The A-Grade Pennant team put up a good fight against Blue Lake at their home course, but eventually went down 4-1, despite close results. Jock Agnew was again the only winner for the away side defeating Bill Burley on the 20th. Leo Price was unlucky, after being in the contest for most of the day, his opponent drained a 40 footer on the 15th before chipping in for birdie on the 16th. George Kidman played one of his better games, before going down to Somerfield, 3 & 2.  Even an eagle on the 3rd hole couldn’t keep the big hitting Somerfield at bay. Greg Hutchesson and Don Ferguson were well beaten in their matches.

The Handicap team broke their duck with a tough 3-2 win over Blue lake at Millicent. Playing against one of the top sides, Penola was in trouble early when Stump Murray and Paul Harmer went down. Andrew Hutchesson got one back with a convincing 4&3 win over his opponent. Chris Holden shook off the cobwebs of two previous defeats to have a solid two up win to square the match. The hero of the day was Matthew Stephenson, who was four down with five to play. However, he dug deep and won five holes in a row to snatch an unlikely victory for both himself and the Rosellas. The team must win the remaining two games to be any chance of making the finals. 

Paul Harmer has finished on top of the leaderboard to claim the A-Grade prize at the Penola Golf Club on the weekend. In tricky, blustery conditions, most of the 24 players struggled to control their balls as the wind blew hard all day. Harmer, playing low into the breeze, found form around the greens to sink long putts. In the process he had six pars and a birdie on the 14th for 38 points and won the competition on a countback.

Runner-up on a countback was Andrew Hutchesson, who also had 38 points. He was unlucky as usual, as could have had 40 points plus, however reality meant he only had the 38. He scored well on the front nine, where he had three pars.

In third place was Peter Lunnay who had a commendable 37 points. He had particularly good patch on the back nine where he played the first five holes to par, including a birdie on the 10th.

Leo Price finished 4th also with 37 points, but easily could have won the day. Only a few missed opportunities on the green cost him a 40 plus score. His birdies on the 8th and 13th – the latter to claim the nearest the pin- were a highlight.

In the B-Grade, David Boyd was the winner with 38 points as well. His back nine was typical Boyd;five pars alongside two wipes. He was much more consistent on the front nine as he maintained a steady bogey average.

Runner up was Tony Gleeson, who just like Richmond, missed out on the prize by a whisker.  He had six pars on his way to 37 points.

Shane McPherson was the best of the rest with 34 points.

Other winners were Stephen Hill with the best shot on the 9thand  AntMathys with the closest 2nd on the 5th.

Chris Holden also cleaned up with an eagle on the 17th to win a box of balls from the nest.

George Kidman didn’t have his best day and was a deserved chocolates winner. However, you know it is not your day when upon delivery, the prize remained suspended six feet above your head.  

There were 13 players in the stableford event.

A Grade Winner: Marg Ferguson 35 points. Runner up: Claire Mossop 33

Accuracy: Claire Mossop 15

B grade Winner Karen Hunter 34 pts   Runner up: Sandy Kidman 30

Accuracy: Jane Jenkins 12

On 8th May Must See Want Have Buy monthly medal will be played.

Some members will be entering the Robe Open Day on 10 May.

Entries are being taken for Penola’s Open Day on 21 May sponsored by Patrick of Coonawarra.

The A1’s headed to Millicent to take on the Mount Gambier number 1 side. Although on paper the Mount boys looked to have the goods for an easy win, it was definitely game on as Jock Agnew took the prized scalp of Hayden Schroeder.

Leo Price battled hard against Joe Clements but was narrowly beaten on the 16th to go down 3/2. Greg Hutchesson was unlucky not to get the win after his 10 metre putt lipped out on the 18th.  He then proceed down the 19th where unfortunately things definitely went downhill and he lost after putting his third in the bracken.

Nathan Williams and Don Ferguson battled hard against their opponents but were unfortunate as their opposition both came out firing early. Ferg is still blaming someone at Penola for mentioning something about a snaphook which suddenly appeared on the first tee from nowhere, but that will be another story.

The handicap side travelled to Attamura and were unsuccessful with all games being lost. The Best player was the Lofty ‘the Prez’ Anderson who went all the way to the 21st but didn’t get the win.

With the sun shining, the birds a singing and the odd golfer swearing the Penola Golf course was the place to be on Saturday for the Bill Burley Monthly medal. After many date changes a field of 32 took to the course with Bill Burley bringing a group of 10 golfers from Blue Lake to enjoy the pristine course.

The score of the day came from Cheers Bill, who has just returned from a 3 month hiatus during vintage. He could do no wrong with flat stick with a meagre 29 and firing 6 pars in his round. Only 2 double bogeys his only blemish as he took out the B grade from the Monthly Medal specialist Allen Meyer on 71. He was 1 shot clear of James Roughana from the Mount with David Boyd coming in with a 74 before he had to race off back to the 'Doo to help console the Pies after their long day on the oval.

The winner in A grade was the Bill Burley who kindly donated his prize back to the club. His support for the Penola golf club is always appreciated and he was well deserved of winning. He had 3 birdies in his round of 74 off the stick for a nett 70. Roger Gale was runner-up as another visitor from Blue lake but used his prior knowledge of the Penola layout to help himself to a nett 72.

A countback was needed for third place with Leo Price again getting the nod over Matt Fenwick with both firing 74’s.

