“What a silly place to put a tree …”, “If I had cleared the trees, and missed the bunker, it would have been a great shot … “ and “ … a magnificent putt … if only it went in ! “
These were just a few of the memorable quotes from 33 of Adelaide’s finest Old Red golfers who participated in the 2012 Annual PAOCA Golf Day at the very picturesque Mt Osmond Golf course on Friday 16 March.
This year saw Westpac as our Sponsor for the day, and we thank “young” Richard Hockney for his support … and golf balls too.
Led by the “evergreen foursome” of Rob Motteram, John Solly, Andrew Pontifex and Graham Evans, they showed a lot of the younger players how to play the course. They were in contention for the winning trophy by the third hole, but some wayward putting put paid to their chances later in the game.
The “awesome foursome” of Nev Aitken, Kym Perks, Evan Jenkins and Malcolm Hart showed some early potential to be in a winning position, but there were just too many trees in the way, on their steadfast advance towards a trophy.
The “erstwhile gentlemen”, Neil Paterson, Bruce Paterson, Ian Siegele (I spelt it right this time) and Rob Humphris played steady consistent golf all day, but the conditions were not to their advantage.
The “young foursome” of Tim Thredgold, Darcy Economos, Paul Varley and John Miller played some good shots in their round but they too left their A grade game home on the day. For sartorial elegance on the day they would have been the outstanding team!
The experienced team of Phil Motteram, David Holland, Ben Brazier and Phil North battled bravely all day, and it was the anticipation of a good lunch with a few reds that broke their concentration during the last few holes.
The “enigmatic experienced foursome” of George Reeves, Gilbert Rutherford, David Johnston and David Motteram, were well in contention of victory, but the ”youthful exuberance” they showed early in the game deserted them when they needed it the most.
Then there was the “Fabulous Five” group of Mat Henbest, Scott Cunningham, Bruce Craven, Fred Hamood and the renowned Chopper Pilot, Jim McBride. With all of Jim’s 30 odd years of helicopter flying experiences and knowledge of prevailing wind conditions, terrain topography and his superb poise and balance that is necessary to fly those most difficult of contraptions, none of this great depth of knowledge helped him with his golf game! Because of this, he graciously accepted the “trophy” for “the person who needs to improve the most next time”. Special mention must be made to Bruce Craven who interrupted his “Round Australia Trip” to play. Mat Henbest’s game was constantly interrupted by his wine selling deeds on the course. Scott Cunningham’s game was steady all day and he won the individual ‘best score of the day’ Trophy with 43 points, just edging out a gallant runner up in Phil North with 42 points.
The team of Richard Hockney, John Easling, Andrew Rumbelow and Michael Richardson were the winning team on 53 points for the day, but withstood a late charge by two other teams who came very close to beating them. Richard has a new training regime in store for them to defend their title next year.
The two nearest the pin winners were John Easling and John Miller.
Special mention to our “St Bernard”, Simon Miller, who made sure that no-one went without a drink on the day, whilst playing golf. He even forgot to have a drink himself, not like the Simon we know! He was so enthusiastic that he drove around so much of the course his golf buggy ran out of charge and he had to be towed back to the clubhouse!
We look forward to next year’s event, which promises to be bigger and better.
Fred Hamood
