Junior Team Result - Parklands 8 Ponteland 4

Report from Robert Hope :- A phenomenal result for Parklands on a wet weekend at Ponteland, when many courses were waterlogged and closed.
With a harsh defeat against City last week lingering on the teams mind, we knew we were the underdogs who would have been thankful for a draw.
A fantastic victory of 8-4 against a stronger and more experienced Ponteland side gave the team a massive boost, creating a wave of confidence for all and hopefully marking the beginning of a winning streak. The first 3 off the tee each gave 9 shots away while the final 3 were more evenly matched
The team would like to offer heartfelt thanks to Ben Goldie for once again playing number one, with the additional pressure that the position brings. This week Ben played four handicapper Peter Sym. Despite a shaky start Ben managed to sink a number of impressive puts to pull back a number of holes, before being beaten on the 13th. Well done Ben for showing such resilience in the match.
Oliver Hogg ventured out as number two playing six handicapper Adam Barker. Olly was up against it from tee off . Although his head went down slightly after the 8th, after some words of encouragement he rallied and was proud to finish five and three after being 6 down through 6.
Robert Hope took on nine handicapper Rachel Bruce reigning county girls captain. The two started off well and played shot for shot until Robert emerged victorious down the 18th with both players leaving with a mutual respect for the other and a new found friendship.
Tom Brookes had his 2nd victory for the junior team playing Mathew Fenwick. Having lead for most of the way, Tom won the match on the 16th green. A more enjoyable match this week for Tom against a great opponent giving him good reason to keep smiling.
Wayne Mcculloch showed guts and dug deep coming from three down through four holes to achieve victory. After a wayward front nine Wayne found form on the back nine to win the match on the 16th green.
Joanna Rumney played a storming match in her 2nd team appearance beating 15 year old Samuel Newman eight and six. Joanna was gracious in victory and also went on to support the team through the remaining matches. Well done Joanna, I hope Ponteland do not steal you away from us next year!
Samantha Malone picked up the gauntlet as team reserve once again and enjoyed a good round on the course.
Extra thanks to Brian and Trish Malone who came and supported the juniors and Jack who provided an excellent caddie service for Wayne.
Parklands juniors would like to recognise the welcome and hospitality we received at Ponteland, a close team of great sportsmen.

Men's Captain's Day Cancelled

I visited the course this morning (like visiting a sick relative) to witness the effects of the deluge. The pond on the 2nd has burst its banks and there is extensive flooding. With the course closed, there is little option but to cancel and reschedule tomorrows competition. The new date is Sunday, 9th August 2009 and a new draw will be made. The entry sheet will go out next Sunday morning as normal.

Wash Out for the Weekend

The Lady Captain, Maureen, was on the phone early this morning to tell me that the Ladies Captain's Day scheduled for tomorrow has been cancelled owing to the 2 inches of rain currently pouring from the sky. Such are the plans of men (and women) dashed by the actions of the gods!! The day has been re-scheduled for Saturday 1st August ... check the website for further details.

My Captain's Day on Sunday is looking very unlikely ... Steven Quince will assess the course in the morning and I hope to have the information out on the web and on this blog before noon ... b*****ks!!!!

Beaten but not down at Newbiggin

It's always a bad sign to get a text message when driving to a team match. I pulled over and read that Ricky Jamieson was going to be late. Don't worry. we have until 6.30pm to tee off. I arrived at Newbiggin on a warm and sunny evening. The threat of rain seemed to have gone, and we were ready for a tough match. The phone rang again. Ricky was not coming ... and with two regular team members not available I had no reserves. Frantic phone calls ... and voila ... Karl Mossom raced up from Parklands to fill the breach and we were a team of 6 again. But it was tough .... Newbiggin played the Penny brothers who are their Newcastle and District players with handicaps of +2. Their 6th player had a handicap of 2 .... a strong team on their own turf ... Matches at the start of the back nine were running to form, we were down in 5 and even in 1. The results started to come in ... Graeme Hewitt lost 5/4 but felt he played well, Chris Bowman lost 3/2, Craig Wilson lost 4/3. Ronnie lost 5/4 .... get the picture? The exception was Daniel Trotter playing at no.6 who had a good run of holes and won 4/3 to secure 2 points and ensure that we did not go home empty handed. Left out on the course with a growing crowd of onlookers was Karl playing at no.3 .... he was all square with three to go ... and his opponent was swearing, banging his club down, generally bad mannered. They halved the next ... then a par three ... Karl's opponent topped a chip shot and promptly broke his wedge over his knee ... the hole was halved ... down the 18th and both players had a putt for birdie. .... and both missed by a couple of inches ... and a half was secured and a point for the team. We had lost 9 - 3 but it was an ok result. Thanks to Karl for filling the gap ... it was appreciated by the team and me.

