SUE Walter claimed her ninth Hamilton Golf Club Ladies Championship win with a final round of 81, winning by four shots from Kerryn Price.
Price had her chances in the last round, pegging back a shot on seventh hole and then another two shots on the eighth when she scored an eagle and Walter parred the hole.
Walter then regrouped and continued to par every hole except for the final two holes, and by then she had a comfortable lead with Price finishing the final round on 80.
Other contenders in A grade were Molly O’Brien, who continues to go from strength to strength and will certainly be a future club champion, as the talented junior finished with a final round of 87, while Lyn Satchell’s final round was 93.
In the men’s final, Wayne Riddle prevailed to win his first club championship at Hamilton.
Riddle who plays off scratch went into round three on Saturday with a two-shot lead over Graham Rentsch, with Jason Chandler a further three shots behind with Malcolm Groves rounding out the top four, but 16 shots off the pace.
Groves had the best third round with 75, followed by Riddle 78, Rentsch 79 and Chandler 83, which meant heading into the final round on Sunday Riddle held a three-shot lead with a total of 230, over Rentsch 233, with Chandler 240 and Groves 243.
In an exciting last round, Rentsch was only trailing by one shot after the first nine holes after a costly seven on the second hole when he put his drive out of bounds.
Riddle steadied himself to come home with a 35 on the back nine to be one shot better than Rentsch, to claim the championship by two shots.
Chandler finished third with a final round of 80 from Mal Groves’ 82.
The men’s B grade was also a very close affair with Tim Lloyd having a strong round three, as his 79 pegged back five shots on Adam Manson to draw level heading into the final round.
Marten Chin had a third round of 82, leaving him two shots back.
Manson had a steady final round of 84 to win his second club championship, previously topping the C grade ranks in 2007.
Manson finished with 338, with Lloyd claiming second with 341 with Chin finishing third on 345.
The women’s B grade championship was won by Pam White, her first club title.
White was trailing by four shots from Jo Forsyth and Kavell Lyons heading into the final round, but she maintained her composure, while Forsyth and Lyons got into bunker trouble on the 16th hole which proved costly,
White held a one-shot lead over Lyons with one hole to play, and both Lyons and White finished with a six on the 18th which gave White the Championship by one shot from Lyons, with Forsyth finishing third.
Shane Ryan ended up having a comfortable win in the men’s C grade championship after early leader, Cameron McDonald, was unable to play the final round.
Ryan finished with rounds of 88, 88 and 85 – 261, to win from John Raymond 98, 81 and 92 – 271.
Elaine Rentsch was very excited to win her first club championship in Hamilton, comfortably winning the C grade with rounds of 103, 104, 98 – 305, from Carolyn Lewis 106, 109 and 106 – 321.
Rentsch had previously won a championship many years ago at Byaduk Golf Club, which closed in the late 1990s.
The men’s D grade honour went to up-and-coming golfer, Shannon Kearns, who put in three consistent rounds, 92, 97 and 95 – 284 to win from Phil Grant 95, 98 and 99 – 287
The women also have a handicap event which runs in conjunction with the scratch championship called the J. Forsyth Trophy.
A grade was won by Price with 217 nett by one shot from Alma Fonda, while B grade went to Fran McMeel 228 nett from Deb Chambers and Lyons, who both finished with 231.
C grade went to Elaine Rentsch 219 nett, from Bronwyn Dwight 232 nett.
Saturday results
THE men played a stroke event with Ben Kelson topping the A grade ranks on a countback from Lloyd and Groves after the trio all returned 70 nett.
The B grade honours went to Shane Ryan 85(15) 70 nett, ahead of runner-up, Michael Kelso, who returned with 72 to finish one clear of Tim Brody, who claimed third on a countback.
Kynan Caruana topped the C grade scores with 91(21) 70 nett, ahead of runner-up, Robbie Fishburn, with 71 nett.
Third went to Kearns with 72 nett.
The women played a stableford round and Wendy Wathen won on a countback from Sue Vickery on 33 points, with Elaine Rentsch and Deirdre Simkin both finishing on 32 points.
Nearest the pins went to Kearns and Tania Cullinane on the third, Michael Holcombe on the sixth, Brody and Jen Pike on the 13th, and Mark Russell and Dawn Cay on the 16th.
Russell also collected the closest second shot on the 15th.
Wednesday
IT was a stunning day with 70 women participating in the club’s Western District Health Service (WDHS) 4BBB stableford event, with $350 being donated to WDHS for its MRI fundraiser.
In a close finish, Deirdre Simkin and Venita Mibus claimed first place with 45 points on a countback from Karen Mitchell and Rachel Slade.
The next five places were decided on a countback with Shellie Peardon and Sandra Colclough claiming third, Deb Pinniger and Jane Bunge fourth, Cullinane and McMeel fifth, Elaine Rentsch and Jenny Edwards sixth and Robyn Holcombe and Jo Brown seventh – all finishing on 43 points.
Nearest the pins went to Di Raymond on the third, Sandy Venrenen on the sixth and McMeel on the 16th.
The closest second shot on the 15th went to Enid Smith, the longest putt on the ninth went to Gillian Jenkins, and Liz Nichol collected the longest putt honour on the 13th.
Tuesday
THE club’s emerging golfers played nine holes with 11 players getting to experience ‘real golf’ for the first time.
Lucy Cameron had the best score of the day with 21 points from Chantal Butcher 20 points, while Katrina Boyd-Walsh, Nicki Martin and Lesley Forsyth all recorded 19 points.
Hit them long and straight and enjoy the 19th hole.
