Umkomaas Italians prove they’re golfing stallions

By P Utter

WITH the welcome respite of the rain, albeit not that much but welcome anyway, KZN can look forward to slightly cooler weather in the months ahead. Admittedly, it’s been unseasonably hot for March, so April is really looking good.

There is no news to hand at the moment as to whether or not Umkomaas Golf Club’s (UGC) two intrepid women golfers – Sabiha Bacaus and Michelle van der Merwe – who went up to Maritzburg to play in the KZN champs, have done anything spectacular up at Victoria GC. More news on this event next week with, hopefully, favourable results.

The South African boys have been doing very well on the PGA Tour this past week – Charl Schwartzel won the Valspar Championships played at Copperhead in Florida in a play-off against Bill Haas, both on -7 at the end of Sunday’s play. Louis Oosthuizen finished T7th at -2 with Retief Goosen a little further down the field but still making the cut on Friday. Well done to them all. Everyone would still like to see some action from both Tim Clark and Garth Mulroy in the near rather than distant future.

The Wednesday afternoon competition, the usual individual stableford, was played in fairly breezy conditions – nothing that would deter the players but this week it was all Strand Strikers on the prize list. In 1st place was Roddy McGibbon on 40 solid points with ‘Big’ Garth Wilyman taking the 2nd spot with 39 points.

Saturday was the second round of the Alliance League and although there were a few teams missing this month, the competition was still very well supported. There is a newish team playing in the league this year – the Mambas – expect the unexpected from this team. The club welcomed Renzo Avellini – a regular player to the Alliance League as well as Carl Freyer and welcome back to Mike Harvard, who has been away. Once again it’s the ‘Umkomaas Italians’ (they won last month as well) – Bruna Scarpa, Franco Scarpa, Nevio Turco and Renzo Avellini – who won and took 1st prize on a score of 97 points, leaving the rest of the field trailing way behind them. Second were ‘The Chancers’ – John Thompson, Deneys Williamson, Fred Welch and Mike Harvard with 88 points, counting out ‘The Little Red Riding Hoods’ Adrian Rogers, Keith Vergottini, Bing Opie and Denise Nell into 3rd, also on 88 points. Although Sabiha Bacaus wasn’t in any of the winning teams this last weekend, she had a field day with the little side-competitions the club runs. Sabiha managed to win the jackpot with 11 points, she had two two-clubs, her first on the 13th hole and the second one on the 17th. She then went on to win the attendance draw as well – not much skill required there but a win is a win. There was a huge sigh of relief when Peter Williamson won the football sweep with Colwyn Bay. The hidden birdie is still hidden somewhere on the 18th hole.

This Saturday, 19 March is the fourball better ball stableford with social golf on Sunday, 20 March. A gentle reminder that the car boot sale will take place in the car park of the club on Sunday, 27 March. There’s still two weeks to gather your bits and pieces, plenty of time to search your home for unwanted items to sell.

The Sardine Run entries are going relatively well – enter your team at www.sardinegolf.co.za. Book early for correct shirt sizes and so on.

Find UGC’s website at www.umkomaasgolf.co.za with a link to the Sardine Run.