories with putting due to an extremely difficult and unpopular pin placement. Rod Masen easily tamed the 17th, his tee shot the best on the day, finishing just 326cm from the target for which he received the NTP trophy for that hole.
Johnno Johnson was a remarkable character in our Club history, and most players who contested last Saturday’s event have very fond memories of a man who served the Club unselfishly for many years. Our thanks to his family for allowance to remember him in this fashion. Two of our knockout competitions are now well under way with several players already progressing to the 2nd round of both series. In the Singles knockout, sponsored by Grafton Undercover Storage, Paul Grieve, Simon Loadsman and Scotty Davis have progressed on. Those players who have not played their 1st round matches have until 11th June to do so.
Three teams have progressed to the 2nd round of the Grafton Glass 2 Man Ambrose from the 16 combinations who qualified for the knockout. They are Paul Ensby/John Hough, Tony Blackadder and Jon Bellamy with Dennis Pye and Chris Wheelahan the other 1st matches in this series have to be completed by 18th June.
This coming Saturday will be the qualifier for our 3rd knockout series, the T.G.I.F 2 Ball knockout with 16 pairs to qualify for the main event. Murray’s Bobcats will be providing the trophies for the event of the day.
Players should be aware that on the following Saturday (28th May) the event will be a 18 hole Mixed American Foursomes, the final component of the Annual Ladies May Tournament. Entries for this event are very strong even at this early time, which highlights the importance and popularity of this particular tournament. Should any of our men golfers not have a partner for this event, still put your names in, and no doubt the tournament organisers will arrange a partner for you. A C Small Maxwell & Co have been an important part of this mixed event for over 20 years, an association with ladies golf which will undoubtedly continue on for many years to come.
Due to the ladies tournament next week (26th May) there will not be the normal Thursday competition for men. However the normal mid-week competitions will resume 31st May 2016. Ray Hopwood