Club results for November 7, 2020

Aaron Kotua won the season-long Barkman Trophy in style on Saturday (Nov 7).

The big-hitting 17.2 handicapper capped off an excellent six months by winning the final round of the trophy, a stableford round off the white tees.

His 37 points in difficult conditions decisively settled the race in which nine players were in with a shout of winning.

Callum Hogg claimed second with 36 points. Bryan Ramsey snatched third on countback from Richard Pearson and Alan Church after all finished with 35 points. Peter Green and Barry Rhodes were next on 34 points. They were followed by Paul McCrae (33), Steve Russell (30) and Dean Goodman (30).

Most golfers struggled with the slow and bumpy greens, the saturated ground and lengthy rough that penalised anything off the fairway.

In the final Barkman standings, Aaron's 41 points put him well ahead of Maurice Woodhouse and Barry Rhodes (32), Paul McCrae (31), Alan Church and Richard Pearson (29), Paul Tunnicliff (27), Tom Weiss (24), Dave Blake (23) and Steve Russell (20).

In the shootout final played after the match of the day, Peter Watson went from the outhouse to the penthouse. After an appalling 18 holes which saw him win the bat, he refocused to outlast six other finalists to claim first prize. Three others were unable to be there.

However, he relied on a couple of lucky breaks, including a drive on the first hole that struck a gum and bounced back onto the fairway and even more tellingly an overhit chip on the last that struck the flag leaving a tap-in par.

Jonathan Tuheke was the first to exit after a three-putt 8 at the first, allowing Paul Tunnicliff and Peter Green to escape after muffed shots.

Keri Kotua departed after losing a chip-off with Paul Tunnicliff and Peter Green after all bogeyed the second. Warwick King was next to go after three-putting No 3. Despite a booming drive, Peter G bowed out at the fourth by just a few feet after another chip-off with Paul Tunnicliff and Peter W.

Aaron Kotua - who had looked the most likely to win - botched the par 3 fifth where he got a shot after putting his first just short of the green. He then fluffed a chip and took three more to get down. Meanwhile, Peter W got up and down from the rough below the green while Paul knocked in a two-putt par to set up a showdown.

Both drove it down the middle on the sixth. Paul pulled his second into the rough while Peter came up just short of the green. Paul scrambled his third onto the green about 35 feet away and Peter's chip hit the flag at pace but drop just a foot away for a kick-in par. Paul's long range bid to force a chip-off narrowly missed, leaving Peter - who played the six holes in two over par - a slightly bemused winner.

Next Saturday is our end-of-season closing day which will feature an ambrose, BBQ and prize-giving. Please invite our family, friends and colleagues. You make up your own teams so make an effort to turn up for a fun day.