Denis Dale reports on the latest news on the senior amateur golfing scene including recent Australian Senior Ranking System events the NSW Senior Classic and the Northern Territory Senior Championship.
By Denis Dale
NATIONAL
2017 NSW Senior Classic
Gordon Claney and Paul Maslen have finished as equal winners of the 2017 NSW Senior Classic. The event this year was played over 36 holes at The Lakes and The Australian Golf Clubs.
Maslen led after his round of 75 at The Lakes gave him a one stroke lead over a group of three that included Rick Allison, Peter Ferris and Richard Greville. In leading after one round Maslen was the winner of the 2017 The Lakes Senior Medal.
In the second round at The Australian three players tied on 74 including Claney (pictured above), Simon Dunstone and Stephen Gibson. There was a playoff for the winner of The Australian Senior Medal with Steve Gibson winning on the second extra hole.
Claney’s 74 gave him a 36 hole total of 152 and when Maslen returned a card of 77 he too was on the same total. They were declared joint winners with Gordon Claney winning the trophy on a countback.
Claney was also the joint winner of this title in 2016 when he finished tied with Stefan Albinski.
NSW senior Russell Bunn finished third on 155 just ahead of The Lakes “veteran” Roy Vandersluis and Richard McGhie on 156.
As usual the two courses attracted a large field of many of the best senior players in Australia. They all enjoyed the challenge of playing on two championship layouts.
152 Gordon CLANEY 78-74, Paul MASLEN 75-77
155 Russell BUNN 77-78
156 Roy VANDERSLUIS 81-75, Richard MCGHIE 78-78
157 Lester PETERSON 81-76, Ken BREWER 77-80, Rick ALLISON 76-81
158 Simon DUNSTONE 84-74, Peter FERRIS 76-82
159 Geoff CRANFIELD 80-79, Rowan EASTERBROOK 80-79, Graham BEASLEY 80-79, John KARREN 79-80, Richard GREVILLE 76-83
2017 Northern Territory Senior Championship
The field for the Northern Territory Senior Championship was one of the strongest for several years with top rated seniors Greg Rhodes, Kym Olsen and Steve Toyne taking part.
The event in 2017 was played at Alice Springs Golf Club and once again the course was great and this year the weather was even better.
This tournament is played over 72 holes and after opening with rounds of 78-69-75 Greg Rhodes took a five-stroke lead into the final round’ He eventually won by just two. Victorian Kym Olsen finished very well and his last
round 73 saw him fall just two shots short of victory.
Rhodes finished on a 4 round total of 298 after rounds of 77-69-65-77. Olsen totalled 300 after rounds of 78–73-76-73. The differences between these two great senior players was in the second round when Rhodes fired a quality round of three under par 69.
Third place went to the defending champion Steve Toyne (77-74-75-78) with local senior Tom Harold (80-75-75-81) taking out fourth and the special trophy for best Northern Territory player. Bruce Lindner rounded out the top five finishing on 312 alongside Paul Edwards (Darwin GC).
298 Gregory Rhodes Coomealla 77-69-75-77
300 Kym Olsen The National 78-73-76-73
304 Stephen Toyne Indooroopilly 77-74-75-78
311 Thomas Harold Darwin 80-75-75-81
312 Bruce Lindner Kooyonga 79-77-76-80. Paul Edwards Darwin 77-76-78-81
316 David Southwell Darwin 79-81-75-81
320 John Wilson Yarrawonga 77-87-79-77
321 Chris Everett Tea Tree Gully 78-80-8281
323 David Gleeson Dubbo 84-79-78-82
324 David Hannah Pelican Waters 81-81-80-82
325 David McClelland Wyong 80-83-81-81
329 Lindsay Elliott Blackwood 80-81-81-87
In winning the Northern Territory Seniors Rhodes has reclaimed the top position on the Australian Senior Ranking table. He now leads from fellow Victorian Kym Olsen with another Victorian in Gordon Claney third.
NEW SOUTH WALES
Brewer leads the Senior Order of Merit
Ken Brewer from Concord Golf Club is well on the way to defending his 2016 title in the NSW Senior Order of Merit. Brewer has amassed 1219 points from eleven starts and leads Leonay senior Laurie Cupples who has 1106 points from 14 starts.
