Outstanding Noosa golfer George Giblett is in Melbourne this week, taking on the best players in the Australian Master of the Amateurs championship and chasing precious ranking points that may help seal his future as an international star.
Giblett, a member of both Noosa and Cooroy, is keen to secure a place at one of the leading American colleges and perhaps find his way onto a North American pro tour – an ambition thwarted by Covid-19, and his inability to improve his world ranking because so few tournaments have been in the past year.
“So this event is pretty important to me,” Giblett, 19, said as he prepared for a practice round at Victoria Golf Club prior to the 72-hole stroke play championship.
“My game’s in good shape and I’m hitting the ball well.”
The Australian Master of the Amateurs is one of the country’s premier golf events. It has been won in the past by players like Jason Day (2006), Rickie Fowler (2009), Tommy Fleetwood (2010) and Bryson De Chambeau (2015).
After this event, Giblett will look forward to playing in the Australian Amateur Championship in Adelaide in early February and, perhaps, the Riversdale Cup in Melbourne the following month.
“It all depends on the pandemic,” he said. “Even now I’m not sure whether I’ll have to quarantine when I get home, or for how long. I know I’ll have to be tested.”
With international borders still closed, this year’s Australian Master of the Amateurs will be contested mainly by Australia’s best amateurs, as well as a handful of players from southeast Asia. Only the top 45 male and 25 female players will compete in the final round on Friday.
Here’s cheers to Scotch
Each year, a band of golfers gets together at Noosa Springs to celebrate all things Scotch – the country, its golfing heritage and, of course, the whisky.
The number of players, once modest, has increased significantly with more than 60 men and women this year taking part in Scotch Day activities.
They included plenty of golf – an Ambrose event on Friday, a stableford competition on Saturday and a ladies day on Monday – a dinner and a presentation.For the past couple of years the event has been sponsored by William Grant & Sons, and the players have been quick to sample the sponsor’s product – particularly Glenfiddich scotch and Hendricks gin.
A piper was on hand on the first tee to send off the groups and the William Grant state sales manager, former Adelaide AFL star Nathan Bock, distributed the prizes.
The happiest player was Noosa Springs member David Hay, whose 42 points on Saturday won him a bottle of 21-year-old Glenfiddich. Runner-up was Chris Collinge, with Graham Young third. Mike Weston had the longest drive.
David Hay continued his good form last week when he had 38 points in the midweek stableford competition, only to lose on a countback. But his wife Lee-Ann upheld the family honour by taking the ladies event on the same day with 42 points.
Max honours his mate with a great round
Max Yann and his friend Brian Durham had been mates for years – ever since they were foundation students together at Melbourne’s Monash University nearly 60 years ago.
Durham and his wife spent Christmas with the Yanns at their Noosa home before heading off to Uluru, where suddenly and tragically Brian Durham suffered a heart attack and died a week ago.
Max Yann heard the sad news at 5am on Saturday – then, inexplicably, went out and played the best round of golf of his life to win Noosa Springs’ Monthly Medal, shooting 67 to score by three strokes.
“I really focused,” explained Max. “I felt I was dedicating the round to my friend Brian and I have no doubt the golfing gods were smiling on me.”
Brian Durham was a former captain of Keysborough Golf Club in Melbourne and, at 78, was still a fulltime teacher.
Max, though, is retired and has been a permanent Noosa resident for the past 10 years.
He’s had a home in Noosa since the 1970s, however, and spent time here whenever he could get away from his job as head of a national market research company based in Melbourne.
Before relocating to Noosa, Max was a member at Victoria and Sorrento golf clubs but readily concedes his golf game is modest.“I made it to B grade for a while, but I’m a C grade golfer,” he said. “I started too late. But I can tell you I’ve never had a better score than I had on Saturday.”
Headland group will be back at Cooroy
A group of Headland golfers, midway through a summer golfing safari at different Sunshine Coast courses, stopped off at Cooroy on Saturday and left a few hours later with a swag of prizes.
