Completing the first full round of North Central Playing Area’s 2024-’25 pennant fixture, Division 1 leaders, Wedderburn and Donald Golf, confirmed their rankings with comfortable wins over St. Arnaud Country Club and Boort respectively.

Because of its 2 points to 10 loss to Wedderburn, albeit by just 6 shots, St. Arnaud Country Club remains outside of the top four, while cross town rival, St. Arnaud, which demolished Donald by 68 shots, strengthened its grip on third place.

Wycheproof, currently fourth, bounced back from the previous weekend’s defeat and also enjoyed a sizeable victory, over Charlton, to establish a 10-point buffer over fifth-placed Country Club.

Alan Jackson provided the visiting Wedderburn with a significant advantage when he outpointed Mark Esmore 29 to 15, to which Damien Mason added another 6 shots, the margin established against Bill Rodger. The combined winning totals of 20 shots more than compensated for Laurie Witham’s 14-shot loss to Country Club’s Jason Abbott.

Boort’s Kevin Depiazza was the only visiting skipper to enjoy success at Donald Golf, after his first bowl on the final end gave his team enough shots to head Geoff Rigby by 1 shot. Rigby’s final bowl passed ever so close to its intended target, but missed, and Depiazza was able to pocket his final rocket.

Peter Hibberd accounted for Laurie Maxted by 13 shots, and Daniel Pettifer shaded Shayne Morris by 4, to give Golf overall victory by 16 shots and 10 points to 2.

Donald ran headfirst into a rampant St. Arnaud on its own playing surface, and suffered defeat on all three rinks, Peter Kelly to Ashley Dyke by 33 shots, Hunter Wingfield to Steve Zsigmond by 30, and Norm Hollis to Terry McSwain by 5, the 12 points enabling St. Arnaud to firm up its grip on third place.

Wycheproof strengthened its hold on a top four position, blitzing Charlton to the tune of 47 shots, on the back of wins by Paul Wellington by 14 over Stephen Perry, Brett Macdonald by 21 over Kevin Willey, and Jono Grylls by 12 over Ken North.

Saints move up

St. Arnaud moved into the Div 2 top four with an all the way victory over Donald, earning all 12 points after Lloyd Goddard downed Jim Meyer by 14 shots, Paul Micallef finished 4 shots the better of Beryl Milne, and Trevor Farrer fell 7 shots short of Kerryn Dyke’s final score.

Wycheproof also enjoyed a clean sweep, at Charlton’s expense, with Donald Denney saluting by 8 shots against Greg Wain, Paul Connolly finishing 2 shots up on Gary Bateson, and Rob Grylls enjoying his day out, defeating John Headon by 25 shots.

Donald Golf also banked the 12 points on offer, accounting for the visiting Boort by 12 shots, Shane O’Shea defeating Tony Matley by 5, George Wood finishing 1 ahead of Greg Smith, and Lindsay Borden enjoying a 6-shot margin over Joan Earl.

Eight shots separated St. Arnaud Country Club and the visiting Wedderburn at the end of the day, Wedderburn pocketing 10 points to 2 after Lance Standfield downed Phil Elliott by 8 shots, and John Grant accounted for Arnold Bond by 20 shots. Not even the determined efforts of John Needs and his crew in defeating an equally determined Ian Hall’s lot by 20 shots, could reverse the result.

Details:

• St. Arnaud Country Club 69-2 lost to Wedderburn 75-10.

Bill Rodger 24 lost to Damien Mason 30, Jason Abbott 30 d. Laurie Witham 16, Mark Esmore 15 lost to Alan Jackson 29.

• St. Arnaud 108-12 d. Donald 40-0.

Ash Dyke 40 d. Peter Kelly 7, Steve Zsigmond 41 d. Hunter Wingfield 11, Terry McSwain 27 d. Norm Hollis 22.

• Donald Golf 83-10 d. Boort 67-2.

Peter Hibberd 30 d. Laurie Maxted 17, Geoff Rigby 29 lost to Kevin Depiazza 30, Daniel Pettifer 24 d. Shayne Morris 20.

• Wycheproof 96-12 d. Charlton 49-0.

Paul Wellington 31 d. Stephen Perry 17, Brett Macdonald 32 d. Kevin Willey 11, Jono Grylls 33 d. Ken North 21.

Details:

• St. Arnaud 88-12 d. Donald 53-0.

Lloyd Goddard 35 d. Jim Meyer 21, Paul Micallef 22 d. Beryl Milne 18, Kerryn Dyke 21 d. Trevor Farrer 14.

• Donald Golf 78-12 d. Boort 66-0.

Shane O’Shea 24 d. Tony Matley 19, George Wood 26 d. Greg Smith 25, Lindsay Borden 28 d. Joan Earl 22.

• St. Arnaud Country Club 75-2 lost to Wedderburn 83-10.

Phil Elliott 19 lost to Lance Standfield 27, Arnold Bond 15 lost to John Grant 35, John Needs 41 d. Ian Hall 21.

• Wycheproof 85-12 d. Charlton 50-0.

Donald Denney 26 d. Greg Wain 18, Paul Connolly 22 d. Gary Bateson 20, Rob Grylls 37 d. John Headon 12.

Next week Donald Golf plays host to the Donald Bowling Club and all players are asked to provide a plate of afternoon tea to share.

This article appeared in The Buloke Times, 26 November 2024.