Bucket tourney buffeted

The Annual Trusthouse Bucket Tournament was played on Saturday, once again in extreme wind conditions. This tournament was started a few years back, possibly from an idea by greenkeeper Tony Brunton Lets have a fun round and make the holes as big as a bucket!(Well, almost). It looks easy, but you soon learn that a wider hole can create extra bounce inside the cup and it doesn't always stay in. However congratulations to the winners. Their scoring was very good considering the conditions.
A large field of 90 saw two ladies groups and three mens groups receiving Mitre 10 buckets and vouchers.
Winner in group one for the men was Barry Bentley (69 off the stick) with 45 points. Runner up was Stu Ingham with 44, followed by Mike Newport 41, Tony Bull with 40 and David Sadler, Chris Ranish and David Wills all with 39.
Group one in the Ladies was taken out by Nadine Jansen with 44 points, followed by Anne Brewer with 41, and then way back to Roselee Thurston and Lyn Andrews with 35. Barbara Birchall and Val Edwards both returned 34.
Group two for the men was taken out by Jim Tomlinson on 41 points, followed by George Rink on 40, then came Wayne Taylor and Ian Gordon on 38, Adam Birchall and Russ Sadler had 37 and Max Bayliss, Erik Behringer and Brayden Mazey all had 35. Group two in the Ladies was taken out by Val Willis on 42 points, followed by Beth Gordon on 40, Lesley Sadler had 35, Valda Anderson 33 and Pat Smith and Sue Braiden 32.
Group three for the men was won by Stu White with 41 points, followed by Darryl Turley with 40 and then a bit of space to Bill Shakespeare. Kevin Smith, Wayne Gillispie and Joe Skillcorn all finished with 33.
The nearest the pin prizes went to Val Willis, David Sadler, George Rink and Wayne Gillispie.
The annual Maori/Pakeha tournament teed off at 7.30am on Sunday and prizegiving took place in the Publisher late on Sunday afternoon. There were no real winners in this one as everyone (all 57 players) ended up with a prize. There were no team winners as both races ended up with a total of 307 points each. (Yeah, right). The real winner was the get together afterwards, with great singing and friendship. Well done Bob Paul, great organisation and hospitality.
There was not a very large field for the Marquis of Normanby sponsored ambrose teams event on Monday. The scoring format in this event was based upon Holden Scramble new rules and the winners with an excellent nett 58 were the team of Bevan Lambess, John Lett and Margaret Bradshaw. There were no bogies on the card Margaret must have carried them.Runners up on 63.5 was the team of Allan Heffer, Tony Bull and Tony McCarthy. Third went to Matt Casey, Lyn Evans and Chris Connor with a nett 64. Thanks to Laurie Hurley and his team at the Marquis for the prizegiving.
Wednesday night is twilight night and Ranchmans meat were the kind sponsors. An American Foursomes was played over the eleven holes and the pairing of Chris Williams and Stu Ingham came out clear winners on 31 points. Runners up were Ray White and Steve Larsen with 27, followed by the pairings of Roger Allen/Julian Cosgrove, Les Cherry/Duncan Pincock and Ray Clarke/George Rink all with 26.
The Plumbing World nearest the pin went to Allan Heffer, the Greytown Superette to David Wills and the All Teed Up to Ray Clarke /George Rink.
On Friday, there was a clear winner over the eleven hole course with Gordon Dragovich scoring 31 points. Tim Carr was second on 27, George Rink , John Lett, Pat Carew and Mike Newport all finished with 26 and Keith Rayner came in with 25.
Next Friday is the monthly Guy Hemming Tankard up for grabs.
There are no results for the Ladies Wednesday and Veterans here as on both days the weather was the only winner. However the Ladies Open Day has now been switched to Wednesday October 31 and if you wish to enter please ring Beth Gordon on 06-304-8655 with your entry.