By Casey O'Connor
It was a big weekend for the Warwick golfers who finally had the opportunity to enjoy the course after rain and the weekend program was full.
On Sunday the reprogrammed December Monthly Medal was played after being postponed the previous week. That was followed on Sunday by the Shootout.
The John Dee Monthly Medal comepitition was the final chance for players to book a berth in the Medal of Medallists round next Sunday. The Monthly Medal competition has been sponsored by John Dee for some time now and the club thanks the management of that fine company for their ongoing support.
A strong field of 64 hit the fairways. Matty Grew is obviously enjoying his summer without the pressure of football and coaching the Cowboys. He is enjoying some quality time on the golf course, and it showed on Saturday. He recorded a winning score of 80 off the stick for a nett 65.
It was one shot better than runner up Rhys Farrell who had a great round and shot a one under off the stick for his nett 66.
The “A” graders were to the fore with Josh Hynes (67) next best with 67, Geoff Hinze (68) and Jay Roberts (70).
On Sunday, the field lined up for the Condamine Steel Shootout and as usual it provided plenty of excitement.
The standard of play during the very long opening two holes gave a fairly clear indication of the level of nerves with plus 10 scores recorded on both holes and for a moment it looked likely that the women playing behind were going to overtake the men’s field.
Nerves settle and things heated up. From the 15th tee there were only “A” graders left in the group of five and it showed that much like Saturday the course was playing tough with little or no run and plenty of rough off the fairways which look beautiful.
By the 16 the four remaining players recorded a total of one under off the stick with Shane Scotney scored a birdie while Chris Haynes, Josh Hynes and Sean Haynes all recorded pars.
Sean Haynes dropped out in the chip off leaving Shane and the Hynes brothers going up the 17th. Shane was first to play his second and planted it in the middle of the green. Josh played a great shot through some trees to put his second on the back of the green and after a monster drive Chris also hit centre green.
Shane had a no fuss par with his shot while Josh also parred the hole from the back part of the green but without a shot. Surprisingly Chris three putted with a shot and it came done to a chip off between the siblings. Both played excellent chip shots, but it was Chris who moved on to 18.
Showing his previous drive was no fluke, Chris Haynes hit another monster drive while Shane Scotney found very thick-rough on the left of the fairway. He played arguably his best shot of the day drawing around a tree and placing is ball in centre fairway, just a wedge out. Chris hit just wide of the green and putted it up fairly handy. Shane hit the green but left himself a very tough downhill and sideways putt. He failed to convert leaving Chris a nice birdie to wrap up a beautiful round of golf and the Shootout win.
This Saturday a red marker stableford has been scheduled. The Medal of Medals contenders hit the course on Sunday with an 11am draw for the finalists who will be hoping for great playing conditions. Good luck to all contenders.
The results of the Ladies Shootout were not available at the time of going to print.
