Our 2016 Club and Division Championships are under way with the first round being held last Friday. There were many sad and sorry tales of disappointment and frustrating times on the course. Most of the field of 52 starters encountered trouble with their putting on the day. The leading players after Round 1, although not returning record breaking scores, will head into Round 2 today (Wednesday), confident that they can once again conquer the course conditions. Front runners after Round 1 are 2015 Club Champion Jen Townsend who is tied with Jane Wolfe on 89. Sharyn O’Grady sits in 3rd place on 90, followed by Sue Petty 93 with Jan Patterson and Marianne Mannell both on 94. The bookmaker’s early favourite for Div 2, Shirley A, had a not so pleasant start to her first round when she placed her first shot of the day into the deep bunker on the 1st. The ball remained there for a considerable amount of time, hence giving Shirley a not so welcome double figure score for her first hole of the Championships. Millie Harris is the outright leader of Div 2 on 99 from Liz Fisher (101), Dell Burke (102), with Anna Bidstrup and Sonya Baker both on 104. Div 3 saw Marg Hall jump out of the gates to charge to an early lead on 102, followed by Marilyn-May Powell and Sandra Gleeson both on 105 and Kerry Harding on 109. Last Friday’s Stroke event held in conjunction with the Championships was generously sponsored by Dot Newton. With a fantastic score of 67 nett Margaret Hall was the overall winner. Jane Wolfe (off 20) was the Div 1 winner on 69, Sue Petty placed 2nd on a c/b from Marianne Mannell on 75. Liz Fisher was the winner of Div 2 on 74, followed by Millie Harris on 77 and Anna Bidstrup was 3rd on 78. Div 3 saw Marilyn-May Powell get the c/b ahead of Sandra Gleeson on 73 to claim 1st place and Gail Knell took 3rd place with 80 nett. Last Wednesday’s Stableford event had a great field of 67 starters all vying for the Allure Derma Cosmetic Skin Clinic (Tania Clark) sponsored trophy. Liz Fisher was the star player when she posted a fabulous 40pts. This win also helped Liz over the line to take out the Stephen Donnelly Financial Services monthly aggregate with 75pts. Div 1 winner on Wednesday was Mary Atkins with 33 followed by Janette Blair on 32 and Dot Newton was 3rd with 31 on a c/b. Val Franey was the winner of Div 2 on 33, followed by Kerry Harding and Sharyn Rowles both on 31. Gai Leeson was the winner of Div 3 on 32, Royer Smith was 2nd on 31 and Judy Burt placed 3rd on 29. With the long weekend last Saturday, a smaller than usual number of players entered the day’s competition. Sonya continued her form for the week, putting on a fine display of great golf to come in as the winner of the Stableford competition with 34pts. Sonya’s beautiful birdie on the par four 12th saw her hole out from 110 metres out for a five pointer. A reminder that our annual GIMY (Grafton, Iluka, Maclean, Yamba) Friendship Day is this year being held at Iluka on Thursday June 23. Any lady who may be interested in attending this always fun day, is asked to please place their name and entry fee with Treasurer Marilyn today, Wednesday, if possible. Grafton ladies, together with our golfing friends in our area, are urged to make a note in their golfing diaries of this year’s Annual Women’s Golf Northern Rivers Tournament. The Tournament this year will be hosted on the Grafton District Golf Course and we are looking forward to as many ladies as possible joining us for this always special event. Monday July 18, Tuesday July 19 and Wednesday July 20 are the dates for this year’s event. Julie White