Club Championship Finals

It was Finals Day today and the finalists in the Men's and Ladies matches battled through 36 holes whilst the finalists in the Seniors Handicap and the Ladies Bronze settled their matches over 18.

The Seniors match was between Paul Gaughan and Mick Mcginney and this one was close. Mick was 4 up after 4, only to be reigned back by Paul and the match went all the way to the 18th where Mick sank the match winning putt to ensure it was his name that went on the trophy.

In the Ladies Bronze it was Amanda Pattison against Yvonne Welch and this was a hard fought competition until Amanda pulled ahead to secure her win on the 16th green.

The Men's Final brought Steven Quince and Paul Shanks together, both playing in their first Club Championship Final. In the morning session, Steven Quince pulled ahead to get to 4 up only for Paul to bring him back to all square by the 16th green. However, Steven then won the 17th and 18th to go to lunch 2 up. The afternoon session saw Steven pull ahead again, only for Paul to bring him back to all square on the 16th. Deja vu. Steven then won the 17th and the Championship depended on Steven sinking a 10 foot putt on the 18th to win 1 up. The putt had a run round the cup and fell in and Steven Quince is Champion. Well played to you both. Exciting to watch from two skillfull golfers.

In the Ladies Final, Candy Paige-Brown was facing the challenge of an in-form Angela Rumney and Candy soon found herself down in the morning session with Angela playing well and sinking some long putts to take a commanding 6 hole lead by lunch. In the afternoon session Candy had steadied the ship and was holding her own and managed to claw back a couple of holes. But the task was too great and Angela won the match on the 33rd (16th) hole. Angela became the Lady Champion for the 7th time. Well played to both the finalists.

Men's First Team Win against League Leaders

This Wednesday evening, we played Prudhoe, top of the Hadrian League with only one defeat all season ... we thought that this was going to be a tough fixture and it was .... for all our team members. It was a cool evening with the chance of more rain. The recent deluges had left the bunkers in an awful condition and they looked like dry river beds. The results in the individual matches were close and 4 went down the 18th and 1 finished on the 17th. There were wins for Chris Bowman, playing no.2, who finished 1 up by sinking a 10 foot putt on the last for a much deserved win; Ronnie Dixon who was 5 up early in his match had to fight off a rally by his opponent to win 2/1; Paul Shanks, our Club Championship finalist, won 2 up on the 18th with a great display of approach play and a very honourable half was secured by Craig Wilson who played the visiting Captain. Graeme Hewitt had a close match before losing 2/1 and Ian Davidson played a tough opponent only to lose 4/2. The overall result was a super 7 - 5 win and another feather in the cap for our team .... well done to you all.

Home Defeat for Junior Team

From Robert Hope ........ After an 11-1 defeat earlier in the season against some of our most experienced juniors, we always knew that Sunday would be a difficult match.
With such strong opposition, it was great that so many Parklands members came to support us on the first tee, thanks to you all, it really helped as City had arrived in force.
First on the tee was Ben Goldie playing Jack Hermeston. All credit to Ben as he was four down by the eighth but showed great resilience to take Jack all the way to the 16th. Our number two was Samantha Taylor who swapped the lead with Marcus Kairinos a number of times, before he landed 3 birdies in a row to take the win with 3 and 2. Robert Hope stretched his match until the 17th where a chip in birdie was needed to take the match to the final hole. Sadly, amid torrential rain and thunder Robert’s chip failed to find the hole. Tom Brooks played his second team match with high hopes and continued to smile even after being beaten on the 12th and having the dubious honour of making the after dinner speech. Wayne McCulloch played Chris Raff and fought long and hard, but eventually succumbed on the 15th. Joanna Rumney joined the team at the last minute, saving the team from conceding points. With a nineteen shot difference in handicap, congratulations and admiration goes to Joanna who showed guts, determination and courage to make it to the 13th.A great match and I think that the final 12-0 score really doesn’t reflect how well the team played, but that’s the game, and we all look forward to the next match.