The Kirkwood Engineering Race to Wainui turned up in the Nui for round 3. Sh*t weather didn't stop a great turnout for the Jamie Molenaar Testimonial although the conditions did hammer some (most) peoples golf. Great to see a few volunteers show up and hopefully a few new faces will become more regular players. Everyones favourite Command Unit specialist Dave Ed kicked everyones arse and took out the day with 42 points. A solid showing from tour Rookie (though now our offical lowest handicapper...) Fraser Smith saw him start with a bang finishing 2nd. Porirua's finest Morp came third, just edging perennial top 5 finisher Flavin and the Propert magnate Matty Taylor. Tour leader Andy Holmes kept the pressure on and maintained his lead with a solid 6th place finish, whilst the other front runners - Molenaar & Donnelly had days to forget. Fairley stunk it up (literally) in his unwashed golf attire, and there were nothing to report days for the rest... Waikanae up next, rmember its a Thursday.
Moley couldn't make it out to Martinborough but he's always watching... A decent turnout again which was good to see. Andy "Hurricane" Holmes blitzed the field with dead eye putting and 44 points. He nudged out one game a month Flav into 2nd place and a solid performance from Turtle who finished 3rd. Molenaar and Al Bundy rounded out the top 5 for the day. Nothing of too much note was reported apart from the German Hintz failing to make it past the ladies tee... It was great to see a big turnout from the Wellington brigade at Palmy North the following week, and congrats to Al Warnock who cleaned up everyone on a course where most struggled. Until next month... happy golfing
The Kirkwood Engineering Race to Wainui kicked off at Otaki with a solid 18 showing up for the first tournament of the year. New Otaki resident Mark Donnelly (something to do with $70k, a glorified bus-stop and 1/100th of a swimming pool... ) found his "home" course to his liking and ripped it up with 42 points for his first career title. The Spongebob twins came in equal second (Molenaar & Hintz) with 37, before a large group of 6 (Crawford, Taylor, Cummings, Warnock, Hughes, & Holmes) came in equal 4th with a solid 34 points. The tour committee has recieved an offical complaint from the Otaki course over the behaviour of our tours own John McEnroe - Josh Looney. There is apparently a missing tee marker on the 12th courtesy of his right canoe, and his poor daughter is missing her toys because they were left all over holes 10-18. The odd f-bomb and slamming of clubs is a given during any round but there are some standards to uphold... Next up, Martinborough
The Race to Wainui tour is back for another year and bigger and better than ever (hopefully). Kirkwood Engineering has kindly come on board with some sponsorship so the prize kitty is looking pretty good for this season. Ohariu Valley has been controversially left off the playing schedule and replaced by Otaki so we need a strong showing in the first round to justify the change (especialy from the moaners...) Other changes are the Open has been moved to Judgeford (2nd to last round) and maybe a change in the points for the last round but I'm yet to hear back on that. It will be sorted by tee off in Round 1. Catch you all there plus the newbies that show up from you guys spreadin the word...
The 2013 Race to Wainui Championship ended in slighly anti-climatic fashion as John Flavin had the title sewn up going into the final tournament of the year, however there was still plenty to play for with the Claret Mug being up for grabs (Nett) and the Jeff Schermer Memorial Cup (Stableford) still in play, and some jostling for the final overall standings in the Stableford competitions. A slightly disappointing 19 players turned out in what ended up being fine conditions for golf, and this was reflected in the scores with many players going low on the day (except Fairley, Murphy, Eddington, & Helicopter Mooney). Wainui local Jamie Molenaar was the standout however, shooting a Nett 66 to claim The Open championship and etch his name into the Claret Mug (at his own expense of course). He also banked enough stablefords to win the Jeff Schermer Memorial cup ensuring a not so inviting shindig in the Nui next year after the final day of the season. And if he hadn't claimed enough prizes for the day, he also took out the Matchplay final, beating out hot favourite Tua Cummings to claim the inaugural Marty Jillings Cup... And he held off Matty Taylor (the Weasel) & Dave Ed (Pops) and claimed 2nd overall in the Tour Championship! Misery Guts has never been happier! We had 22 paid up players on the tour this year which was up from 20 the previous year, although there was a drop off in attendance later in the year. Hopefully those punters return and maybe a few more show up to keep the tour cranking for next year. A big thanks to the NZFS Sports council for there contribution, to John Flavin for organising the fixtures, to Jamie Molenaar for doing the accounting, to Mike Crawford for crunching the numbers, and to last years winner Marty Jillings for his donation of the trophy plus a little cash for the prize kitty. With a sponsor looking very likely for next year the prize bank could be looking very healthy so make sure you're back in the running from Feb! Also thanks to the Golf Warehouse for their contribution and to Peter Van Nistilroy for his rugby tickets again (this is going on like a bad Oscar speech now...) Thanks all, see ya next year...
