🏆 Winner Story
Hole 6 Said No. Williams Had Other Ideas.
Richard Williams picked up on Hole 6, stroke index 1, the hardest hole on the course. He still won. Front nine: 19 points. Not pretty, but survivable. Then something clicked at the turn and he came home in 23, the second-best back nine in the field. His best moment was a birdie on Hole 10, the opening par-3 of the back, where he holed out for a gross 2 and four stableford points. That hole set the tone for everything that followed.
Matt Andrade pushed hard on 41 points, a tremendous effort off a handicap of 30. But Williams had one more in the bag. He finished on 42, ten above the field average, and won by a point. Three players finished on 40, with the back nine separating them: Pribicevic claimed third with 24 back-nine points, Ewing fourth on 22, McPherson fifth on 20.
Leaderboard
30 May 2026 · Balgowlah GC · Stableford
Top 10
PosPlayerPts
1
Richard Williams
hcp 13
42
2
Matt Andrade
hcp 30
41
3
Mikael Pribicevic
hcp 16
40
4
Russell J Ewing
hcp 14
40
5
Bronson McPherson
hcp 14
40
6
Claudia Angelucci
hcp 19
39
7
Rossario Talarico
hcp 23
38
8
Patric Hobsbawn
hcp 17
38
9
Josh Horne
hcp 18
38
10
Ken O'Neill
hcp 5
38
Positions 3, 4 and 5 were tied on 40 points and separated by the back nine: Pribicevic 24, Ewing 22, McPherson 20.
📊 Field Map
The Middle of the Field Owned This Saturday.
Seventy-seven players completed the round and the 30-to-34 band swallowed nearly half of them. Five players reached 40 or above. Four could not get to 25.
40+ pts
5 · top shelf
35–39 pts
13 · strong finish
30–34 pts
39 · honest work
25–29 pts
16 · tough day
Under 25
4 · one to forget
✂️ Cut Line
This week the cut fell at 32 points.
Top half of field plus ties · 13 players survived right on the number
Survived on 32 pts
B. Colwell
R. McIntyre
P. Moreton
G. Birse
T. Reynolds
T. Plunkett
L. Trevenar
J. McPherson
D. Hill
A. Saunders
R. Humphreys
S. McPhail
T. McIntyre
Cut · 32 pts
Missed by one · 31 pts
M. Belford
S. McCooe
G. Smith
D. Spillane
Stephen McCooe birdied Hole 17 and walked to the 18th needing two points to survive the cut. He made one. Thirty-one.
💀 Villain Hole
Hole 6 Set the Tone. Hole 15 Agreed.
Both holes averaged 1.26 stableford points each. They are the same 411-metre stretch of ground, played front and back, and the field had no better answer the second time around. Together they collected 36 wipes. Hole 3 completed the damage in third.
Villain #1
Hole 6
Par 4 · SI 1
Avg stableford pts
1.26
Wipes
20
Villain #2
Hole 15
Par 4 · SI 2
Avg pts
1.26
Wipes
16
Villain #3
Hole 3
Par 3 · SI 3
Avg pts
1.44
Wipes
13
🎢
🎢 Chaos Card
Nine Points Going Out. Twenty-Two Coming Home.
Matt Belford scored 9 on the front nine. Four holes read zero on his card, including Holes 6 and 8. The course had opinions and it shared them. Then he turned and produced 22 on the back nine, one of the best back nines in the entire field on the day. He needed 32 to survive the cut. He finished on 31. One point short of survival after rescuing a round that looked unsalvageable at the turn.
Front Nine
9
Back Nine
22
Final Result
31 pts
Birdie Counter
33
birdies made this Saturday
55 birdies across the season so far
Eight players led the field with two birdies each.
👀 Quietly Noted
Stats that stood out. Things that went unannounced.
7
Rossario Talarico came as a guest and finished seventh. Thirty-eight points in a field of 77, outscoring 70 Balgowlah members on their own course. Visitors are supposed to make up the numbers. He did not get that memo.
22
James Swan went 22 points on the front nine, the best first half in the entire field. He then went 13 on the back. Finished eighteenth. The golf course gives and then, mostly, it takes back.
20
Bronson McPherson split exactly 20 points on the front and 20 on the back. Finished fifth. On a Saturday when everyone else was either charging or falling apart, he just drove in a straight line both ways.
📈 Form Watch
Angelucci Backs It Up. Ryan Regroups.
Claudia Angelucci finished T3rd on 37 points in Episode 1, then backed it up with sixth place this week on 39. Two rounds, two top tens, and she is moving in the right direction. Worth keeping an eye on as the season finds its shape.
Gary Ryan won Episode 1 outright, the season's first winner at 38 points in a countback. This week he returned 33 and finished twenty-seventh. One week. Noted but not read into.
✍️ Final Word
Williams on top with 42, one clear of Andrade. Three more locked at 40, the back nine settling it. Angelucci making it two from two. The season is two rounds old and already it has opinions.
Episode 3 next Saturday. The course has more to say.