After not being able to devote as much time to golf as he once did Tony Brooks finally displayed the sort of form that cemented in A Grade in Saturday’s stroke round at the Blue Lake Golf Club.
Brooks (15) started in the best possible way with a birdie on the first hole before parring the next four.
His golden run finished on the sixth after a wayward tee shot resulted in a double bogey.
He added another birdie on the eighth to finish a marvellous one over the card 36.
An opening par on the 10th had him dreaming of the perfect round but that soon turned into a nightmare with three further doubles.
However, his determination led to pars on the last two holes to finish a superb round of golf of 79-15-64.
It was a trio of A graders who chased Brooks to the finish line.
The first being Stephen Von Duve who also returned to form with his round of 77-12-65.
Von Duve carved out his own birdie blitz on successive holes to take the turn with a neat 37 and he managed to keep the red ink off his scorecard completely, coming home with three pars to finish.
Also opening with a birdie on the first, Zeick Dalton edged closer to magical scratch rating with splits of 34 and 36 for a nett 66.
He opened birdie, par, birdie with the only blemish being a bogey on the difficult fourth hole, but added another birdie on the 16th to take second prize.
Rounding out the grade placings was Trevor McLean who had to wait until the sixth hole for his first birdie.
His inward nine mirrored the outward nine, taking a while to get into gear before storming home, playing his last six holes -3.
The good scores continued in B Grade with David Marshall leading the way.
Marshall almost needed to holler for a marshal on the fourth which took the sting out of his charge but he regrouped to finish with an impressive 39 on the opening nine.
No marshal was going to save him over the back nine unfortunately, butchering the 11th and 17th as well as doubles on the two par 3’s, but luckily for him he already had the runs on the board.
The big hitting ex baseball star Dyllan Lane had a licorice all sorts of round.
Luckily for Lane he kept the double bogeys off the last four holes and thanks to the vagaries of the handicap system his 43 was too good for former club captain Matt Jennings in a count back who had 42 but plays off 13.
Jennings was solid through his round, the only real blemish being on the 11th where he found trouble, but apart from being counted back to third place, will still be happy to have shot under his handicap.
Another count back was required in C Grade to separate the minor places after Ray Patching took first place with his round of 91-23-68.
Patching also had an up and down round, mixing birdies with some ordinary golf on some other holes.
His 44 on the outward nine set him up for a tilt at the outright prize but he found plenty of trouble over the inward nine that needed patching.
His round was good enough to take the grade win ahead of Steve Dwyer, Robert Lindner and Russell Lingham, who all tied on nett 69 with just the one stroke being the difference over the back nine to separate them.
Dwyer (26) shot 46 and with his handicap advantage saw off Lindner (25) and Lingham (21) for second, with the latter finishing out of the prize winners list thanks to his better handicap after both shot 47 on the back nine.
After taking some time to recover from a nasty fall out on the course Helen Stratford is back to her best with her win in Saturday’s women’s stroke competition.
Stratford has been doing the hard yards in her recovery and has only been back out on the course in recent times so being back in the winner’s list is testament to the work she’s put in.
After opening with a double bogey, Stratford hit back with a superb birdie on the second hole.
Follow up pars on the third and fifth holes was the best pain relief but she had trouble closing out the front nine with successive double bogeys.
Like the trooper she is Stratford put her head down and bounced back with 43 over the back nine to see the 22 handicapper finish with a nett 66 for the win.
Club Captain Helen Myers showed her leadership with her second place finish after her round of 92-24-68.
Rosemary Martland and Ronda Edwards battled it out for the final spot on the podium after they both finished with nett 70’s.
Both had birdies in their round but it was Martland (10) who prevailed in the count back with her 39 on the back nine being just a little too good for Edwards (18).
It was probably the best birthday present Brad “Razzle” Talbot could have wished for in Tuesday’s Stableford competition at the Blue Lake Golf Club.
Talbot took a while to unwrap the best of his presents, birdies on six and seven helped him turn at the halfway mark equal with his handicap of 4 and 18 points.
The biggest surprise happened on the 12th where a wayward drive required him to manufacture a shot towards the 13th tee block and hopefully finish somewhere close on the green. To his delight his pitch shot was perfect and found the cup for an eagle and four points.
Another three point par on the difficult 13th had him set up for a good finish.
He turned that ‘good’ finish into a great round with a birdie on the last for four points to card 41.
Talbot finished two points clear of the nearest competitors, Geoff Munt (22) and Chris Hoggan (15).
BLGC Club Championship results: A Grade: A. Williams d N. Doody 8/7; J. Ransom d C. Ferguson 2/1; T. Little d T. Bates 3/2; D. Christian d J. Ryan 2/1. B Grade: Scott Sawyer d B. Humphries 4/3; G. Coon d C. Stratford 1 up; D. Adkins d B. Papps 2/1; W. Dunford d A. O’Donnell 3/1. C Grade: B. Vawser d B. Speck 2/1; C. Davis d S. Dwyer 5/4; R. Lingham d K. Mansell 8/7; K. Milsop advances.
