2020 KGS

The Golf

The Format: Teams of four playing two-ball ambrose best-ball on Saturday and four-ball ambrose best-ball on Sunday.

The Rules: Since slow play is a potential problem for our gangs, these rules are designed to encourage play in the right spirit and at the right pace. Teams play their chosen best ball on each shot and may place their ball half a club length (about 50cms) from where the chosen ball lies, no nearer the hole. Balls must be placed in the same cut as the chosen ball. In the interests of fast play from tee to green, teams are NOT required to mark with a tee and precisely measure from the chosen ball as they play each shot. Team members can play in any order on a shot. Putting: Once on the green, Bushrangers should mark near the chosen best ball so each team member plays from near enough to the exact same position.

Handicapping: Each person will be assigned a handicap by the handicapper based on official handicaps and information supplied by the Bushrangers. The handicapper will be governed by a commitment to rewarding good play according to a player’s ability. Team handicaps for the ambrose groupings are calculated from the individual marks.

Playoffs: In the event of a tie, a sudden-death playoff will be conducted. Teams play together as a foursome (taking alternate strokes playing one ball). The order is continuous and carries over from one hole to the next until the playoff is decided.

Nearest-the-Pin & Longest Drive: Will be contested on both days and, in the interests of team gloating and solidarity, any player who wins a LD or NTP wins prizes and glory for his entire team.

The Rodeo Rule: This is minimum drives for each team member and will be enforced. Each team’s individual rodeo requirements will appear on their scorecard.
 

The History of The Kelly Gang Shootout at Glenrowan

The Kelly Gang arrived in Glenrowan on 27 June 1880 and took about 70 hostages at the Glenrowan Inn. They planned to derail a train of police coming for them and while they waited for the train, they kept the hostages entertained by breaking out the turps and firing up a party that was a rollicking good time. The party lasted for two days. Meanwhile the police avoided the derailment and laid siege to the pub.

The gang members, Ned Kelly, Dan Kelly, Steve Hart and Joe Byrne, donned their now-famous helmets and armour (weighing about 44 kg), and fought a gun battle with the police. Before dawn on Monday June 28, Ned Kelly left the rear of the inn in his armour and circled behind the police. As the dawn broke, Ned cast an eerie figure marching out of the morning fog in his armour and overcoat, firing his revolvers. Police bullets bounced off his armour and it was not until the police shot at his legs that he slowed. He eventually collapsed and was captured beside a large fallen gum tree. He was near death and not expected to survive.

The rest of the gang died in the pub, probably from gun shot wounds, although the police bravely made sure by torching the building and burning Anne Jones’ pub to the ground. The police suffered only one minor injury: the senior officer, Superintendent Francis Hare, copped a scratch to his wrist, then fled the battle and was later suspended for his cowardice. Police bullets struck several of the hostages during the siege, at least two fatally. Ned lived and left on the train they tried to derail.

Changes to the 2020 KGS Day One Format

The 2020 KGS Day One scores will be adjusted from the normal format of 2-Ball Ambrose pairs to instead be 4BBB Strokeplay which is also a pairs format. This is part of the SGA Tour event that day playing 4BBB.
 

The Form Guide

The Benalla Burglars – As the major town closest to Ned Kelly's home, Benalla was the epicentre of Kelly's bushranging days and was the police headquarters for the Kelly Gang manhunt. As a lad, Ned famously gave three troopers a hiding one day in the main street.

Dean Connell (Honeymoon)                   Aileen Armour (AA)
Darren Hansen (Hazza)             Lisa Saunders (The Enabler)

Without a single BRG Major title between them, this mob of transients and drifters have very little to recommend their chances. On face value they are four great golfing pals but scratch the surface and the cracks appear – they are from all over the place and they ARE all over the place. They certainly can golf their collective balls so if they can make it to the first tee in one piece, they might threaten in the right conditions, however, their lack of identity and cultural confusion make it clear that this crew of hobos and misfits are really just making up the numbers.
 

The Frosty Beveridges – Ned Kelly was born in Beveridge, at the foot of Fraser’s Hill, 40 kms north of Melbourne. It was his first home town and is well known for being at its best when the temperatures are a little on the chilly side.

Pete Jensen (PJ)          Michael Rohan (Grizzley)
Jaco Bothma (JB)          Paul Clifford (Biffo Cliffo)

It goes without saying that this is the most debonair, sophisticated, swash-buckling, worldly and humble team. Ever. It would not be stretching the truth to add that, as a team full of wisdom, experience, guile, wit, emotional intelligence, humility and intellectual gravitas, this mob may be the most articulate, cunning, perspicacious and erudite team ever to play in the KGS. However, what they make up for in character, they certainly lack in golfing prowess. Will probably struggle to contend over this distance but could be the classiest also-rans in the history of sports.
 

The Euroa Removalists – Euroa was the scene of the Kelly Gang’s first bank hold-up in 1878. They were most gentlemanly and polite throughout, as they calmly made off with £2000 in cash and gold.

Paul White (Whitey)     Jason Hartley (Knackers)
Cam Thompson (Thommo)        Craig Jukes (Jukesy)

This mob of sharp-witted, big-hitting, trash-talking, fun-loving, knee-slapping, rib-tickling golf nuts are very capable of taking this event by the scruff of the neck and prancing off with the Glenrowan Perpetual Trophy. A few questions do linger about their collective physical and emotional capacity to stay the distance here, but their mental strength and sheer ball-striking power coupled with clinical reliability makes this mob one of the favourites here this week. Are certainly here for the fun and a good time, but don’t be at all surprised if we see them elbowing their way through to the podium on Saturday arvo.
 

The Mansfield Wombats – It was the shooting of three Mansfield policemen at Stringybark Creek that lit the fuse of The Kelly Outbreak and put a huge price on the heads of the gang members. After this, the Kelly’s used the nearby Wombat Ranges as a hideout and a base for launching raids. It is well know that the wombat eats, roots and leaves.

Ian Steer (Steery)        Peter Calverley (Cuddles)
Geoffrey Steer (Bleary)        Rita Petrovs (aka Rita)

Impossible to draw a line through the form of this rag-tag gang of golfing megastars. They could just as easily rip this field apart or disappear into oblivion. If you see one of them ordering another tray of shots at 3am on Friday, perhaps leave them out of your box trifectas. Although this mob are not the sharpest tools in the shed, the KGS is a big shed with plenty of tools. They clearly have the kahunas, bravado, golfing insanity and liver power, so must be considered a genuine chance. If they have not blown up on Saturday, expect a barnstorming finish to challenge on Saturday.