The Forty Fifth Mixed Foursomes Championship was played on Sunday May 26 on a mainly fine but cool afternoon. A field of 21 pairs set out to try and win the coveted Championship and have their names inscribed on the O and S ALLOM BOWL – the winners being the combination with the best gross score over the 18 holes.
The Bowl was presented to the club in 1970 by OG and STELLA ALLOM who were founding members of the club and Life Members. The Perpetual Trophy was presented to the club in recognition of nearly 40 years of enjoyable membership.
This year’s event was once again proudly sponsored by Veni Tang and Gary Hing and it was nice to see the 2022 Champions take their place in the field. They were joined by previous Champions Chris and Stewart Wharton (2020) and the 11 times Champions and defending Champions Cath Bellemore and Paul Baster.
Other fancied pairings appeared to be the two captains, Rhonda Moore and Campbell Thomson, Patricia and Steven Noske along with the in form Mandy Sudlow-Brown and Shane Maloney.
Editors note – shows you how much I know!!
A brief overview –
After nine holes the leader board looked something like this
Cath Bellemore and Paul Baster 43
Chris Wharton and Stewart Wharton 44
Vanessa Stephen and Bill Stephen 46
Mandy Sudlow-Brown and Shane Maloney 46
Rhonda Moore and Campbell Thomson 48
Could Cath and Paul hold off the chasing pack to secure their 12th title?
The contenders after 14 holes –
Chris Wharton and Stewart Wharton 66
Cath Bellemore and Paul Baster 68
Vanessa Stephen and Bill Stephen 68
Mandy Sudlow-Brown and Shane Maloney 72
Rhonda Moore and Campbell Thomson 73
So it looked like a race in 3 so we will follow their progress over the concluding holes.
Chris and Stewart started with a double bogey on the 2nd hole
Cath and Paul started with a triple bogey on the 18th hole
Vanessa and Bill started with a par on the 1st hole and took the lead
Vanessa and Bill continued with pars and then disaster on their final hole – a double bogey on the 4th and a final score of 87. Would that be enough?
Cath and Paul kept trying but a double on their final hole(the 3rd) saw their defence of the title blown away. Final score 90. Started the day with a double and finished the day with a double pretty much summed up their day.
That left the Whartons. They needed some pars on the card but they just were not forthcoming and they finished with 3 consecutive bogeys and a final score of 88, one off the pace.
So congratulations to our new Champions Vanessa and Bill Stephen, who claimed victory by a single shot from the 2020 Champions Chris and Stewart Wharton.
GROSS LEADERS – Vanessa and Bill Stephen – 87, Chris and Stewart Wharton – 88 .Cath Bellemore and Paul Baster- 90, Rhonda Moore and Campbell Thomson – 90, Veni Tang and Gary Hing – 90.
The Nett event saw the 2023 winners Jane and Stuart Waters continue their love affair with the Foursomes Format and were runaway winners with an impressive score of 67, five shots the better of Chris and Stewart Wharton on even par 72. Other good nett scores came from Louise and Brett Thomson, 73.5, Jan and Keith Halliwell, 74, Vanessa and Bill Stephen, 74.5, Jan McFarlane and Scott van Heurck 75 and Veni Tang and Gary Hing 75.
Special thanks once again to the sponsors, Veni Tang and Gary Hing for their support of this year’s Mixed Foursomes Championship.
Our course, house and pro shop staff assisted in making this years Bowl a success.
The next Sunday Mixed event on the calendar is American Foursomes sponsored by Jill and Tony Morgan -scheduled to be played on Sunday July 26.
Finally congratulations to our 2024 Champions –
VANESSA AND BILL STEPHEN
From – Greg Fitzhardinge