Third place is a battle between Russell Bunn, Geoff Cranfield and Graham Leake.
In the nett championship the veteran senior Jack Parker from Wyong is on top of the table and has the lead from Brewer and Cupples.
Cabramatta Seniors
The course was the winner with the course setup providing a real challenge for the players. With the pins tucked away only one player managed to break 80 and that was Ward Hummerston from The Grange Golf Club with a very good round of 77.
Runners up were Neil Bartley (Port Kembla) and Laurie Cupples (Leonay) who returned scores of 80.
77 HUMMERSTON Ward The Grange
80 BARTLEY Neil Port Kembla , CUPPLES Laurie Leonay
82 CLARK Vincent The Lakes, MUSGRAVE Stephen St Michael’s
83 LEWIS Robert Windsor, CRANFIELD Geoff Long Reef Golf
85 PAYNE Roy The Grange
Penrith Seniors
A sensational round of six under par 66 by Concord member Ken Brewer was the highlight of a great day at Penrith. Brewer was in sensational form and his 66 is the best round in NSW Senior Order of Merit history.
Brewer played alongside Denis Day who returned a very good round of 71 to easily take out the runner up prize. Local member Sal Ballard was next on 75.
North Ryde’s Roy Shuttleworth was the nett winner with a score of 70 with his handicap of 7.
66 BREWER Kenneth Concord
71 DAY Denis Penrith
75 BALLARD Sal Penrith, SANSOME Brett Horizons, LIMBACH David Penrith, SHUTTLEWORTH Roy North Ryde
78 CUPPLES Laurie Leonay, ACRET Danny Penrith, BATMAN Gary Liverpool
DuntryLeagues Seniors
Local member Robert Payne was far too good for the field and had an easy win in the 2017 Duntryleagues Seniors. The reigning NSW Seniors Champion played fine golf for a 36-hole total of 139 and a seventeen stroke winning margin.
Second place went to the consistent Leonay senior Laurie Cupples with Dennis Schultz from Duntryleagues third. Roy Payne from The Grange was the winner of the nett trophy with his score of 147 from his handicap of 9/
139 150 PAYNE Robert Duntryleagues
156 125 CUPPLES Laurie Leonay
158 110 SCHULTZ Dennis Duntryleagues
159 100 OSBORN John Mudgee
162 95 HUMMERSTON Ward The Grange
165 90 PAYNE Roy The Grange, HILL Bob Kareela, PRYCE Tony Bathurst
Mona Vale Seniors
A large field was in attendance for the 2017 Mona Vale Seniors. On a beautifully presented course ideally set up for senior golf the course was ready for the taking – if you were good enough!
The winner in a round that did not contain one bogey was local member Mark Pearson with his round of two under par 70. Playing immaculate golf he hit seventeen greens but only managed two birdies in a score that could easily have been much better.
Runner up was local member Greg Stanford who had a fine score of even par 72.
The winner of the overall nett prize was local member Mike Grinham who had a net score of 69 from his handicap of 18 to win on a countback.
70 Mark Pearson Mona Vale
72 Greg Stanford Mona Vale
74 Geoff Cranfield Long Reef
75 David Owen Wakehurst
76 Ron Hall Port Kembla GC
77 Scott Beverley Mona Vale
78 Russell Bunn Newcastle
79 Trevor Beale Mona Vale
Eastlakes Seniors
A good field of 60 senior golfers was in attendance for the inaugural playing of the 2017 Eastlakes Seniors.
The winner was Rick Allison who fired a good score of 76 on the testing layout that many of the field had not played for quite a few years. Ken Brewer was second with 77 defeating Stuart Beck on a countback
Tony Whitely won the nett prize with a score of 73 nett from his handicap of 16. Runner up was Neale Blizard on 75.
The course was well presented and all reported on a very enjoyable day and certainly look forward to a return to Eastlakes Golf Club
76 Rick Allison Lakeside
77 Ken Brewer Concord, Stuart Beck The Lakes
80 Greg Stanford Mona Vale
81 Geoff Cranfield Long Reef, Neale Blizard The Ridge, Scott Haley Long Reef
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VICTORIA
Cobram-Barooga Seniors
Defending champion, Gordon Claney (Kingston Heath) has won wire to wire this year with scores of 74 (West course), 70 (Old) and 71 (West) for a total of 215. This gave him a winning margin of 11 strokes from Ian Frost (Rich River) with scores of 78, 74, 74.
