Tight race for UGC stableford winners
Next Saturday, 13 February is the first of the alliance league games - get your teams together and write your names on the board.
By P Utter
QUITE a few Umkomaas Golf Club (UGC) members played competitions golf away from home last weekend, with the women far out-numbering the men but nonetheless, just as important.
Eight UGC girls made up two alliance teams which went down to Southbroom on Sunday to play in the South Coast meet.
They returned with varying degrees of success. There were no wins unfortunately but by all accounts they had tremendous fun. Erika, Michelle, Bryony and Denise had the better result – not that Annette, Linda, Lesa and Sabiha didn’t try hard enough. It was after all hot down there but ‘fun’ (as well as the golf) was the order of the day – ‘fun’ won in the end. If you can’t win, have fun instead.
Three intrepid UGC men who went down to Kokstad to play in the East Griqualand Open – Gregg Andersson, Greg Thiel and Matt Hamer also had varying degrees of success, playing in the 36 hole tournament of which Gregg is the defending B division champion. Greg and Matt had a tougher time, being in the A division but Gregg Andersson, although not sure of the final scores, may have taken second place on Sunday. This is a great achievement all round. Congratulations to all three of them for going down to Kokstad. UGC is so proud of them all. The final results will be in the news next week.
Wednesday welcomed Raymond Clark, Jason Gilliver and Dave Rickards to the individual stableford competition. It was so nice to see Raymond on a short visit from Boston to visit his folks in Pennington.
The competition itself was very close indeed, all decided on a count out from first to fourth place with Rob Finlay (first), Dave Kemp (second), Roddy McGibbon (third) and Fred Brandow (fourth) all on 41 points, with Barrie Taylor counting out Peter Williamson, both on 38 points. Never, in the history of the Wednesday school, have the winners been this close. Well done, guys.
Being the first Saturday of the month, it was the Toyota monthly medal and the club again welcomed regular visitor Mike Harvard. The men’s A division was convincingly won by Derek Airey on a 69 followed by new-ish member, Jacques Kirstein on a 73. The B division winner was club captain, Jimmy Spear, also on a 69 with the runner-up Dave Mulroy one shot behind on 70, counting out Kuben Naidoo also on 70. The C division was won by a very surprised John Thompson on a score of 77 with runner-up John Gillett counting out Vesa Suhonen, both with 79.
The women didn’t have very good scores this month but Sabiha Bacaus won the count out from Michelle van der Merwe, both on 86. Michelle went one better by having the least putts on the day with only 32. Dave Mulroy and Derek Airey shared the jackpot on 11 points but the hidden birdie (on the 17th) and the attendance draw (Vesa) will be carried over to next week.
Next Saturday, 13 February is the first of the alliance league games – get your teams together and write your names on the board. Good luck to all the teams, the ‘Die Hards’ are going to give you all a run for your money. There will be a Valentine’s golf morning between 10am and 11am on Sunday, 14 February. The competition will be a betterball stableford with a braai afterwards. Call the club for more details and to book your time. It’s a great opportunity to spend time with your spouse and enjoy the day with each other.
Looking further ahead into March, the club hosts a family big walk on 6 March with your dog (on a leash), hopefully along the beach and finishing at the club. This is still in the planning stage. John Thompson is the organiser, so watch this space for more details. The club is also having a car boot sale in the car-park at the end of March, which is something to look forward to. More details to come.
KidzGolf is looking strong with about 20 youngsters attending last Saturday. All children are welcome at UGC on Saturday mornings between 8am and 9am, No equipment is needed in the early stages as the club will lend you the necessary clubs during lessons. Call UGC on 039-973-1042 for more information.
The Sardine Run in June, has started accepting entries for this year’s tournament. The three clubs participating this year are Scottburgh, Umkomaas and Umdoni – something a little different with Umdoni involved this year.
Find UGC online at www.umkomaasgolf.co.za with a link to the Sardine Run tournament.
