Green edges Magill for medal victory

Saturday was the August Telescope Tyres / Hankook Masters Monthly Medal with AA Blatch as the day sponsor. Huge thanks to the Blatch family for their continued support of golf in Parkes and we look forward to continuing the partnership. A good day for golf with the staff again doing watering to soften the soil up a bit and the fairways in great condition. There were 72 golfers participating. In the A grade men scratch event the field was down on numbers and some of our featured players didn’t participate but this made for a more competitive outcome. Club captain John Green took charge and shot an 80 off the stick, opening up with a 2 over 38 and looking the goods. The back 9 became a bit more of a slog and a double on the easy 15th pulled him back to a 42. But the 80 was one better than Peter Magill, who hadn’t featured in the A grade scratch "since forever", according to his playing partners. Peter had a 42 outward and zoomed home with a 39 – featuring 2 birdies to go with one on the front nine. Myles Smith also had 81 with a more conservative 41/40 split including a birdie on the back. The nearest chasers were back on 84 with Phil Bishop and Beau Tanswell just needing a bit of luck to go their way to get into the mix. The lowest score on the day went to visitor Liam Summers who shot a 79, with an even par with 3 birdies on the back 9. In the net event Peter was the clear winner on 70 with Liam and Phil both sitting on 73. In the B Grade Medal scratch event Barry Whitaker got back to his winning ways with a solid 39 outward 9 setting up his round. Unfortunately, there was a 10 stroke swing from front to back 9’s. Barry ended up 2 strokes clear of Mick Reynolds, visiting from Scone, and 1 further back to Rob Cheney, maintaining some good form, Dylan Hood, Peter Bristol and Barry’s playing partners in Rob Rea and Adrian Whitaker. In the net event Barry got the double with a 3 stroke win over Rob and Greg Diener, having a round away from his home course at Peak Hill. In the C grade Medal scratch event the winner was Peter Boschman, who actually played the round with John Green and co and obviously was observing and taking notes. He shot a 91 with a consistent 46/45 split, finishing with 2 pars be 3 clear from Brendon Simpson and Nick Strudwick, maintaining his form still. Brendon had a bad stretch through 11-13 that cost him dearly on the day. In the net event perennial swooper, Ross Smith, snuck in to grab the event on a fine 70, 1 better than Peter who thought he had the double sown up. In the Ladies Medal, sponsored by Troy and Jodie Thomson at Parkes Caravans, the best score was from Anita Medcalf on 88, playing under her handicap on the day. Anita finished 4 clear of Dale Matthews who in turn played well under her handicap and finishing 5 in front of Colleen Staples. Dale turned the result around in the Net Monthly Medal with her 69, beating Anita by 1 and Colleen by 6. The Griffins Leading Edge putting competition was won by Myles Smith with 27 putts. The Norman family sponsored Wally Norman Vets Medal was won by Phil Bishop with a 73 net. The Nearest The Pins on Medal Saturday were – the Idlerite 1st by John Green at 613cm, the Griffins Leading Edge by Wayne Tucker at 56cm, the Parkes Ready Mixed Concrete 9th by Wayne Tucker at 153cm, the Max Keith Carpentry 11th by Robert Norman at 936cm and the Parkes Security Storage 17th by Michael Thomas at 182cm. The Money Hole was won by Wayne Tucker at 56cm. Ball winners were Liam Summers, Phil Bishop 73, Rob Cheney, Beau Tanswell 74, Greg Diener 75.