Interclub spotlighted

Interclub action was once again the name of the game last weekend, with three matches on Saturday, and two more on Sunday. The overall result was slightly in Masterton's favour with three wins against two losses.
Starting with the Wellington men's inter club competition last Saturday, we find that the Division 2 team had a hard-earned 8/7 victory over Paraparaumu, at the Judgeford course. Masterton began badly losing the foursomes 1 ? /3 ? , with only Brent McKenzie and Courtney Gane posting a win. However, the afternoon's singles proved a different story with wins to Simon Dew, Brent McKenzie, Robin Smith, Wade Walker, Alan Sandford and Ben Campbell, while Courtney Gane came out with a half. Alan Sandford had a notable 7/6 victory, while Ben Campbell, drafted from the Division 6 team, was even with par in his 4/2 success.
The Division 3 team has been going pretty well this season, but even with the advantage of a home venue, they were unable to cope with the Judgeford juggernaut, going down 5 ? /9 ? to the Division's clear favourites. For Masterton, Jeff Ogg, Kevin Mackay, Murray Wolland and Ian Buchanan, all had wins, while Pete Jackson halved his match. Spare a thought for poor old Paul Fouhy, who retained the porcine posterior trophy, after his 5/4 defeat. Paul finished the round one under his handicap, but his opponent was one under the care!
The Division 6 team playing against Hutt on that team's course, were defeated 5/10 with an 8am tee off possibly accounting for a somewhat tired approach by Masterton. In the singles Barry Smith had an excellent win, while Ithial Stya and Robin Carseldine also posted victories. The rear-ender trophy was no problem ? a 7/6 loss by Bruce Watkins guaranteed that!
On Sunday in the third round of the Marquis Shield, Masterton had a good 7/5 win over Featherston, in a contest played at Mahunga. Mike Dixon's 4/3 victory was the best of the seniors, though Shane Grant and Colin Hicks posted halves. In the Intermediate Innes Kennard was the only winner, while Goff Moorcock and Rod Garden lost their matches. Now I know that Rod threw a great party on the Saturday night for his lovely Liz's birthday, but what was Goff's excuse?
Astonishingly, the strength of the Masterton team is in the juniors this year, with Tala Mapusua and Steve Hemingway winning their matches, while the terrible twins, Alex McLeod and Alex Tulloch continued on their unbeaten ways, although once again Alex T had to settle for a half. I hope you're not getting too confident now Alex.
Finally the Masterton Women's Tilson Salver team had a convincing 5/1 victory over Featherston in a round played at Castlepoint. Lorraine Stewart had a big 7/5 victory, while Lesley Roberts, Helen Newland and Marilyn Beetham all won their matches. However, star of the day had to be Sereana Phillipps, who was five down after five holes, before finishing with a 1 up victory.
Back at Lansdowne last Saturday, a small field took part in a South African stableford, with these results:-
Cor Van Kesteren and Ray Verhaart 78pts 1.
Graeme Jones and John Money 66pts 2
Roly Brown was nearest the pin at the Alex McLeod 8th hole, while Shane Grant did best at the Fire Services 11th.
Last week saw what was a record turnout of 21 9 holers competing in a stablefield event. In that star studded field, Di Wilton proved too good, finishing ahead of Mary Mahoney and Marie Wilson.
Masterton Vets had a trip away to Feilding last Monday, so there are no results. Hopefully the day finished up okay, after the non-arrival of the bus caused some delay.
This Saturday, April 16, sees the staging of the men's 36 hole stroke play championship for the Sellar Trophy. The draw for the event is as follows:
No 1 Tee:
8.00am: K Dougherty, PE Williams, T Crum, R Fowler
8.08am: H Stechman, G Masters, R Brown, Arthur Sandford
8.16am: B Campbell, Alan Sandford, P Fouhy, H Bateman.
8.24am: P Rutene, T Campbell, H Ruhe, R Carseldine.
This group tee off No 9 in the afternoon.
No 9 Tee:
8.00am: D Hogg, A Peterson, S Grant, M Wolland
8.08am: J Harrild, R Stewart, A Hale, A Carroll
8.16am: N Udy, M Dixon, J Lyle, P Jackson
8.24am: S Dew, P Forrester, W Walker, S Forrester.
This group tee off No 1 in the afternoon.
For those members not in the Sellar Trophy there is an 18 hole stroke round starting at the usual time.
On Tuesday a good field of 43 women took part in a mixed stableford competition.
Silver Division:
Hannah Meulenbroek 43 pts 1
Marion Long 39 pts 2
Bronze A:
Jan McLaren 37 pts 1
(on count back from Liz Waddington)
Bronze B:
Sandra McCoshim 34pts 1
Mary Jane Watson 31 pts 2
Pauline McKenzie was nearest the pin at the Graeme Jones Car Rental 8th hole, while Hannah Meulenbroek did best at the Write Price 18th.
Last Monday the women's Lansdowne Trophy team played a very powerful Royal Wellington side at Shandon. The Wairarapa women always struggled against opponents clearly on lower handicaps. While Wairarapa only managed 1 ? points, every match went to the 17th or 18th hole. Tori Forrester was the only local woman to win her singles, while combined with Deirdre Walker the pair posted a half.
Off the Fairway
While I'm not a great betting man myself, I am part of a little syndicate who always have a bet on the four golfing "majors". While we got our money back with a shrewd "saver" on Tiger Woods in the Masters, our real support lay with Chris Di Marco, who we had secured at the lucrative odds of 60 to one. However, it was not to be, though I still think he was more than a little unlucky not to take the top prize.