The weather report did not look good, however the rain stayed away and the 15 Members that made the trip up to the Barossa Valley enjoyed pretty good conditions.

Nestled amongst the vineyards, the course was in great condition – but beware, any errant shot can put you into the thick bush and big trouble!

Results:

1st = John Mortimer 37 points;

2nd = Darren Griffiths 36  points;

3rd (on count-back) = James Lunnay 35 points.

The next 6 place-getters also received a ball each.

NTPs:

3rd 0-19HC: John Elliott 7.0m, 20+HC: Nobody

6th 0-19HC: John Elliot 4.5m, 20+ HC: Kym Keane 4.5m

12th 0-19HC: Nobody, 20+HC: Mark Mancini 7.0m

15th 0-19HC: Nobody, 20+HC: Mark Mancini 10.5m

17th 0-19HC: Tony Harrison 15.0m, 20+HC: Nobody

Our next round is at Mt Barker / Aston Hills on Sunday June 19th.

John Mortimer 🏌️⛳️

SOUTH AUSTRALIA BRINGS HOME THE TROPHY !!

Each state fielded 2 teams of 8 players to play in this inaugural tournament, held at Royal Pines Golf Club on Saturday 30th April 2022 (Pairs Matchplay) and at Links Hope Island Golf Club on Sunday 1st May 2022 (Singles Matchplay), both on the Gold Coast in Queensland.

The teams comprised the following players (in alphabetical order by surname):

SA = Tony Carter, Bruce Clark, Benn Cox, John Elliott, Darren Griffiths, Al Macdonald, Andrew Reid & Stu Thomson.

Qld = Terry Greaney, Andrew Hudson, Debbie Malson, Scott Malson, Rick Popik, Dennis Schloss, Mike Willis and Oska Wyness.

Using Ryder-cup scoring (1 point for a win, 1/2 point for a draw and 0 for a loss), SA prevailed with a score of 7.5 to 6.5 over the weekend.

Prizes (sponsored by John Elliott, GPA Engineering) were awarded for nearest the pins on all par 3 holes and a long drive each day, winners were Benn, Darren, John, Oska, Stu & Tony.

Some items of note over the weekend:

Stu & John were the leading pairs winners on Saturday with a 7/6 score (the 4 birdies helped !), and Tony was the leading singles winner on Sunday with a 5/4 score.

BBQ Dinner at the Royal Pines GC on Saturday evening was sponsored by Huddo and Bruce (Desert City & Drill Quip).

Wines at the BBQ dinner were sponsored by Oska (ChampionX).

Bruce managed to lose but then find his 8-iron in his golf bag on Saturday.

Oska completed the entire round on Sunday with his new Pink Ball (won on Saturday as the NAGA award).

Thanks to Debbie for joining in with us blokes over the weekend and not complaining once about us – at least not loud enough for us to hear her !

John came up with the best excuse for not managing to make it to Sunday’s game – his house in Adelaide caught fire on Saturday night so he had to fly home early on Sunday to attend to this crisis !

A number of players (11 of the 16) also enjoyed a challenging game (thanks Huddo !!) at Brisbane GC on Friday 29th April – the “Captain’s Challenge” had us off the back tees and into some extremely nasty pin positions …

And, finally, as if 3 days in a row of golf wasn’t enough for anyone, a few players went on to punish themselves with a round at Southport GC on Monday 2nd May.

SEE THE GALLERY (https://saoga.com.au/gallery/) FOR A COLLECTION OF PHOTOS FROM THIS WEEKEND.