A big field of 85 players turned out for a very successful Ambrose day at Penola Golf Club on Sunday. The charity day set out to help raise funds to run a Men’s Watch program in Penola to support Men’s Health, and at the final count, $1685 was raised from the event.

The day opened with Wattle Range Council Mayor and strong supporter of Men’s Mental Health, Mr Peter Gandolphi, addressing the crowd about the benefits of having a men’s watch program in Penola.

With loud shirts being the order of the day, each team was encouraged to have at least two non-golfers, with most teams managing a few more than that. There were plenty of airies and laughs as some players were having their debut game of golf.

Despite this, there were lots of prizes on offer thanks to generous donations from local businesses, individuals and the Williams family.

The overall winners on the day was the team of Jock Agnew, David Marcus, Billy Whennan and Steven Skeer, who shot a very commendable 67.

In the Men’s division, the winners were John Wilkinson, Phil McDonald, Ben Chapman and Ant Mathys who went round in 72. The runner’s up were Sam Davidson, Tony Gleeson, Jordan Galpin and Jacob Pfitzner who finished with 73.

The handicap prize was won by Birdie Burgess, Tony O’Connell, Paul Fitzpatrick and James Gosse with a very respectable nett 56. They were followed closely by Brett Williams, Andrew March, Spog French, David Williams and Sid Jones who came home with nett 57 ½.

The mixed teams seemed to have much more success than the men’s teams with a few very good scores. The gross winners were Greg and Cindy Hutchesson and Hayley Smith who scored very well with 69 off the stick. They were closely followed by Leo and Sue Price, Mark Edwards and Michael Mourbey, who had 70.

The mixed nett winners were Peter Walker, Luke Walker, Bradley Walker and Janice Coote with nett 55 5/8. Runners up were Richard Barnes, K Delaney, Joe and April Possingham, who finished with nett 56.     

The Kalangadoo crew of Bruce Redford, David Boyd, B Morcom and G Casey didn’t go home empty handed as they managed to take out the NAGA prize.

The best dressed team went to Deb and Blue Kuhl and Greg and Ange Foster with their Hawaiian themed cart.

The nearest the pins went to James Moorish (7th), Spog French (9th), Aaron Peek (13th), Carmen Clayfield (13th), Tony Gleeson (14th) and Jock Agnew (16th).

Long drives were won by Carmen Clayfield, Cindy Hutchesson, Janice Coote and for the men, Sam Burgess, Joe Possingham and Richard Barnes.

Despite the cooler weather and showers on arrival, players still turned out to brighten up the day and raise money for a good cause. Further information about the Mens’ Watch program will be advertised soon, with an information night due to be held in early December.   

The golf on Saturday was as hot as the temperature the day before with one of the biggest fields for the year with 32 players starting for the stableford competition.

The standout golfer with a magnificent 44 points was David Strother to win the B grade and have score of the day. Stroth played well above himself and was scoring freely with only a slight hiccup on the last 2 holes of the front 9 to finish with 21 points before the hotdog break. After the break Stroth really had a hot streak with 5 pars to have a impressive 23 points.

A countback was needed to separate the runner-up with Tony Gleeson edging out Trent Nankivell with both having 42 points. Gleeson had the better back 9 with 22 points with 6 pars and may have had a chance for the win had he not wiped the 4th hole. Nankivell had a great start with 24 points on the front but slowed considerable on the back.  Ant Mathys rounded out the last position with an uneventful 40 points.

There was a log jam in the A grade with 3 players all carding 40 points. In the last group of the day, Shane Anderson got over the line with 23 points on the back 9 to edge out John Mossop who was clubhouse leader. Lofty had 8 pars and a birdie on the 9th and was enjoying the atmosphere of his playing group.

 Mossop had 2 birdies and 9 pars in his round and thought he had done enough to beat Lindsay Storer, who had burned up the course on the front 9 for 24 points, which was one under par, before struggling after the break. Another countback for fourth was needed with Don Ferguson edging out Leo Price with 38 points.

Patrick’s of Coonawarra nearest the pin winners were Peter Walker the 7th, Mal Redman the 9th and Andrew Hutchesson on the 16th. The best 2nd on the 12th went to Daniel Rixon visiting from the Mount Pleasant Golf club. The Toffee and Treats Naga went to Mal Redman who had a day not to remember with a struggle all day which still would not have fazed him.

This Sunday will see a four ball Ambrose starting at 10 o’clock with proceeds’ going towards Men’s Watch. It is open to Men and women golfers and non golfers with some great donated prizes up for grabs. Hopefully a large turnout will attend for this worthwhile cause.