PARKES GOLF

By PETER BRISTOL

On Saturday Parkes golfers played in good conditions, albeit a little chilly early, for the Whites Electrical prize.

Whites have been associated with PGC for an extended time, and we appreciate their support as do the golfing fraternity.

There were 67 players and the course still in great condition post the Open preparation.

One of the earlier groups out hosted the winner of the day with Craig Dunn posting a solid 40 point haul, that was to carry all timeslots and prove unbeatable.

Craig had a 4 over front 9, including a birdie on the 9th. He did fade a bit on the back 9, with 3 double bogeys but the 22 points on the front carried him through.

Next in was Links Shell Cove golfer Marc McDonald with a 38 followed in by Mr Consistency, club Captain John Green with a 37, which was a 3 over par 75 off the stick.

This included a scintillating par round on the front 9, with 2 birdies and 2 bogeys.

John always seems to play better when he has the club Pro in his group and he needs the win.

There were 3 golfers on 36 points with Brendan Simpson, Scott Winter and Wayne Powter having good rounds on the day.

One of the most pleasing aspects of the day was that both Peter Magill and David Stevenson shot 35s, so at last the fog may have lifted for them and they may get all the way back to having consistent decent scores.

The Nearest The Pins winners were – Bridgestone Mining 1st Rob Hey at 391cm, Griffins Leading Edge by Wayne Powter at 26cm, Parkes Ready Mixed Concrete 9th by Craig Dunn at 23cm, the Westlime 11th by Michael Bond at 431cm, the Gulf Western Oil 17th by Chris Downes at 276cm.

The lucrative money hole was won by Chris Downes at 276cm.

Ball winners were Marc McDonald 38, John Green 37, Brendan Simpson, Scott Winter, Wayne Powter 36.

Last weekend the LVDGA men’s representative team, containing Aaron Wilkie from Parkes, contested the NSW Golf Country Week championships at Cowra.

The team comprising the Parkes Open winner John Betland, finished 8th overall out of the 12 teams there.

When you consider the depth of the other teams such as ACT, Central Coast, Hunter and Newcastle it was always going to be difficult to get to the top spot.

On day 1 the eventual winner Jye Hall from Mollymook shot a 65 and Cooper Giddings from Dubbo a 68.

These two young players fought out the event at Parkes last year. Caleb Hanrahan from Forbes was our best with a 69. Aaron shot a 74.

Unfortunately, from 5th spot on Saturdays the boys couldn’t keep the momentum going and faded on the Sunday.

Both the leaders finished with 69s to be 8 and 5 under respectfully.

Our team ranged from 5 over to 15 over so weren’t in the mix for individual honours nor team honours.

Next year the Champs are in Tamworth.

This weekend is the Stoney Creek 3 Person Event. A reminder also that the course is having renovations on Monday and Tuesday so the greens will need a few weeks to recover.

VETERANS GOLF

By JOHN DWYER

"Is there a Bradman trophy today," asked Forbes' Barry Shine after five holes at the Lachlan Valley Veterans monthly 18-hole golf competition played at West Wyalong last week.

Playing off a 13 handicap a disgruntled Shine had only posted five points at this stage but the golfing gods were on his side when his fortunes turned and he went on to win A grade with a score of 37 points.

Adopting a positive mindset when putting on the tricky greens and some solid general play saw his fortunes turn to record seven pars and a birdie over the remaining 13 holes to win by a point from West Wyalong's Ben McCormick.

It was a different story in B grade with local John Hudson (26 handicap) relishing the near perfect conditions to street the field with a six-under par handicap round for 42 points. Alan Logan from Grenfell (38 points) was runner-up.

A solid field of 60 faced the starter with West Wyalong prevailing in the teams event (best three scores) with 114 points followed by Forbes (103), Grenfell (99), Parkes (97) and Condobolin (91).

Parkes players Pup Parker (A grade) and Joe Davies (B grade) were on target to win two of the three nearest-to-pins. Jock Mayberry from West Wyalong was the other sharp shooter.

Ball winners from Parkes were Mick Smith, John Dwyer and Gordon Pritchard, while Allan Rees, Steve Edwards, Niel Duncan and Alf Davies from Forbes each picked up a Bridgestone.

It was announced that Condobolin will host the October Lachlan Valley event.

Parkes will host the twin-towns weekly competition on Thursday, nominations from 9.30am for 10am shot-gun start.