By Peter Owen
Shaun O’Brien is one man who can see the bright side of Covid-19.
After all, it’s the reason he’s living in the region, and playing golf at Noosa most Tuesdays and Saturdays.
Shaun and his wife were Sydney residents on a fortnight’s holiday to Noosa in mid-2020, when Queensland closed its borders to many of the southern states.
They looked around, liked what they saw, and decided to stay put.
Shaun contacted the head office of the Sydney-based insurance broking firm he worked for and put it to them that they needed a Queensland representative.
They agreed.
“They’ve been terrific and very supportive about the whole thing,” Shaun said.
“It made sense – they couldn’t reach their Queensland clients because of the borders, and with me here that problem was solved.”
Shaun joined Noosa Golf Club straight away and now works four days a week. Tuesday’s out because that’s a golf day.
The change helped his game – at least until the border restrictions were eased, and travel was again possible between Queensland and NSW.
“I had to fly down to Sydney for meetings and it cost me a lot of golf time,” Shaun said.
“My game dropped off and my handicap went out.”
Shaun was playing off 24 last Tuesday when he had his best round in months – scoring 19 points on his first nine and 23 on the second to comfortably take the C grade prize.
And it could have been the start of an extraordinary golfing week for the former Englishman who now lives at Doonan.
He and partner Ted Robinson were finalists in Noosa’s handicap fourball matchplay championship on Saturday, Ted having won the semi-final playing on his own the previous weekend after Shaun had to fly to Melbourne for a family function.
Fairytales, however, rarely come true and the duo went down on the 17th hole to their rivals Phil Bowden and Damien Hopkins, who were defending the title.
Shaun, however, saw the positives from his improved form and is looking forward to cutting his handicap even further in the coming weeks.
Noosa Springs seeks second straight pennant
Noosa Springs begins the defence of its zone Junior Pennant title when it takes on cross-town rivals Noosa in the opening match of pennant competition at Mt Coolum on Sunday.
The same three girls who won last year’s prize – Jasmine Lena, Sunday Moore and her sister Coco – will again represent Noosa Springs in this year’s Division 1 matches.
They will be joined by Alex Bray, who is a member of both Noosa Springs and Royal Queensland golf clubs. Alex, who lives in Brisbane, will travel to the Coast each weekend to compete.
Noosa Springs will also field a team in Division 2 of the competition.
That team, which tackles a Maroochy River combination on Sunday, includes James McCulloch, Angus Thompson, Josh Bell, Jack Dopper and Cormack Lena.
Noosa will also field teams in each division.
Junior pennant competition runs until early July. This week’s matches begin at 7am and spectators are welcome.
Best score good for only sixth place
When two players have the same score in a club competition, it is an accepted practice to use a countback system to decide which player takes the prize.
In most cases it is simply a matter of considering the tied golfers’ final nine holes, and declaring the winner to be the one who took the fewest number of strokes on holes 10-18.
If that doesn’t separate the players, the final six holes are used and, if that still fails to solve the dilemma, the final three holes. If a tie still persists, the score on the final hole inevitably does the trick.
Sometimes, more than two golfers shoot the same score and the countback becomes a little more complicated.
But it is rare, indeed, for six golfers to shoot the same winning score in a single competition and be ultimately separated only by a countback – as happened last week in Noosa Springs’ Monday members’ competition.
Paul Grant, Kevin Perkins, Michael Mason, Ric Holm, Paul Sprunt and Craig Willian all scored 33 stableford points, with two other players on 32 points.
When the dust settled, Paul Grant was declared the winner on countback, with Craig Willian able to tell the sorry tale of the day he shot the equal best score of the day and finished no better than sixth.
Missed cut for Martin
Noosa professional Ryley Martin, who has been competing on the Australasian Tour in Victoria and Western Australia, failed narrowly to make the 36-hole cut in the Northern Territory PGA Championship in Darwin at the weekend.
Martin, who plays and practices at Noosa Springs, shot rounds of 71 and 75 for a four-over total of 146 and a tie for 76th. Sydney’s Austin Bautista shot 20-under-par to win the title by seven strokes.
Strong Noosa challenge in state foursomes
Players were anxiously watching the Cairns’ skies this week as rain threatened to disrupt the women’s Queensland Country Foursomes Championships, where several Noosa teams were contending for the title.
Michelle Linklater and Sharon Vickers were representing Noosa, as were Olivia Dolan and Judy Meager, Allana Moore and Paula Jeffrey and Tracey Whitbread and Judy Patterson.