The C grade was won by Dean Moore who is slowly regaining some of his old form of years gone by to fire a nett 75. Runner-up was Trent Nankivell who took time out from wine tasting to sample the sweet aroma of the winners circle. Bevan Phillips was again proving there is still talent there to be harnessed to take out third ahead of Horrie Foggo.

Nearest  to the Pin winners was Blue Lakes captain Matt Jennings who narrowly edged out Penola’s captain on the 9th with Tony Gleeson, the last player through on the 13th to take the prize. Leo Price had the best 2nd shot on the 5th.

Winners of the long drives on the 15th was Roger Gale in A with Matt Jennings in the B. Penola has a new big hitter with Bevan Phillips monstering one straight down the middle to be the best of the C graders.

The autumn tournament will be held on May the 4th. Please refer to the flyer on the home page for further details. One not to be missed.

For full results, click here.

Leo Price and John Mossop have raised the standard of scores this season with 40 points each in the second round of the Penola Golf Club’s stableford competition.

With both Price and Mossop being A Grade players, a countback was needed to decide the winner of the competition.

Price came out on top after finishing in a flurry, going par – birdie – par to cap off a great round, finishing with 12 pars and a birdie in an arresting performance.

Mossop, who finished runner-up, also had a plethora of great holes, finishing with eight pars and three birdies in a strong performance.

However, finding the fairway bunker short and left off the fairway on the 11th possibly cost him a point.

Mossop is in ominous form after 40 points on Thursday as well, and is eager to catch the Kalangadoo silver fox before he slyly sneaks away.

Steven Skeer was in the same group as Mossop and Price, and normally 38 points would have been a competitive score.

He had eight pars in an impressive performance, perhaps only a wipe on the 11th hole stood between him and a victory.

Peter Walker most likely won his 1000th golf ball of his career as he had another solid round with 38 points to slip in another shot.

His front nine of 38 off the stick netted him 21 points which included a great birdie on the sixth.

The B Grade found scoring a challenge with Matt Stephenson’s score of 36 points the best score recorded.

He overcame a patchy start to rattle home 20 points on the back nine and after some successful putting, he had five pars for good points.

Dean Moore was runner up with 35 points which included a very solid 22 on the back nine thanks to four pars.

The Nangwarry South boys, Ant and Johnny, rounded out the placings with 34 and 33 points respectively, ensuring Walker to take the money once again.

John Wilkinson showed a rare glimpse of talent with the nearest the pin on the 7th.

Hutchesson senior grabbed the prize on the 13th and there were no birdies on the 16th.

Next week will be the Bill Burley monthly medal, with Burley bringing a buss load of players and prizes, a good field is expected.

Full results to be found here.

The first round was the much anticipated match-up between Penola and Naracoorte at Penola’s home turf. Penola fielded a team that could have qualified for B-Grade and were confident of a win, but having to give multiple shots seemed to hurt the team. Tony Gleeson was the first to play and wasn’t on song as he lost 5/3.

Shane Anderson was competitive all day, and it took to the 18th before he was finally beaten.

Andrew Hutchesson played reasonable golf but was beaten by 2 shots.  He played well within his handicap and was unlucky to come against a player in form.

Paul Harmer was confident about his form and a devastating 4/3 loss was enough to put him back in his place. He started well enough but a bad patch where he hit plenty of trees hurt his chances. This made it diificult to get back into the game when it mattered.

George Kidman had his first win of pennant season with a 6/4 win for the team. It was a much needed win for both team and player. Kidman looks go be a valuable asset to the handicap team if he doesn’t get promoted by the end of the year.

Both teams now have a week off before doing battle at separate locations on the 21st April.

Results

Penola 1 lt Naracoorte 4 (G Kidman d C Le 6/4, P Harmer lt T Hannaford 4/3, A Hutchesson lt A Osman 2 down, S Anderson lt D Jackson 1 down, T Gleeson lt T Bates 5/3)

Despite a sensational day and excellent conditions for scoring, John Wilkinson was one of only four players to finish in the positives. His score of 5 up was more than enough to be the round of the day and take out the B-Grade Competition in the par round. Wilkinson lead home the 22 strong field after six pars and only having one loss throughout the round.

In the A-Grade, Grant Stephenson was the only player to finish on the right side of the ledger after a steady round of 2 up. He had a consistent day with two nines of plus one with eight pars and a birdie on the 17th.

Runner up was the evergreen Peter Walker who finished square for the day. A rare poor patch on the back nine where he scratched three out of four holes cost him yet another victory.

Andrews Hutchesson recovered from a poor start to finish square. After losing the first two holes, Hutchesson recovered to his better form and recovered the deficit. A birdie on the 6th was his highlight.

George Kidman finished fourth on a countback. Although he could have been much better if it wasn’t for two losses on the last two holes. There were certainly glimpses of form as he hit 11 pars – including six in a row on the back nine – to show he won’t be far away from a win.

John Wilkinson dominated the B-Grade by 3 shots to win over David Smother and Ant Mathys. Smother finished runner up after a barnstorming back nine of 3 up which included three pars.

Mathys had a much improved round despite being up and down all day – in fact in his front nine he didn’t halve a single hole. He was much better on the back nine where he had three wins with only a single loss.

Tony Gleeson finished fourth with his round of two down.

Grant Stephenson won the nearest the pin on the 7th hole and Dean Moore had a rare win with his shot in on the 13th.

Next week’s round is the second round of the Club Stableford competition. Other coming events include the Penola and District Bendigo Bank Autumn Tournament on May 4th with over $1000 in prizes. 

Click here for all the scores.