By Dave Ransom
A PERFECT perfect spring day greeted the 138 players to the 4th round of the club championships. With the leading eight in each grade playing in the seeded section interest among the members was intensified and a large crowd watched the seeded players tee off on the first. The scrutiny of the members and pressure of playing outside their comfort zone was on these players who had earned their spots with solid play over the first three rounds. They were certainly aware that this was the main event of the year as several looked pale standing on the first tee.
As with all things in life some people respond wonderfully under pressure while others needed some time to settle down.
With an eight shot lead defending club champion Steve Rippon was expected to outshine his playing partners but in fact it turned out to be quite the opposite. Firstly Adrian Bell and then Paul Hazeltine, Jarrod Gerhmann, Tom Persson and Pete Munro all found that little extra and made a charge at the lead. Steve appeared to hold off the challengers but a sorry 7 on the 14th coupled with a birdie by Paul on the same hole saw his lead dwindle to 3. Steve steadied the ship somewhat and despite the chasing pack’s best efforts outlasted his opponents to win his 2nd title at Jamberoo by 5 shots from both Adrian and Paul with a gross score of 294 compared to their 299 with Paul being awarded gross runner up with his 72 compared to Adrian’s 75. Adrian was able to take out the nett prize with 271 with Pete Munro coming from 8th spot to win the runner’s up nett prize with 279 by one from Matthew Bell.
B Grade
In B Grade James Thompson was also a raging hot favourite to win his first club title and so it proved to be with James shooting par on the front nine to effectively end all opposition. James completed his round on 80 to finish with 326 gross. Tom Zimmermann and Tim Young tied for second on 337 with Tom being awarded the gross runner up prize due to his last round of 84 compared to Tim’s 85. Tom was left lamenting his poor opening nine which left him well behind the winner. With James being unable to claim the nett prize it came down to a close contest between Bernie McGlinchey and Con Kiayias with Bernie winning with nett 277 compared to Con’s 278. The unlucky Tim Young finished third on 281.
C Grade
In C Grade Paul Rodgers took a sizable lead into the fourth round with Phil Hellmund, Tim Condon and Ron Hewson appearing to be his main challengers. Paul fired a neat 90 to finish on 359, however Phillip was able to apply some pressure with his 88 but he fell 5 shots too many to take out the runners up prize. Tim fired his best round of the championship with an 89 and finished a further 3 shots adrift. With both Paul and Phillip out of the running for the nett it was left to Ron Hewson and Phil Adams to fight it out with Ron winning with nett 280 compared to Phil’s 281.
In conclusion I would like to thank our sponsor, Drummond Golf Warrawong, commend the 61 members who were able to play all four rounds and especially the obviously keen C Graders who had the largest contingent playing. Thanks to those members who played in the seeded section. It was your decision to support this new initiative and hopefully it will encourage a growth in club spirit and interest in our major event. I hope you enjoyed the experience. Finally thanks to our office staff, Meaghan and Linda, who helped correlate all the scores, to the green staff for the wonderful presentation of the course, and of course congratulations to our new champions for 2014.
2014 Mens Championship Final Results
Jamberoo Golf Club Daily Cow: Archive 