Recap of the inaugural Peter Ward Golf Day
Saturday 17 October 2015 marked the seventh anniversary of the passing of our founder, Peter Ward. Every year since 2008, a group of Peter’s friends have got together on the closest Friday to his passing for an unofficial commemoration (usually held at one of his favourite dining / drinking establishments). This year, however, we decided that we would start a new and more formal tradition for all Ward staff to participate in. Peter was extremely fond of his golf (although it wasn’t necessarily as fond of him), and so it seemed fitting that we all have a round of golf (followed by a few beverages) in his honour to celebrate his life and legacy that he has left for all of us at Ward.
The host course for the day was the scenic Long Reef Golf Club in Collaroy. The day was characterised by sunny blue skies, a pre-game sausage sizzle, some limited golfing abilities, but most importantly, a lot of laughs and a significant amount of banter. With the Peter Ward Trophy on offer to the winning 4-ball ambrose team, the stakes were high. To spice things up, a number of sponsors kindly donated an array of prizes. A big thanks to Jaybro, Coates Hire, A.E. Bakers, Rocla, Global Synthetics, Antqip, Hanson Construction Materials, GK Earthmoving, Metromix, and Strathearn Insurance Brokers.
The top prize was taken out by Drummer, Nick Stama, Alex Mountakis and George Fanelli. A big congratulations to these four (although next year they will be appropriately handicapped). Perhaps the most contested and controversial competition of the day, however, was the “yellow ball” competition. Each team was provided with a yellow ball which had to be played on each hole (with each player in the team of four playing the yellow ball on at least four holes). Every team, bar two or three, managed to lose their yellow ball … most were water bound, but a lot of teams complained that “the crow stole my yellow ball” (yes, this happened to my team) or “the team in front of us stole our yellow ball and now they have two”. Nevertheless, there was one team that managed to get it around the course with the lowest score … and so congratulations go to Michael Leong, Dutch, Dave Reid, and Todd Arrowsmith. There were also the usual titles up for grabs – the longest drive, closest to the pin, best putter of the day, etc. etc. I think Drummer won more than one. Perhaps the most exciting one was the hole-in-one prize on the seventh (kindly provided by Strathearn Insurance Brokers) … unfortunately no one came close to walking away with a Jeep Wrangler that day! Maybe next year. And of course the day wouldn’t be complete without a turkey prize … and ironically, that went to my team … Julia Ward, Mick Mason, Erian Ibrahim and Mark Beddow. But we’ll be back next year with a vengeance!
All in all, a great day was had by all. A lot of laughs, doing something that Peter enjoyed so very much.
Until next year!
Julia Ward – CFO and the “unofficial” Ward blogger
