Inter club golfers do UGC proud

By P Utter

UMKOMAAS Golf Club’s (UGC) scribe has a real dilemma this week, not knowing which inter club team to congratulate first – the women or the men.

All the teams taking part in the inter club tournament – the women’s silver team of Natalie Singer and Sabiha Bacaus in Dundee and the men’s Frog team of Saga Reddy, Nelson Moonsamy and Viv Naicker at Scottburgh, Umdoni and Selborne Golf Clubs, all played fantastic golf but going with etiquette, it’s ladies first.

Congratulations to both Natalie and Sabiha who took to this competition like ‘ducks to water’. They played in the most difficult weather conditions – 40C on the first day – with Berg winds to overcast and a maximum temp of 9C on the third day.

But won they did, in fine style, having the best nett on day three, with a combined score of 67.5 on a combined handicap of 10.5. The final result for the girls was they won the silver division by seven shots and had the second best score of the tournament, taking second place overall behind the gold team who came in first. Well done to the girls who also went up to Dundee and played – Linda, Lesa, Bryony and Denise – you may not have won this year but guaranteed you all had a great time.

UGC’s Frog team played brilliant golf as well, the two highlights of the tournament were Saga Reddy with his hole-in-one on the third hole at Umdoni and Viv Naicker shooting an ‘eagle’ on the par four second hole at Selborne.

Nonetheless, all three players, Nelson Moonsamy, Saga Reddy and Viv Naicker gelled into what was a formidible team, winning the Frog division by 11 points clear of the next team. In Sunday’s matchplay, they played Ethekweni in the morning, defeating them before beating Gowrie in the final round. This Frog team has won the Frog division trophy three years running which, in itself, is quite a feat. Congratulations to the team of Viv, Saga and Nelson on your remarkable achievement. To Devlyn, Tom and Dave – there is always next year.

UGC and all the members are so proud of both the women’s and men’s inter club teams on their deserved wins last weekend. Congratulations to you all.

Wednesday’s individual stableford welcomed Johnny Schonken, Peter Bond, Allan Eriksen and former member, John Thompson to the club. It was nice to see Dave Kemp playing after his back op at the beginning of the year. But it was ex-member John Thompson who won this week with a score of 44 points, followed by Roddy McGibbon on 41 points. In third spot was Mike Cromhout on a count out from visitor Johnny Schonken, who was fourth, both on 38 points.

With quite a few of members away for inter club, the competition was changed to individual stableford. Visitors Quentin Richardson, Tallies Taljaard, Dennis Brown, Eugene Voster, Nigel Henson and Bill Hucker were all welcomed by club captain, Peter Toward at prize-giving. The winner and in first place was Bruce Sutcliffe on 35 points, followed by Derek Airey in second place, on count out from Peter Toward in third spot and fourth placed Wally Kent, all on 34 points. Dave Kemp (aka Robocop) was the only player who won the jackpot with his 11 points. All the other side competitions, hidden birdie, two-club and the attendance draw, will all be carried over to next week.

Next Saturday, 4 November will be monthly medal and mug for all the members with social golf on Sunday, 5 November. Call the club for a tee time, especially if you want to hire a cart. There is a group playing on the day and carts will be limited. The Sunday ‘bash’ will take place next Sunday as well, meeting under the lapa at around 10am. Be on time for an early tee off. There are cash prizes to be won, so go along and enjoy the challenge.

Friday afternoon’s six pin has become popular, starting at around 2.30pm. Anyone can go down to play, registering in the bar. These six holes can be great stress-relievers, so go down for a fun time.

Kidzgolf has been on hold due to inter club in which Uncle Devlyn was playing but it’s back to normal next Saturday at 8am. Any youngster who is interested in playing golf, there are golf clubs for borrowing if you don’t have any of your own. So for an hour on Saturday morning, go down for a lesson or two.

UGC’s website is updated regularly, all the information and photographs of the inter club winners will be up at www.umkomaasgolf.co.za