Although a Stroke event, the Monthly Mug competition is one of our much sought after trophies and a very prestigious one at that.
The winner not only receives the mug, but qualifies for the Gold Mug play offs, which are held in November of each year. One of the traditions associated with the mug the holder is entitled to have any member fill the mug once at the bar. This is rarely acted upon by the various winners and should the mug holder ask the same member twice in the month the entitlement to fill the mug is reversed.
Confirming the popularity of the Monthly Mug, almost 110 starters took up the challenge in last Saturday Reece Plumbing sponsored event. Playing off a handicap of 6, Danny Li completely dominated the high class field with an outstanding 68 nett, two shots clear of his nearest rival. That score was achieved without the assistance of the preferred lies playing condition which has been in place for several weeks previously. To shoot a gross score of 2 over par 74 under those conditions deserves to claim the mug (37 strokes on each 9).
Last Saturday’s competition also saw the introduction of the new three grades system, replacing the previous four grades. From the 34 players in A Grade it was a clean sweep for the Langford family with Paul Langford (5) claiming victory in that grade with 70 from Craig Langford (7) who completed his 18 holes with 71. The same scoring results were recorded in B Grade which attracted 34 starters, where we find Danny Pachos (13) the leading scorer with 70 nett from Paul Hewitt (12) with 71.
There were a few more starters in C Grade with 43 players in the new constituted grade, with that group finding the conditions just that little bit tougher. A countback was required to sort out the results with both Dek Pabian (21) and Billy Newman (17) completing their rounds with 76 nett. Dek eventually claiming the grade win from Billy following the countback process.
With his tee shot finishing just 127cm from the cup, Richard Maguire (17) claimed the Pro pin on the 1st and for those who are wondering, yes he did make the birdie putt. Allan Donaghey (13) claimed the 6th with 277cm, Bob Wicks (19) the 10 with 138cm, Tony Martin (6) the 17th with 505cm. On the 4th hole John Dahl (7) put his 2nd shot within 413cm from the pin to claim the prize allocated for that hole. Players with a score of 77 nett on a countback or better earned themselves a Pro ball. Obviously the hole-in-one jackpot has not gone off for a while and now stands at the maximum payout of $1000.
Summer Consistency Trophy
Despite the fact that the Bendigo Bank Summer Consistency Cup was reduced from 8 to 5 rounds (best 4 scores to count) the series maintained a high rate of interest amongst all players who contested all five rounds. In the end it was Brett McConnell who claimed the overall win and the trophy with 148pts accumulated; r/up was Billy Darby with 142.
In the four grades which were in place throughout the series, the winners were in A Grade Tim Bartlett 140pts; B Grade John Frame 139; C Grade Jesse Langford 139; D Grade Craig Heaslip 120. Congratulations to all the winners. Hopefully in any future series the weather will not intervene and we can complete the entire eight rounds.
Ray Hopwood