Busy weekend for interclub teams

It was another busy weekend for the Masterton men's interclub teams with three of the four teams in action while the odd team out, the Styleline Homes Division 2 side, had a strong interest in the results in the latest round in their grade.
Staying with Division 2, the latest, and penultimate round, played at Lansdowne on Saturday saw leaders Masterton sit out with the bye, whilst their nearest rivals Te Marua and Wainuiomata went head to head. Te Marua ran out the winners 10/5, a result that leaves Masterton with a reasonably comfortable cushion going into the last round against Shandon at Judgeford next Saturday. However, there is no certainty in sport as the Crusaders found to their cost last weekend.
The Masterton Division 3 team went down 10/5 to Paraparaumu over at Paraparaumu, not too bad a result for an away match. Despite promising faithfully to fax the detailed results through to us, they haven't appeared, so I can't tell you who won, but then I can't tell you who lost either, so it's probably just as well. I do know that Bob Hill halved his match, despite shooting a nice 75.
Incidentally the Paraparaumu greens, cored recently, have come up in fine condition. The result leaves Masterton about third on the ladder, with just two matches to go, against Te Marua at Te Marua next Saturday, and then finally versus Mornington at Lansdowne on Saturday May 25.
Masterton Division 6 team had a very comfortable 11?/3? win over Kapiti at Lansdowne, a result which saw the four ball 4/1 and the singles 7?/2?. Most Masterton players had comfortable victories with Alan Sadler's 8/7 win the best of the lot.
On the other hand, Herb Ruhe struck an opponent for whom everything turned to gold, so Herb walks away with the rear-enders trophy.
The Division 6 side are probably in second place, just half a point behind Kapiti, although other results are not in as I write. Masterton also have two matches to go, versus Judgeford next Saturday at Masterton, and then a crunch away game on May 27 against Karori at Karori.
On Sunday Masterton played Martinborough at Martinbourough in the penultimate Marquis Shield round for the season. Masterton did quite well going down 7/5 against the host team who had been co-leaders up to that point. However, a big victory to Carterton has seen a dramatic change in the ladder with Masterton needing to do well in the final round against Eketahuna at Featherston to avoid the dreaded wooden spoon.
For Masterton, captain Steve Hemingway once again showed the way with a two up victory. However, it wasn't easy as our Steve was 5 down at one point, and still four down with 7 to play. Other winners were Goff Moorcock, Mark Clarkson, Colin Hicks and the unflinching Alex Tulloch.
Last Saturday, apart from the big group of interclub players, a small but select number of members took part in a stableford competition with these results:
Men Division 1: Peter Cameron 41 pts 1st, Henry Stechman 37 pts 2nd.
Men Division 2: Harry Wong 42 pts 1st, Cor Van Kesteran 37 pts 2nd.
Vicky Duffy won the women's section while the nearest the pin prizes went to Harry Wong at the Alex McLeod 8th hole, to Tony (AA) Roseingrave at the Fire Services 11th hole, and to Henry Stechman at the Money Managers 18th hole.
On Monday the Vets finally struck a good day with the outcome of a big turnout of 60 golfers for their stableford competition. The numbers were also boosted by the presence of visitors from Mahunga for the first of their home and away matches. Results:
Women: Peg Napier 28 pts 1st, Beryl Stuart 27 pts 2nd, Jill Chandler 25 pts 3rd.
Men Group 1: Jim Picking 30 pts 1st, Rex Fowler 29 pts 2nd, Barry Smith 27 pts 3rd.
Men Group 2: Michael Bell 30 pts 1st, Ron Hutcheson 29 pts 2nd, Bill Hamilton 28 pts 3rd.
Nearest the pin prize at the Fagan Ford 8th hole was Kel Biggs.
Next Saturday, April 29 features a stableford but it is also the day when Grandads get their chance to strut their stuff with the big Grandad's Trophy leading the action.
Then further ahead to the following weekend we see the big one ? the Trust House Men's Wairarapa Open 72 hole stroke play championship, to be held on Saturday and Sunday, May 6/7. The Senior and Intermediate Championships are held at Lansdowne, while the Junior Championship, over 36 holes is scheduled for Mahunga.
Earlier this week entries were still being taken in all three events with the dividing line for the groups being: Seniors up to handicap index 8.2, Intermediate 8.3 ? 14.1, Junior 14.2 +.
I note with interest that our worthy Club Captain Mike Dixon has, through a series of good rounds, moved from Intermediates into the exalted ranks of the Seniors. When I was Club Captain my handicap showed a pronounced tendency to go out in the direction of Junior B. Obviously I could concentrate on only one thing at a time whereas Mike can handle both administration and club competently.
Obviously Zeus (God of Weather) has many more guns than Bacchus (God of Wine) as, once again, the Wine and Dine Tournament has had to be postponed because of inclement weather. Anzac Day turned out to be very wet and only two women were hardy enough to go out and play. In a perverse twist of fate, the tournament will probably now be held on Monday 5 June (Queen's Birthday), the day it has been played on for the last few years.
The reason for the change this year was to get away from the bad weather that always seems to fall on that day.
Graeme Jones will be delighted as Queen's Birthday is the day he has been pushing for all along.
Off the Fairway
Now that Simon Dew is a mature 21 year old he is off to spend the summer being a Counsellor at a Summer Camp in Canada. I hope he has taken to heart the immortal words of the song by Allen Sherman, "Letter from Camp".
"Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah, Here I am at Camp Granada,
Camp is very entertaining and they say we'll have some fun if it stops raining."
Simon will be pleased to know it did stop raining and I hope he has a lot of fun at his camp.