Saturday 19th September play resumed for the third and final round of the Mittagong RSL Shield. Round one and two saw matches won and lost as would be expected looking at the handicaps. Probably only major exceptions were the win by Elaine Jones over the Gail Fraser team in round one and Alistair McGhee win over Kevin Stafford in the singles. Round three threw in a couple of surprises which is good to see. Going into the final round Dugald Braitwaite team had a 7 shot lead over Mick Spong and team who lead Ashley Lewis by 4, Gail Fraser by 7 and Carl Spilker by 11 shots. With Dugald taking on the team in second last position it was no surprise, especially as he had Dennis Beatty leading, that Dugald won 38-10. His team’s other pairs game had Oscar Wahlin and Russell Knight against Bob Edwards and Tony Oakes. This was a much closer game with a creditable performance to Bob and Tony who only lost 20-24. Second placed Mick Spong with Bob Crowley played fourth placed Rita South and Gail Fraser and this was a turn up for the books as Rita and Gail took out a great win 17-15. To cap a splendid day for this team Jim Neely and Noel Fraser defeated Stephen Della and Josh Woodcock 25-19. Third placed Lewis Family team took on fifth placed Carl Spilker team. Two close games on the Synthetic green, strangely being played East West in a major club event, with one game to each team. Gordon and Ashley Lewis lost to Mick Flynn and Carl by 18-23 and Alistair McGhee and Greg Lewis had a win over Glynn Phillips and Dave Riddell 20-17. That covers the five top teams. In an excellent six place was Elaine Jones team who played the Staples team who broke Elaine’s great run winning both games. Enid Brown and Lynne Boshier lost to Mike Holmewood (sub for Keith Edwards) and Peter Lesureur 12-24 while Elaine with Elizabeth Hall had a 27-16 loss to Richard Denman and Robin.
The Coltman team sat in seventh place and they played the Brian Porter team. Two excellent wins for the Porter team here. First off Colin Stone and Owen Williams 24-12 against Dan Ticehurst (sub for Kevin Stafford) and Tom De Greenlaw while Peter (miraculous) Morales and Brian Porter 23-20 against Tim Blake and David Coltman. Final game was Neutze versus Coleman. Game one and Harold Wall and Barry Werfel against Don Chapman (sub for Glen Geise) and Jim Starkey with the win in favour of the latter 24-15. Terry Norwood and Don Coleman lost 22-12 to Viv Gear and Clive Neutze.
So who won the prizes. Only three this year with the vast majority of that going to first place. Of the teams who had no grade 2 players in the side honours went to Brian Porter and team after their excellent last round win over David Coltman and 104 accumulated shots. The Staples team climbed a couple of places after two wins in the final round and ended on 102 shots. Clive Neutze was next and eight on 96 and though Elaine Jones dropped a couple of places to ninth I am sure they would be pleased with their efforts. Carl Spilker was fifth, while both the Lewis team and Spong team finished on 133 shots with third place being awarded to Mick Spong after a count back.
In clear second place and a great result, one shot ahead of third was Jim Neely, Rita South, Noel Fraser and Gail Fraser. Their final place was greatly helped by Jim Neely’s 51 shot in the singles, but this team also had creditable wins in the last round.
Winners, Osca Wahlin, Dennis Beatty, Russell Knight and Dugald Braithwaite won by a generous 39 shots over the second placed team. Well Done.
In other news the semi final and final of the Club Championship Fours has been delayed a week due to rain on Sunday 20th September. The three teams who lost in the first round of the Club Championship Fours played a round robin event on Wednesday 16th September to pick two teams to play off for the Plate Trophy. Brian Porter against Bob Edwards first with a narrow win to Brian Porter. Brian next played Robin Staples team and lost this game. Final game was Bob and Robin with another win to Robin but despite not winning either of his games Bob and team accumulated enough shots to go into the final against the Staples team. This should be played on Saturday 26th September 2020