Final Results: Tour Championship - 1st. J.Flavin 2nd. J.Molenaar 3rd. M.Taylor Total Stableford - 1st. M.Crawford 2nd. K.Hintz 3rd. M.Donnelly Average Stableford - 1st. D.Eddington 2nd. J.Mooney 3rd. T.Cummings Jeff Schermer Memorial Trophy - J.Molenaar Open Champion (Claret Mug) - J.Molenaar Masters Champion (Green Jacket) - J.Flavin Matchplay Champion (Marty Jillings Trophy) - J.Molenaar 2's Champion - M.Donnelly
An iffy weather forecast, the Australasians and several feigning injury led to a disappointing turn out of just 12 tour pros at Judgeford on Friday for the penultimate round of the 2013 Race to Wainui (C). Perhaps the more competitively affected personalities WD'd in dejection when staring in to the chasm between themselves and tour leader, John Flavin.
One who did not pussy out was Molenaar, owning second place and in "hot" pursuit, only 777 points and change behind the swaggering Flavin. Looking to make a statement alas, he stumbled. His hopes of slash and burning the points gap were scuttled like the stands of trees around the course, decimated by the reason storms.
He was not alone, the bulk of the field struggled around the course which although in reasonable condition and with the sun shining, is a consistently tricky lay out with golf ball hungry ravines and water hazards, not to mention some of the malevolent beasts encountered by Donnelly, deep in the pines where the sun don't ever shine.
One pro looking to make a move, secreting confidence with his local knowledge was angry Josh McAlpine. Perhaps he was over confident, trying to have his was with the course like he was a Roastbuster on the front nine, his grip it and rip it approach came unstuck and some big numbers were scribbled on the score card. Pressure off, he came roaring back with a sizz-a-ling 3 over, 22 stabey back nine to get in the prizes.
The leader in the clubhouse by a country mile was Turtle after he turned in a magnificent 42 points, including a by all accounts sensational birdie 2 for 5 points on the long par 3 5th. But as the last group ascended the stairs it was obvious, we had a new contender, when dapper Dave Eddington came in grinning like himself when reviewing his most recent payday. His whopping (by anyone other than Matt Taylor's standards) 43 point haul taking out the honours. From memory, it was then daylight back to the also-rans on 35 points.
Bring on Wainui, The Jeff Schermers Memorial December 6th, party at Dempsey's after.
(Thanks to the substitute Mole for the report... far better than the
The day in bulletpoint form... - Flav won for the 3rd tournament in a row making him this years Marty Jillings - His dominance has turned the tour into the Scottish premier league where there's only one team in it - We (WGTN) trounced Palmy - The weather was nice - The course was in good nick - Everyone else on the day in a word - Donnelly good, Burrows good, Hintz good, Fairley good, Taylor good, Eddington solid, Martin solid, Molenaar average, Crawford average, Atkinson marginal, McAlpine rubbish. - Next stop Te Marua
Controversy everywhere as accusations flew about rigged Handicaps, dodgy dealings, underhanded tactics, and lengthy gimmes... just another Fire Service Golf Day. The first major of the year didn't disappoint with 24 trying to win the green jacket. Local knowledge and experience of the Shandon course proved pivotal as Dave Ed and Grant Ingham both had solid rounds to finish in a 3-way tie for third with everyones second favourite Australian in the Wellington Brigade, Bret Burrows. The title came down to the in-form Flavin and the defending champion Andy Parsons, as he deflected off abuse left-right-and centre to post a net 67. only Flavins recent form continued as he pipped the soft-drink man with a 66. That makes it 3 wins in a row for Flavin as he not only claims his first green jacket, but also extends his lead in the overall Tour. The quarterfinals of the matchplay were also contested on the day - Flav obviously won his match against Muffintop McAlpine, Fairley lingered around like a fart in an elevator before Tua closed him out on the 17th, Old Smiley Molenaar defeated Hayden Martin, and (D)Ingham swept passed an out of practice Tofts. The matchplay takes a month off before the semi-finals are played at TeMarua - Cummings v Flavin, and Ingham v Molenaar. Everyone was also held against their will afterwards to make sure there was a quarum for the AGM, where not much happened apart from Fairley being voted in to some position against his will. In more exciting news the tour looks to have secured a sponsor for next year which means more Money in the Prize Kitty! Watch this space...