Amanzimtoti Golf (AGC) Club News
After the morning foursomes the scores were all square, with the new pairing of Bobby Milne and Mark Bingham making easy work of their opponents and winning 6/5.
By Mrs Furyk
THE two Amanzimtoti Golf (AGC) Club men’s league sides which did battle last Sunday in the first fixture of the league season achieved very different results this week.
The B side took on Ethekwini at Toti, and would have liked home course advantage to have been a dominating factor, but sadly this did not happen.
After the foursomes in the morning, the boys were already four down, which left a huge mountain to climb to even halve the match. Halfway through the singles matches, the AGC side were sneaking closer to the Ethekwini boys, but only Jason Nel and Jason Moriarty managed to convert their games to wins. Robert Mott and Marry Dalton halved their matches despite both being one down heading down the 18th fairway, which was a great result from them. Final score was a comprehensive 9/3 win by Ethekwini.
The team thanks the supporters who turned out to watch the games.
AGC’s Allerton team travelled to Windsor Park to compete against Central Durban Golf Club in near perfect conditions, with the matches played off the yellow markers, thus lengthening the course considerably.
After the morning foursomes, the scores were all square, with the new pairing of Bobby Milne and Mark Bingham making easy work of their opponents and winning 6/5. Mike Halse and Tommy McNaughton were cannon-fodder for their opponents, getting slaughtered eight and six, while Eugene Mbambo and Peter Tiearney were unfortunate to lose their match on the 18th hole. Newcomer Ian Bender and his new partner Peter Dalton held their nerve to win their match on the 19th hole.
The singles proved to be an up and down affair, but with the Toti lower order setting the tone, the writing was on the wall for the central side. Mark Bingham and Bobby Milne shot out the starting blocks, winning 3/2 and 4/3 respectively. Tommy McNaughton showed some spirit after the morning’s assassination to win his game 4/3, followed by Mike Halse with a 4/2 win. Peter Tiearney turned his fortunes around after his foursomes disappointment by winning 3/2 and sealing the win for Toti, while Eugene Mbambo went down 3/2. Peter Dalton showed great fighting spirit but sadly went down on the 18th hole.
“Talk of the town was IB being outclassed, outplayed and simply crucified by his opponent, losing 7/6. Welcome to Allerton, Ian,” is a quote from the team captain. For his efforts on the day, Ian received the prestigious PIG award “gopher of the day”.
All in all, it was an excellent result for the Toti boys, winning away from home at Windsor. It must be said that with regular players missing from the first game, it would seem that the Allerton side has an abundance of talent, and finishing top of the league podium is most definitely on the cards.
The second round of the senior league was held at Bluff National on Monday. Overall winners were Royal Durban, which resulted in Amanzimtoti dropping to a close second on the league table. Top scorers for Amanzimtoti were Barry Buckland and Ronnie Nair both on 35 points.
Wednesday’s individual stableford competition attracted 29 players, with newly returned Mike Slabbert making a mockery of the course with 42 points, followed by Bobby Milne on 39 and Kalvin van Rensburg on 38 points.
The Friday 9 hole sundowner was a close run affair. Some 24 players took part in the competition, and there was a count out for first spot with Nico Vogel (19 points) winning followed by Shaun Roberts, and visitor Shakes Naude in third place on 18 points.
On Saturday the men played 4BBB, with a smallish turnout of 58 players. Servaas van Niekerk and Augustine Otto were clear winners on 46 points, with Nic Brits and Brian Rhodes winning the 45 points count out from Shaun Roberts and Mike Slabbert, and fourth spot went to Tommy McNaughton and Rob Symons on 43 points. Nearest the pin on the 7th went to Frans Klopper while Brian Amm was nearest on the 17th. The jackpot was not won so carries over to next Saturday.
The women played a combined stableford on Saturday, with Sue Boucher and Gill Symons showing the rest of the field a clean set of heels, winning on 68 points. Second place went to Brenda Morgan and Lass Davis with 60 points, and Estelle Binnekade and Delene Berry finished third on 55 points. There were no two clubs and no-one reached the 15th green, courtesy of some pretty gusty wind.
The water reticulation is now completely up and running, and the club has had some good rains of late, so it will be most rewarding to see the beautiful course returned to its full glory.
All visitors are welcome to go on down and have a game of golf at Toti, or even just hit some balls at our superb driving range facility. Phone the pro shop on 031-902-4144 to book a time. There are golf carts for hire.
