Jake Turner was locked and loaded on Saturday, taking out the Blue Lake Golf Club’s Stableford event with 40 points.
Turner (26) started in the best possible way with a par on the first gaining a quick three points.
His bucket came up empty on the second but from there he scored on every hole, turning with 19 points.
Better was to come over the back nine with a superb birdie on the 12th and a par on the dog-leg 15th resulting in seven points which meant he was always going to be hard to catch.
Another C Grade player Cameron Heness (33) found form and earnt four points on the 12th and 21 over the back nine.
Unfortunately for Heness, despite his par on the 9th giving him four points, he was one point shy of Turner over the front nine which was what cost him the outright win and had to settle for the top C Grade prize.
Mike Dedonatis led the charge of the A graders and in a competition that does not favour the lower handicappers his round was as strong as granite with equal splits of 19.
Dedonatis (4) had the one solitary bogey on the front nine for 36 off the stick which he matched on the back nine with a birdie on the 15th almost making up for two bogeys.
The former bad boy of Western Border Football, Jarrod Ryan, has taken to the more gentlemanly game of golf with the same acclaim and took out second place in the top grade.
Ryan turned around a non-scoring bogey on the 2nd with a birdie on the sixth and was looking at a higher finish when teeing up on the 18th only to paint another red score in the scorecard with a double bogey ruining his chance of finishing square with his handicap of 9.
Stephen Smith’s foundations for a good score were looking a bit shaky, but he went on and built a solid score of 34 points after a 40 off the stick.
Colin Stratford claimed the B Grade win with a well measured round of 36 points.
His experience came to the fore, scoring on every hole to record splits of 19 and 17.
John Robertson (20) has featured in the winner’s circle for the last four weeks and had another second place in B Grade.
Matching Robertson’s score of 34 points, but being pipped in a count-back was Graham Burke.
Burke could consider himself slightly unlucky to have missed out by a solitary point over the back nine.
A disappointing scratch on the 13th eventually cost him dearly but he will still take some positivity after his opening nine of 18 points.
As expected the scoring was relatively higher in the lower grade with Bruce Tichbon (27) following Heness home into second place with 37 points and Russell Lingham one point adrift in third.
The up and coming Jorja Morale continues her advancement in the game and under trying circumstances in led a small field home in Saturday’s women’s Stableford competition.
Morale (39) put a disappointing opening nine behind her and stormed home with 19 points highlighted by no less than five three-point holes.
At the opposite end of the handicap spectrum Rosemary Martland (11) claimed second place with 32 points with no red ink on the scorecard.
Geraldine Scott finished one point adrift of Martland in third with a superb par on the 15th.
There was a tight chase for the win in Tuesday’s mid week Par competition at the BLGC with the top five players finishing within two shots of each other.
A special mention must go to third place getter Wayne Dunford.
The 13 handicapper started with three pars which earned him a solitary plus before wiping four of the next six holes and opening his round with -3.
But pride kicked in over the inward nine with two birdies (12th and 16th) and four pars to come in with 36 off the stick, +5 score and almost pinch the outright win.
But take nothing away from Ian Bown (6) and Chris Hoggan (17) who tied on +3.
Bown also had two birdies, gaining an unexpected plus on the opening hole with his first birdie and another on the 15th.
Wiping the 12th almost cost him the win in the count back with Hoggan but his +2 over the last six holes was too good.