The nett winner was Graeme Brierley (Clifton Springs) off a handicap of 11 with nett scores of 71, 69, 71 for a total of 211.
All players were impressed with condition and presentation of both the Old and West courses. This year’s tournament saw record numbers with 112 Men playing stroke together with 76 Men and 78 Ladies playing stableford, with 71 clubs represented.
215 Claney, Gordon Kingston Heath 74-70-71
226 Frost, Ian Rich River 78-74-74
228 Robb, David Corowa 77-75-76
229 Percy, Ross CBGC 81-75-73
234 Olsen, Kym The National 76-78-80
235 Tatt, Chris Buninyong 82-76-77, Wallace, Robert Midlands 76-77-82
236 Hunt, Gary CBGC 81-76-79
238 Barnes, Malcom Neanger Pk 78-79-81
239 Welsh, Greg Clolac. 81-77-81
Hepburn Springs Seniors
Ian Frost (Rich River) has made it back to back wins at the Hepburn Springs Senior Amateur.
Frost had held a share of the overnight lead with Hepburn Springs member Neil Egan after an opening round of 69.
Frost played fine golf on day two and eventually carded rounds of 69 and 68 for a total of 137 to finish just a single shot clear of Egan. In his acceptance speech, Frost made mention of the quality golf Egan displayed in the second round.
Also making it two in a row was John Hoare from Pakenham who claimed the nett prize, with rounds of 65 and 66, narrowly edging out a three way countback for second between Bernie Frith and Neil Egan (both Hepburn Springs) and Brian Spalding (Kooringal) who all totalled 132 for 36 holes.
Helen Pascoe of Buninyong is proving to be the player to beat in the women’s scratch section this year, with yet another title today. The scratch marker posted scratch scores of 27 and 28 points for a total of 55 points, 6 better than runner-up Judy Langford (Wodonga).
In the women’s stableford section, local Shirley Rodda prevailed as champion, with rounds of 35 and 31 stableford points, she was scoring too strong for the rest of the field, second placed Debbie Gorin (Midlands) was 2 shots off Rodda’s 66 total.
Further information on the Victorian Senior Order of Merit is available on the Golf Victoria website www.golfvic.org.au .
COMING SENIOR AMATEUR EVENTS
June 5 Pacific Harbour Seniors (QLD)
June 8 Manly Seniors (NSW)
June 9 Oatlands Seniors (NSW)
June 18 Heathcote Seniors (VIC)
June 19-22 * Australian Senior Amateur Matchplay at Coolangatta Tweed Heads
June 19-20 Shepparton Senior Amateur
June 19 Pymble Seniors (NSW)
June 22-23 Tocumwal Seniors (VIC)
June 26 Coolangatta Tweed Heads Seniors (QLD)
July 9-11 * Australia vs New Zealand for The Sanctuary Cove Trophy
July 10-12 Coomealla Seniors (VIC)
July 13 Sanctuary Cover Seniors (QLD)
July 19-21 * Gold Coast Senior Classic
July 27-28 Coffs Coast Seniors (NSW)
July 30-31 Seaside Classic at Port Macquarie (NSW)
July 31-Aug 2 * Queensland Senior Amateur Championship at Bribie Island
August 7 Carnarvon Seniors (NSW)
August 7 Yarra Yarra Seniors (VIC)
August 8 Beerwah Seniors (QLD)
August 8 Kingston Heath Seniors (VIC)
August 9 Commonwealth Seniors (VIC)
August 10-11 Nudgee Masters (QLD)
August 11 Victoria Seniors (VIC)
August 14 Kooindah Waters Seniors (NSW)
August 14 Metropolitan Plate (VIC)
August 15 Royal Melbourne Seniors (VIC)
August 21 Gailes Seniors (QLD)
August 21 Glenelg Seniors (SA)
August 23 Newcastle Seniors (NSW)
August 28 Royal Adelaide Seniors (SA)
* Part of the Australian Senior Ranking System