Wilkie stamps his authority in monthly medal

By Peter Bristol Saturday was the October Telescope Tyres / Hankook Masters Monthly Medal with Peter Woods and Associates Chartered Accountants as the day sponsor and for the Ladies Anita Medcalf was the day sponsor. Huge thanks to Sam Bennett and Mark Job and team for their support of the PGC and to Anita for her long association with golf in Parkes. The course had been freshened up by 6mm of rain and was in pristine condition for the round off the championship blue tees. There were 64 men and 9 ladies entered for the day. 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. Aaron Wilkie was out to stamp his authority on the field early and shot a 3 over 75 in the scratch event. Aaron was out in 1 over with a couple of birdies but 3 bogeys and then on the homeward 9 he was 2 over with a couple of bogeys and this round stamped the pass mark for the day. Rob Hey, as usual, was up for the challenge and his 76 was 1 under his daily handicap. A double bogey on the 2nd cruelled the front 9 and again on the another on the 14th stopped all forward momentum. Jack Matthews went out in 38 and swung back in 39 to record a solid round. Captain John Green the only other amateur golfer under 80. He had 2 birdies and 2 doubles on the outward 9 then a 2 over coming home with the sail fully set. The only other scratch round worthy of a mention was club Pro Zac Kelly who fired a par round with 4 birdies and a double within those 18 holes. In the Net event there was a countback needed to decide the winner with Tim Cowling beating home Rob Hey and Ron Hetherington all on 71. Tim has had an extended time on the sidelines and is now just working his way into best form. Ron has had a strong last month and with a bit of extra run on the course is becoming very competitive in A grade. In the B Grade Medal scratch event Ian Phipps was the best score in from the morning golfers with an 85 off the stick and no-one was getting near that until the no1 Shark supporter surfaced and posted his best score since scores were chiselled in stone. He had an outward 40 with 4 bogeys, then after recording another 4 bogeys on the back, birdied the last 2 holes for a 2 over giving him a 78 off the stick. So that clatter of voices in the back of his head may now be silenced and we could see the old ‘Ding’ back on the 1st each week. In the Net event David’s 63 was 9 strokes better than Ian Phipps so his 15 handicap had served him well for perhaps the last time. In the C grade Medal scratch event the winner was David Phillips on 88 who played well below his 21 handicap on the day. David’s 4 double bogeys over the 18 holes cost him a really great score but he will have learnt from the outing. He was 2 in front of Joe Davies and Dale Stait on 90. In the Net event David ended up 3 in front of Steve Collins and Ben Thomson on 70. Steve and Ben haven’t had regular outings over recent times so this was a good result for them. In the Ladies Medal, the best score was from Frankie Cock on 73 net, 5 in front of Colleen Staples, Marg Hogan and Dale Matthews. The best scratch score went to Kris Smith by 3 strokes from Colleen and Dale. The Griffins Leading Edge putting competition was won by Joe Davies on 25 putts. Joe was consistently 1 putting all day. The Norman family sponsored Wally Norman Vets Medal was won by Dale Stait with 71 on a countback. The Nearest The Pins on Medal Saturday were – the Parkes Ready Mixed Concrete 1st by John Green at 137cm, the Griffins Leading Edge by Owen Hanswell at 1.25m, the wester Temporary Fencing 9th by Andrew Bament at 300cm, the Max Keith Carpentry 11th by Aaron Gaffey at 220cm and the Parkes Security Storage 17th by David Stevenson at 66cm. The Money Hole was won by Aaron Gaffey at 220cm. Ball winners were Steve Collins, Ben Thomson 70, Rob Hey, Ron Hetherington, Dub Rogers 71. Kirwan blitzes field at Cowra Open VETERANS GOLF By John Dwyer A five under par round by Peter Kirwan was the highlight of the Cowra Veteran Golfers Open played last week where $2000 in cash and prizes was up for grabs. On a day that attracted 106 players, Kirwan playing off a one handicap blitzed the field in compiling 42 stableford points for the 18 holes. Besides the strong local contingent there was a good roll-up of visitors from Parkes, Forbes, Canowindra, Kiama, Orange, Bogan Gate, Nelson Bay and Bannockburn (Vic) golf clubs. Twenty-six twin-towns vets - 16 from Forbes and 10 from Parkes - took part in the event with a few managing to get among the prize winners. Tony Hendry from Parkes was the B grade scratch winner, while Forbes' Ken Walton - who was the club house leader in the stableford points-score until the final minutes of counting - finished third with 34 points. Forbes' Steve Uphill almost scored an ace on the par-three fifth, his shot finishing centimetres from the hole and good enough to win nearest-to-pin. Alf Davies from Forbes playing off an eight handicap was second in the A grade stableford with 37 points and Parkes' Phil Bishop won a sleeve of balls for winning the A grade encouragement award. Alf and Ken continued their winning ways in the ball raffle to complete what was a great day out. This week twin-towns vets head to West Wyalong for the October Lachlan Valley monthly tournament - nominations from 9am for a 10am shot-gun start.