April Monthly Medal

Saturday was the April Telescope Tyres / Hankook Masters Monthly Medal with Ray White Real Estate as the daily sponsor. Big thanks to Tracie Robertson for her continued support of golf in Parkes and our members. It was an excellent day for golf and with the greens freshly rolled and performing well the day was set for some hot scores. There were 60 golfers competing with Easter affecting attendance.

In A grade the early round by Stephen Riley put a lot of pressure on the players yet to hit off. Stephen played his best round off the blue markers to record a great 71 off the stick. Whilst always being a very competitive A grader this was a scintillating round. With a birdie and bogey on the front Stephen turned in par. On the way home it was par golf until the last 5 holes where 3 birdies and a bogey sealed a 35 homeward 9. Playing off a 7 handicap on the day meant it indeed was a hot round. Always very capable off the tee, the chipping and putting came together on the day. The club champion Aaron Wilkie was always going to be in the finish, but he had a mixed bag in his round. There was an eagle on the 8th and 3 birdies but with 5 bogeys and a double on the 7th the round finished with 2 over for the day. Dave Chambers made a mockery of his 10 handicap, he had a 4 over front nine and polished it off with a par back nine. Dave Brown and Jack Matthews were the only others to finish under 80 from the amateurs with 78s. Club Pro Zac Kelly, keeping sharp for his Pro-Am, hit a 2 under 70 with a 2 birdie 36 on the front and a 4 birdie 34 on the back. In the net event Stephen finished with a 64, a rarely seen number in A grade to take the double. Dave Chambers had an excellent 66 which would have won any other week with Dave Brown posting a 68.

In the B Grade scratch, Rob Lea had the prize wrapped up from an early morning round and was awaiting the bow to be applied. Rob had a 4 over 40 on the front 9 and 3 double bogeys on the back giving him an 84. Last group out contained the mercurial Jim O’Donoghue and with the steely eyes in he recorded a 41 on the outward 9 and a 3 over 39 on the way in for an 80 off the stick thereby taking out the B grade title. Playing off a 14 handicap, this was a great round. Joe Davies, playing off his favoured red tees on medal day, recorded a solid 87 to chase the leaders in. In the net event Jim recorded a 66, to take out the daily double by 5 strokes from Rob, who in turn beat home Peter Picker and Ian Ward by 5 strokes.

In C grade Murray Jackson, out early for a change, picked up his first medal since returning to Parkes. Just failing to raise the bat with his 99 he just beat playing partner, the fashionista of the fairways, Gordon Pritchard with a neat 100 and Col Breaden on the same score. In the net event, Murray again took the top prize with a good 73 beating home Tim Baker with a 75.

The Griffins Leading Edge putting competition was won by Mark Kelly with 27 putts.

The Norman family sponsored Wally Norman Vets Medal was won by Rob Lea with a 66.

The Nearest The Pins on Medal Saturday were – the Idlerite 1st by Jim O’Donoghue at 590cm, the Griffins Leading Edge by John Green at 417cm, the Parkes Ready Mixed Concrete 9th by John Green at 158cm, the Harvey Norman 11th by Tom Medcalf at 158cm and the Parkes Security Storage 17th by David Brown at 320cm.

The Money Hole was won by Tom Medcalf at 158cm.

Ball winners were David Chambers 66, David Brown 68, Brent Jenkins 70, Peter Picker, Ian Ward 71.

Next Saturday is a 2 Person 4BBB Stableford and doubles as the 1st round of the Bridgestone Mining Shootout and last opportunity for the All In Cup 1st round.