Club Championships April 2025
The Terry Bros Furniture and Floor Coverings Men’s Club Championships continued through thru the last 2 rounds with lots of action to still to unravel. The Ladies also had their last 2 rounds to play out as they joined the men for the weekend’s festivities. The ladies’ sponsors in Archwell Construction, Mark Kelly and Lyn Davison and Parkes Services Club were gearing up for presentation time. A huge thanks to these sponsors for their generosity and support of the Championships in ’25. On Saturday there was a good field of 86, with a Stableford event in conjunction for the non-Champ players. The top 8 in each grade were seeded and played off in groups of 4 for Saturday and Sunday thus providing some more theatre to the event.
Going into the 3rd round of the Men’s Champs in the A grade Aaron Wilkie had a shot clearance from Rob Hey with John Green lurking and ready to pounce. Unfortunately, for the field Aaron came out and put a stamp on moving day with his 4 under 68 the best round by a Parkes golfer off the Blue tees since the new course has been in play. Max Keith, who was having a great Champ competition was the next best with a 75 and this saw the trophy maker start to etch the names Aaron Wilkie on the treasured trophy. In the net event Max Keith also put an underline on event with his 68, beating home Aaron with his zero handicap giving him a net 68. Jack Matthews, also playing very well in the Champs, was running 2nd, some 11 shots in arrears.
In B grade scratch there were 2 very solid 3rd rounds with Rob Cheney and Paul Cowie recording an 82 and 83 respectively and Rob Lea and Justin Middleton recording 84s. This really started to frame the market for the final round with Rob and Paul starting off as equal leaders on 262, and any number of chasers following. In the net Matthew Skinner, after a 77, was making the event his own and had a comfortable lead and with Paul Cowie the only one really in striking distance.
In C grade Taj Harrison and Matthew Knighton were starting to draw away from the field with Taj recording a very good 84 off his handicap and Matt an 87. Tony Evans was still a threat but required a good Sunday outing to get there. In the net event Tony Evans held a slender 1 stroke lead over Taj and Luke Clyne, with a stunning 69 had moved right into contention 1 stroke behind.
The Nearest The Pins on Saturday were –The Idlerite 1st Tyrepower was Tony Hendry at 178cm, the Griffins Leading Edge was Ron Hetherington at 174cm, the Parkes Ready Mixed Concrete 9th by Paul Cowie at 56cm, the Harvey Norman 11th by Phill Smith at 129cm and the 17th by Ken Keith at 263cm.
Ball winners were Ben Coultas, Luke Clyne, Matthew Knighton 69, Justin Middleton, Col Breaden 70, Joe Davie, Matthew Spedding 72.
Sunday saw the final round of the Terry Bros Furniture and Floor Coverings Men’s Club Championships, weather great, course outstanding and it came down to the players performing for local glory.
In the A grade scratch, once again Aaron Wilkie stood up and recorded a 1 over 73 to clinch another trophy for the sideboard and stamp him as our premier men’s golfer. Max Keith, who had spent every round under his handicap, also shot a 1 under round to finish the tournament in 2nd place 12 shots in arrears of Aaron. This only spoke to the dominance and playing strength of Aaron and the persistence and natural ability of Max to pass the other more seasoned players. Rob Hey finished a further stroke back to again have been in the race in each event he contests. In the net event, Max shone thru to finish 24 strokes in front of Aaron and thus signifying just how well he played below his handicap. Again Rob Hey was a further stroke back tied with young Jack Matthews.
In the B grade scratch Paul Cowie held his nerve and finished off the Champs with a great round of 80 to win by 6 strokes from seasoned veteran Mick Smith on 348. They were well clear of any chasers. In the net Matthew Skinner had a closing 68 to blow away the chances of any others to finish 5 strokes clear of Paul and further stroke back to Mick.
In C grade Matthew Knighton held strong to record a closing 96 and win the event from Tony Evans who just couldn’t get enough pars to catch up the 2 strokes needed. Taj Harrison was a further stroke back. In the net event Luke Clyne had a closing 71 to stop all others from catching him and win this year’s event by 5 from Tony. Max Keith was the overall Net Winner in the Men’s Champs at 267. Matthew Skinner was the Junior Scratch and Net winner for ’25. Well done to both.
The Ladies continued their Club Championships on Saturday, and they joined the men in seeding their remaining players for the weekend. After 2 Wednesday events Anita Medcalf had worked her way to the top of the A grade pile and was 2 in front of Dale Matthews. In the Saturday round Anita fired a solid 93 and unfortunately none of the other A graders could go with her and she found herself 6 in front of Dale. On the Sunday Dale clawed back some strokes but couldn’t quite get there going down by 3 strokes in the end, and Anita was crowned the A grade winner again this year..
In the A grade the net it was Dale Matthews leading Anita by 3 strokes heading into the weekend. On Saturday Anita managed to better Dale by 2 to trail by a stroke going into Sunday. Dale held tough and her 74 net on Sunday saw he gain some breathing room and go on and win by 6 shots to Anita and a further stroke back to Leone Stevenson.
In B grade Sue Holman held what would be a winning lead heading into the weekend. With 16 shots up her sleeve Sue went down by 4 to Jackie Charlton on Saturday but managed to reverse that on Sunday beating Jackie by 4 to win the ’25 B Grade scratch by 16 shots. In the net Sue again set herself up for success with great rounds on the 2 Wednesdays leading into the weekend. She did faulter a bit on the Saturday losing that round to Lyn Davison but ended up 5 strokes clear of Jackie in the end.