UGC’S Allerton league golfers struggle

By P Utter

GARTH Mulroy played on the Sunshine Tour this past weekend in the Eye of Africa PGA championships, up at Eikenhof, Gauteng.

Making the cut was his goal, which he did and he finished in T35 with a final score of -3 for the tournament.

Garth seems to have found his niche on the Sunshine Tour and feels quite comfortable back home without the stresses of the overseas PGA tours. As always, Umkomaas Golf Club (UGC) wishes him the very best while playing in South Africa.

If he feels the urge to go back overseas again, his ‘numero uno’ fans at UGC will be right behind him. The next tournament on the Tour is the Dimension Data Pro-Am on Thursday, 16 February with the Joburg Open the following week, which all will watch with great interest.

The Umkomaas Allerton league boys played their first game last Sunday, (after their stunning performance last year in the B side and promotion to the A league in 2017) with not much success sadly. They played at Papwa Sewgolum Golf Club against Durban Golf Club and after a bit of confusion, UGC’s boys teed off, soldiering on like the players they are. The results were not all that great but they will certainly look to improve their standing in their next league clash.

It was so nice to see Raymond Clark and his son, Matthew out on holiday from Boston, USA last Wednesday, visiting family down in Pennington.

UGC also welcomed Dave Rickards and Jason Gilliver to the competition, with Jason giving Raymond a bit more competition than he would have liked. But like it or not, Raymond won the competition on a count out from Strand Striker, Garth Wilyman who took second prize, both on 38 points. In third spot was Rob Mathias on a count out from Nelson Moonsamy who placed fourth, both with 35 points. In fifth place, Peter Williamson swooped in, also on a count out from a Strand Striker and Dave Rickards, all three players on 34 points.

Saturday, 11 February was the 4BBB stableford competition. The club welcomed Selwyn and Annabelle Hesom as well as Austrian visitors Rudi Kneissl, Magit Petritsch, Brigitte and Sepp Strubreiter. Once again the count out procedure was done for first and second places and it was Keith and Lesa Vergottini taking 1st spot, putting Jimmy Spear and Rob Finlay into second place, both teams on 47 points. Third were Mike Cromhout and Michelle van der Merwe with 42 points, counting out Susi Suhonen and Lindani Mthiyane into fourth place.

Keith Vergottini won the jackpot with his 10 points, Jimmy Spear took home the hidden birdie kitty on the fourth hole which means he also got his two-club on that hole too. Sabiha Bacaus had a two-club on the ninth and Lindani Mthiyane on the 13th hole. The attendance draw will be carried over to next weekend.

Saturday, 18 February is the first game of the Alliance League – gather your teams together for a great challenge.

Sunday will be a normal social golfing day with a special price on green fees after 11.30am. Nelson’s “Sunday school bash” starts at around 11am, all players are welcome to join in, no matter what your handicap. Give Nelson a call on 082-428-9000 for more information.

A gentle reminder that club champs are on the weekend of Saturday, 4 March and Sunday, 5 March so put your names down soon as entries close on Saturday, 25 February.

Not forgetting Sonny’s fundraising day in April – as always, prizes and sponsorship are needed to make this a great one. It’s the only day in the year that the club has to raise funds towards the upkeep of the golf course, so your help is vital to the cause. Sonny will be delighted to receive anything you have to offer – so make his day.

All UGC’s information is updated regularly at www.umkomaasgolf.co.za