MANY were muttering that’s not Nathan Ison out there after his theatrics at the Nambucca Heads Island Golf Course this past week.
The board member and business tycoon is normally more chance of finding Wally than the winners’ circle, but he’s hit a purple patch and his handicap has plunged harder than the Brisbane Broncos – to a 13.
Ison was again to the fore on Saturday in the McGrath Real Estate medley stableford which doubled as a qualifier for the National Handiskins and the local Top Gun competition.
He binned the longest putt on the 1st for the Ecomist prize pack and also scored the nearest the pins on 8 and 15 – but normal service was resumed on the remainder of the course as he cobbled just 27 points to finish 83rd on a countback.
At the pointy end, Garry Johnstone (14 handicap) carded a spanking 38 points including a bird on 14 to seize Div 1 by a point from Maclean’s Michael Beechmore (14).
Paddy Byrne (19) had 39 points to secure Div 2 on countback from Sam Bleechmore (19) from Merewether.
The scores were more raging than a bull in Pamplona in Div 3 where Jennifer Johnston (31) gored 42 points to collect on countback from John McRae (27).
Tamworth’s Peter and Jo Foster returned to their old hunting ground of Nambucca on Saturday.
In a bristling field of exactly 100, Geoffrey McCann was closest on 5 and Darrell Flanders on 7. Daniel Wren sliced and diced the Pizza This Pizza That prize on 13 and Chris Knight capped another otherwise lamentable day with the $95 Pro Pin on the last after hitting it naggingly close to 15cm from the cup.
Scoring like a man possessed – and he might be – Ison (14) iced the medley stableford on Thursday 20 August with 41 stonking points to win Div 1, five clear of runner-up Daniel Wassens (12).
Ken Marriott (19) wiped the first two holes before sailing home with six pars to post 39 points for the Div 2 ‘W’ from Andrew Cuthbertson (20) on 37.
Gun golfer Brad Fortescue positracked the longest putt on the 1st and was nearest the stick on the 5th, while Anthony O’Rourke picked up the NTPs on 7 and 8 and Ison on 15. Marriott has one of Steve Ward’s gourmet pizzas to collect after hitting it hungry on 13 and Colin Wormleaton banked the $65 Pro Pin on the last.
Div 1 women’s runner-up Dianne O’Leary (left) and winner Deidre Fletcher.
It was a Top 10 qualifier and stableford format on Wednesday 19 August when Deidre Fletcher (11) returned 35 points on a moist track to win Div 1. After an uppercut 7 on the 4th, Fletcher flew home with eight pars.
Debbie Grenenger (43) wowed with 43 points – the best score of the day – to take Div 2 in a stellar round including pars and four-pointers on 7, 8 and 18.
Flag magnets were Fletcher and Lillian Lukins on 5, Angela Paton on 13 and Grenenger on the last for the $30 Pro Pin.
All the president’s men had bailed, and the ball nearly too, as Geoff Harris pondered what next on Saturday.
Nambucca players interested in representing the club in the 2027 Mid North Coast men’s pennants competition need to put their hand up now. Hopes, dreams and internal unspoken conversations go only so far – put your name on the sheet behind the scorer’s table as the club must nominate and submit squad line-ups by 31 August. If you can play near to your handicap at home and away, you’ll be a valuable wearer of the green shirt.
Catchya on The Island where you’re guaranteed the win at the club restaurant and solving the problems of the world on the river deck beer garden.