The Men’s Field at MGC  – Week Ending 24th April 2016

By Brad Grant.

As the bugle sounded at dawn at the ANZAC Memorial Service on a clear, cold Monday morning our thoughts were turned to those that gave the ultimate sacrifice in the many conflicts over the last century.  The day is significant in the fact that our way of life allows us to pursue leisure activities such as golf which we all love.

The April Monthly Medal was played out on Saturday, patronised by over 70 contestants. The event was sponsored by the “Horns-Up” club and it was only fitting that the eventual winner came from their ranks.  On a day where tough pin positions were more indicative of the Masters at Augusta than at a small country town course the field struggled with only four players beating their handicap. Streaking ahead to claim the medal in the fading light of late afternoon was Daniel Guppy (24) with a blistering Net 64 edging out fellow “Horns-Up” member Danny Robinson (21) who shot Net 66.

Early club house leaders on the day were Brian Russell (15) and Rod Sargent (9) both returning a score of Net 70. As they watched the leader board during the afternoon the difficult nature of the course suggested they had a show of taking out the medal.  It was only the last three groups to come in that finally dashed their hopes.  The J.D.Perks prize for the best scratch score of the day went to Craig Walsh who shot 78 off the stick including two double bogeys in the last 4 holes. What could have been?

The Thursday Stableford competition saw David Octigan (12) snare Division 1 with 42 points holding out Mark Bettany (4) who returned 41 points.  Division 2 was won by William Vaughan (29) with an excellent score of 45 points, six points ahead of Mike Irwin (24) on 39 points

Tuesday was also a Stableford competition.  Bill Taylor (20) had obviously dusted of some rare antique golf instruction books in his shop to shoot a very good 42 points to win.  Trevor Wright (19) took out second place with 40 points.

They say that golf is mainly a game of mental toughness and that you are only playing yourself. This was true on the Gold Course competition on Tuesday when George Richardson (28) scored 41 points, clearly demonstrating that age is no barrier to a strong mental approach to the game. The outing did Richardson good because on Thursday he shot a magnificent 50 points to blitz the field.

David Smithwick and Bill Moran fought out the grand final of the J.D.Neely Singles knock-out Match Play trophy.  Congratulations go to Smithwick who managed to hold off Moran to win the event and get his name in gold leaf on the honour board.

The Scratch Pennant team took on Rutherglen at Yarrawonga Mulwala on Sunday and just went down 3 and 2.  Good wins were recorded by Mark Bettany (6/4)and Rod Sargent (2 up).  Although not the result we had hoped for there is still that old chestnut “a mathematical chance” that the team could make the finals.  In a better position is the Handicap Pennant team who played Yarrawonga-Mulwala at Benalla and won the day 3 and 2.  Victorious team members were Phil Conway (2 up), Steve Chisholm (3/2) and Peter Sargeant with a strong 6/5 win.

Pro-pin winners for the week were Mark Bettany and Brian Russell and the “nearest the pin” awards were shared around.

The Mansfield Golf Club Championships begin in four weeks and the entry sheet will be available to members in the Pro Shop.

Best of luck goes out to the two Mansfield Ladies Pennant teams, both of which will fight out the Division 2 and Division 3 Pennant finals this week.