Noosa Springs’ teams included Kelly Lynch and Tracey Carter, Tereza Holley and Jen Carr, while Noosa Springs’ Silvana Phillips teamed up with Kim Cummins from Mt Coolum.
Christine Michael and Wendy O’Hare represented Cooroy.
The 18-hole championship was scheduled to be played at two courses – Cairns and Half Moon Bay.
Time’s running out for Cooroy Open
Nominations close on 12 June for this year’s Cooroy Men’s Open, one of the club’s signature events which will be played the following Sunday 19 July.
Nearly 70 players have so far registered to compete in the event and the field will be capped at 116.
The cost is $35, which includes lunch and a player pack. It is an 18-hole stroke event with an 8am shotgun start. Nominations can be made online by visiting Cooroy’s website.
Club competitions
NOOSA
Tuesday 3 May
Men’s stableford: A grade – Greg Collins 41, Derek Connolly 38, Mark Skiperdene 37c/b, Aaron Carter 37c/b; B grade – Graham Hillan 39, Mark Trevanion 38c/b, Derek Pousette 38, Bart Jaques 37c/b; C grade – Shaun O’Brien 42, Balfour Salsbury 38c/b, Robert Upham 38, Greg Peeler 37c/b.
Wednesday 4 May
Vets stableford: A grade – Colin Myers 37c/b, Richard Rudledge 37c/b, Mike Quincey 37; B grade – Michael Kumm 40, Dieter Hoffmann 38c/b, Jaro Cerny 38c/b; C grade – Kevin Shaw 38, Max Stockwell 35c/b, Shane Rayner 35.
Thursday 5 May
Women’s stroke: A grade – Sandra Callaghan 68, Cynthia Duco 74; B grade – Bettina Hammant 72, Pauline Hull 74c/b; C grade – Melissa Cowie 74, Donna Coey 78c/b; women’s stableford: Evelyn Allan 33c/b.
Saturday 7 May
Men’s stroke: A grade – Aaron Carter 65, Nate Jackson 67c/b, Jared Maunder 67; B grade – Grant Birkett 68c/b, Mark Chapman 68, Mark Trevanion 69c/b; C grade – Rod Allen 66c/b, Rob Bruce 66, Peter Croasdaile 67.
NOOSA SPRINGS
Monday 2 May
Men’s stableford: Paul Grant 33c/b, Kevin Perkins 33c/b, Michael Mason 33c/b.
Tuesday 3 May
Men’s stableford: Tony Carabetta 39, Craig Willian 38, Graham Owen 35.
Wednesday 4 May
Men’s stableford: Darryl Dent 42, David Hay 38, Alistair Rooney 37; women’s: Judy Buss 40, Tracey Carter 36, Lee-Ann Hay 35.
Thursday 5 May
Men’s black tee stableford: Ned Richards 51, Bob Hunt 36c/b, Paul Bell 36.
Saturday 7 May
Men’s stroke: Greg Taylor 72c/b, Steve Walker 72, Neil Cutting 73; women’s: Noi Pike 72, Jasmine Lena 73, Karen O’Brien 75.
Sunday 8 May
Men’s stableford: Greg Taylor 39, David Wrigley 36, Ned Richards 34; women’s: Wendy Hopping 31, Sandi Hoskins 21, Dana Angus 27.
COOROY
Tuesday 3 May
Women’s 9-hole stroke: Kathleen Butler 33, Jenny Tucker 38c/b, Elaine Henman 38.
Wednesday 4 May
Vet’s stroke: A grade – Richard Gibson 66, Greg Flanagan 68, Gary Menyweather 70; B grade – Ron Ballantyne 70, Errol Radley 74c/b, Phil Mason 74; C grade – Don Clelland 66, Alex Kologaras 67, Rudy Agerbeek 70.
Thursday 5 May
Women’s stroke: Kate Sawrey 73, Margie Lucas 75, Janine Wynwood 77.
Saturday 7 May
Men’s stroke: Div 1 – Noel Ackland 68, Richard Gibson 71, Cam Darby 71; Div 2 – Brian Clemow 67, Mike Rumford 68c/b, Tony Hayes 68c/b; Div 3 – Peter Palmer 68, Gavin Slater 71c/b, Kent Griffith 71. Women’s: Merrin Bartholomaeus 68, Sarah Brogden 69, Janelle Thorburn 76.