Paul Henricks won the club’s A grade competition with a nett 70, while his buddy Chris Pace was runner-up, just a stroke behind.
Paul, Chris and six of their mates are taking advantage of the break in competition play at Headland to sample other Coast courses.
Cooroy was the fourth of eight courses on their list – and, as far as Paul is concerned, one of the best.
“We had a great day,” he said. “Everybody was very welcoming, the course was in wonderful condition and the greens were great.
“Only one of us had played at Cooroy before and we were really impressed. We’ll be back for sure.”
The group allocates points for each outing and will crown a champion at the end of their eight-course journey. Midway leader is Jason Biel, despite being unable to play at Cooroy.
Play Noosa Springs at reduced fees
Local golfers – those who live anywhere on the Sunshine Coast or in Gympie – can now play Noosa Springs every Tuesday and Sunday for just $79, and that includes use of an electric cart.
And children aged under 17 can play free any day after 3pm, as long as they’re accompanied by a paying adult.
Noosa Springs has introduced safety measures to minimise the spread of Covid-19. All carts are sanitised after use, bunker rakes have been removed, flags are not to be touched on greens, and numbers are limited in the Golf Shop.
But that does nothing to diminish the pleasure of playing a golf course that is consistently rated among Australia’s top 100. Ring the Golf Shop on 5440 3325 to book, or email golf@noosasprings.com.au.
Club competitions
NOOSA
Saturday, 26 December
Men’s stableford: A grade – Michael Cantori 39, Shane Dunning 37c/b, Peter Fryer 37c/b; B grade – Clive Hart 38, Marcus Edwards 37c/b, David Garner 37; C grade – Norm Dewar 45, Thomas Cervi 43, Greg Peeter 37c/b.
Saturday 2 January
Men’s Monthly Medal, stroke: A grade – Matthew Gunn 69, Justin Morgan 70c/b, Leigh Hancock 70; Alan Meredith 67c/b, Matthew Leahy 67, Clark Plasier 70c/b; C grade – Jarrod Davis 69, Heath Hamlin 71, Glen Richards 72c/b. Rundown to 74c/b. Women’s Monthly Medal, stroke: Christine Baker 77, Rungratree Cox 78c/b, Allana Moore 78c/b.
NOOSA SPRINGS
Monday, 28 December
Men’s stableford: Peter Foulsham 36, Robert Joske 35c/b, Philip Morgan 35c/b; women’s stableford: Dorothy Marlow 40, Lianne Wamsteeker 38, Wendy Hopping 36c/b.
Tuesday, 29 December
Men’s stableford: Greg Kelly 38, David Hay 38, Michael Hitchcock 36; women’s stableford: Lee-Ann Hay 42, Toni Liddy 36, Marie Osborne 33.
Wednesday, 30 December
Men’s stableford: Timothy Smith 37, Robert Joske 37, Philip Dowling 36; women’s stableford: Sunday Moore 34, Ingrid Jensen 26, Sandi Hoskins 23.
Saturday, 2 January
Men’s stroke: Max Yann 67, Steve Walker 70, Uli Schmetzer 72; women’s stroke: Rowena Faerch 69, Sunday Moore 70, Tracey Carter 79. Sunday, 3 January
Men’s stableford: Raffi Sekzenian 39, Lyndon Benecke 35, William Coman 535c/b; women’s stableford: Kaye Bollen 37, Elizabeth Wadsworth 37, Wendy Hopping 36c/b.
COOROY
Saturday, 26 December
Mixed stableford: Div 1 – K. Stevens 41, B. Robbo 40; Div 2 – C. Black 42, C. Clancy 41.Saturday, 2 January
Men’s stroke: Div 1 – P. Henricks 70, C. Pace 71; Div 2 – P. Korczysnski 68, M. Turner 69; Div 3 – W. Carty 68, M. Woolway 73c/b; women’s stroke: Janelle Thorburn 75c/b, Judy Kitcher 75.
