Peter Owen golf column: Around the Traps features a rare albatross and last hole heartbreak

A heartbreaker on the last hole has cost a rapidly-improving young Coast star, while a rare albatross has been nailed again writes Peter Owen in Around the Traps.

Ellandi Findlay, a quiet young girl with a ready smile and a killer swing, led by a shot as she stood on the 18th tee of the Palmer Gold Coast course last week, needing only a par to become the 13 and under champion of the Greg Norman Junior Masters.

Ellandi Findlay, a quiet young girl with a ready smile and a killer swing, led by a shot as she stood on the 18th tee of the Palmer Gold Coast course last week, needing only a par to become the 13 and under champion of the Greg Norman Junior Masters.

But, as it had done on the two previous days, the tough par-five finishing hole brought her unstuck, Ellandi walking off with a double bogey seven.

Her playing partner Godiva Kim, of Royal Pines, made a regulation par to take the age division by a single stroke.

Ellandi, a Maroochy River junior, was seven-over-par for that fateful hole during the four-round tournament, compared with Godiva’s one-over par – a bogey on the first day, followed by three straight pars.

But, nonetheless, her performance (80, 78, 78, 80) was outstanding for a young girl whose game has improved out of sight over the past few years.

And it was a triumph for the junior program in place at Maroochy River.

Maroochy River’s Ionna Muir (80, 78, 78, 80) finished two strokes behind Ellandi in third place, with Lily Surasen (82, 89, 87, 89) eighth, and Lizzy Harman (84, 95, 87, 96) 12th. Ruby Kavanagh (83, 79, 82, 79), a former Maroochy River junior now playing at Pelican Waters, was fourth.

Outright winners of the Greg Norman Juniors Masters were Emerald Lakes pair Kai Komulainen (70, 72, 71, 69) and Sarah Hammett (71, 67, 71, 72).

Ellandi Findlay shows the style that almost won her the Greg Norman Junior Masters.

Late surge not quite enough

Caloundra trainee A. J. McCoy turned in the best score of the final round, a five-under 67, but it wasn’t enough to peg back Victoria’s Lachlan Aylen in the PGA National Championship in country Victoria this month.

McCoy, who had won the season-ending Queensland Order of Merit Championship ay Wynnum in late November, finished outright second in the national title – the richest event for trainees in the world.

The second-year trainee shot rounds of 66, 69, 76 and 65, and collected prizemoney of $6325.

Another Caloundra trainee, Bailey Arnott, was ninth after rounds of 69, 74, 70 and 68.

Weekends are no fun for Shae

It’s becoming all too familiar for Shae Wools-Cobb – a fabulous start to the tournament, then a disappointing weekend.

Wools-Cobb, a Maroochy River member, shot three excellent rounds to sit safely inside the top eight at nine-under-par after 54 holes of stroke play in the Gippsland Super 6 event at Warragul in country Victoria.

So impressive had he been that he, along with the others in the top eight, were given byes straight into the second round of the knockout ‘blitz’ match play, each match played over just six holes and determined by a player’s total score – not by the number of holes won.

That’s when he came unstuck, going down to Brett Rankin. Indeed, six of the top eight qualifiers were bundled out in round two.

The event was won by promising Adelaide rookie Jack Thompson, who scored his first professional victory, beating Jordan Zunik in a playoff.

Dan beats the odds with albatross

The odds of scoring an albatross, they say, are upwards of six million to one. They’re probably even greater if you’re talking about one on a par four hole.

But Sunshine Coast golfer Daniel Hall wasn’t thinking about any of that when he played the shot of his life on the par four 268m 15th hole at Maroochy River during a recent members’ competition.

With a strong southerly at his back, the 10-handicapper chose a three-wood on the short par four, and hit it straight and long.

The 15th at Maroochy River is ranked the easiest hole on the course, but try telling that to the many members who fall foul of the ring of bunkers that surround the green.

Daniel’s ball landed just short of the green, somehow negotiated its way between the bunkers at the front, then rolled truly into the hole.

It was his first ace, but Daniel had flirted with an ultra-rare albatross – three under par for a single hole – during a recent round at Palmer Coolum, the course that hosted a dozen Australian PGA titles in the early 2000s.

Playing the 10th hole – a long par five – he hit a good drive, successfully gambled on hitting a driver off the deck for his second shot, his ball coming to rest a couple of metres from the hole.

One of his playing partners, pointing out how close he’d come to an albatross, asked him what achievement would he rate higher – an albatross or a hole-in-one.

“I told him an albatross,” Daniel said. “Everyone knows just how hard it is to even reach a par five in two – let along hole out.

“It never even occurred to me that, a few weeks later, I’d get both – an ace and an albatross – on the very same hole.”

As rare as it is, Daniel’s albatross was the second made on the Sunshine Coast this year.

Shane Gesch, like Daniel a Maroochy River member, holed his second shot on Caloundra’s par five 490m 14th hole in August.

A proud Daniel Hall with the ball he used for a rare albatross.

Cream rises to top at Headland

Brad Burns and Richard Backwell, two of the most consistent performers on the Legends Tour in recent weeks, held their nerve on Headland’s firm and fast greens to share top spot at the Headland Legends Pro-Am last week.

Runner-up at Maroochy River earlier in the week, Yandina-based Burns made it two wins from his past three starts as Gold Coaster Backwell matched his score of two-under 70 to record his first win since February.

The trio of Peter Senior, Murray Lott and Twin Waters’ Anthony Gilligan shared third position with rounds of even par 72.

The players then moved to Twin Waters for the 36-hole Sunshine Coast Masters, where Andre Stolz eagled the par five 18th hole to draw level with Peter Senior – both players shooting eight-under par.

They shared the title, five strokes clear of Sunshine Coaster Brad Burns and NSW’s Grant Kenny. Senior won the Sunshine Coast swing, from Burns and Stolz.

Merry time for former priest

It seemed fitting, perhaps inevitable, that the last official competition at Headland before Christmas should be won by a former Catholic priest.

Tim Nunan partnered Phil Maron to score 49 points and win the Closing Day Fourball Best Ball stableford competition on a countback.

Tim, a 21-handicapper, who had working stints as a parole officer and mediator before retiring four years ago, was a late inclusion following a withdrawal from Phil’s group and, according to Phil, putted so well he did not need to offer any prayers.

Phil, an IT expert specialising in business intelligence, joined Headland when he moved from Melbourne early last year, and Saturday was the first time he and Tim had met.

Strong showing by Sarah

Pelican Waters’ Sarah Wilson bowed out in the quarter-final of the Victorian Women’s Amateur Championship at Peninsula Kingswood Golf Club last week, losing narrowly to NSW’s Kelsey Bennett who would go on to win the title two days later.

Joyner wins last Legends event

Sunshine Coast veteran Glenn Joyner won the day and Andre Stolz the Order of Merit title as the Legends Tour season came to an end with the Casino Legends Pro-Am on Sunday.

Stolz looked like adding to his impressive win tally for the season when he posted even par 70 on the firm greens and in searing heat in northern NSW, only for Joyner to pinch the final event of the year with an eagle at the par-4 18th.

Joyner’s one-under 69 allowed him to finish a stroke clear of Stolz and Australian Senior PGA champion Guy Wall. Joyner was third in the Order of Merit, notching five wins during the year.