PAKENHAM GOLF
LAST week the club has held its annual tournament which has always been one of the premier events on the Pakenham golfing calendar, and this year’s tournament was for the first time shared with the Trafalgar Golf Club.
The joint tournament was the brain child of Pakenham and District Golf Club Captain, Clint Walker, who understands better than anyone the current climate in golf is very difficult and by combining the two clubs’ annual tournaments, hopefully it would bolster numbers in both events held on a bi-annual basis at each club.
Unfortunately, the one thing we cannot control is the weather as this year proved to be the case once again.
The ladies had a beautiful day on the Thursday to kick off the tournament proceedings and many visitors came along to enjoy the hospitality at Pakenham and District Golf Club. It was great to see four of the six prize winners being visitors of other clubs.
Division-1 scratch was won by Diane Larsen with 87, while Division-1 nett was won by Rose Gallagher with 75 on a count-back. Kay Jones won the Division-2 scratch with 97, whilst the Division-2 nett went to Anne Donovan with 71. Division 3 was taken out by Hilary Hockley with 114 and the Division-3 nett went to Shirley McGrath with 74.
Friday was a very special event for the ladies, the Marg Blake Memorial Trophy. Marg was a life member of Pakenham and District Golf Club, who very sadly we lost recently, she was always a fantastic supporter of the club and that continues on, with the ladies’ Friday morning 4BBB event being named in her honour. Marg and her family also donated the prizes for the event.
Friday afternoon was the running of the men’s and mixed 4BBB stableford competition with all p-layers having a very pleasant afternoon out on the course. Alex Green and Bob Dowse combined for a great score of 50 points to win the men’s 4BBB stableford, while John Hungerford and Jan Gibb won the mixed 4BBB stableford, combining for a score of 38 points. The club would like to thank Paul Sheehan and his team from Herba Life for coming down a supporting the annual tournament – Paul and the team were handing out free samples of Herba Life products, which were very well received by all players.
On Saturday 140 players register to play in the tournament field, but only 32 players finish 18 holes, with nearly 10mm of rain falling in a 30 minute window. Play had to be suspended for the morning field at around 9.30am.
In the afternoon a field of 32 players were lucky and the rain held off, with just a challenging wind to worry about. Peter Brown (+3) from Morwell Golf Club shot a great score of 74 to win best gross, with Brian Webster firing his best round in quite some time, a 67 nett to win A Grade nett. Justin Pearson took out the B-Grade gross with 88 while Clive Smith won B-Grade nett with 70 nett.
With another 20mm of rain falling over Saturday night and Sunday morning, the final event of the tournament, the Mixed Canadian Event had to be cancelled. Many visitors had booked in to play, so it was very disappointing, but the event will be rescheduled for a later date – all entrants will be notified once confirmed.
The club thanks player who supported this year’s tournament and look forward to next year’s event to be hosted by Trafalgar Golf Club in the first week of December.
The Christmas raffle closes on Monday 15 December, if you have not already brought your tickets back, please do so over the next couple of weeks.
LADIES
FRIDAY morning the ladies played for the Marg Blake Memorial Trophy. Marg had for many years sponsored this four-ball day during tournament week so it was fitting to name it accordingly. Marg was a cherished member of our Club, she was one of the founding members and helped set up the ladies’ committee. She held office over many years, played in most events throughout Gippsland, was Pakenham’s Club Champion over many years in succession and will be sadly missed.
It was a privilege and an honour for ladies’ captain Leanne Barker and her playing partner current Club Champion Shirley Roberts to win the inaugural trophy with 43 points. In turn, this bought upon a very emotional presentation. The trophies were presented by Marg’s daughters, Sharyn McMillan and Donna Henning. Runners-up were the partnership of Connie Clifford and Yvonne Barrot with 40 points. June Woznica and Dot Wood from Moe Golf Club claimed the Visitors trophy with 35 points. The best-nine-out winners were Anne Donovan and Joan Rawson with 24 points while Rena Bueler and Muriel Mills won the best-nine-in with 19 on a count-back from Sue King and Lyn Murray. Down the line balls went to Lyn Murray and Sue King with 39 points, Kay Jones and her partner Gwen Vitiritti Garfield, and Shirley McGrath and Val Carroll with 36 points each. Nearest the pin on the 14th and the eighth was Cheryl Thompson from Ranfurlie Golf Club, 2nd shot on the 5th was Dot wood, 2nd shot on the 16th was Leanne Barker.
