Double delight for Christian

Double delight for Christian

Head Greens Keeper Dan Christian warmed up for his Sunday game against Scott Sawyer in the A grade Handicap Championship with a win in Saturday’s Stableford competition at the Blue Lake Golf Club.

Christian (4) started with a bogey on the first followed by a birdie, par and double bogey before rounding out his outward nine with 37 off the stick.

Better was to come on the back nine where the big hitting Christian made short work of the opening par fours with three birdies to close out the back nine with just 33 strokes for a total of 40 points.

He needed all those points to see off Scott Paterson (36) who also tied with the same point score.

The Talented Jamie Dunn returned to the winner’s list with his 39 points enough to take out the A grade win.

Dunn also had a rather tame front nine, finishing with four consecutive bogeys but still registered 19 points.

A double bogey on the 10th slightly halted his momentum but he bounced back with birdies on holes 12 and 15, adding another 20 points to his score.

A count back was needed to split Trevor Little and Jarrod Ryan for second and third.

After going out in two over and 18 points Little charged home with birdies on the 15th and 17th for a square with the card 35 strokes and 20 points.

Ryan (7) matched him with 20 points of his own, requiring a further count back which Little eventually won.

His 15 points over the last six holes were one too many for Ryan.

No count back was needed in B grade with Barry Humphries being a two-point winner.

Humphries (16) set himself up for a chance at the outright win with a great 20 points on the front nine but he almost gave it away with a couple of double bogeys on the 14th and 18th.

Runner-up Stephen Kamphuis did well to come back from a tardy front nine, wiping the second and eighth holes to turn with just 15 points. A birdie on the 11th kick started his charge to the finish, closing out his round with 39 on the back nine for a superb 21 points.

The desperately unlucky Paterson had an outright win in his grasp after a par on the 12th earned him four points.

Taking that advantage to the latter part of his inward nine Paterson had a run of three straight three point holes.

With that form a simple double bogey on either of the 17th or 18th would have been enough to steal the win but unfortunately it was not to be and he had to settle for the C grade win.

Michael Millhouse loves the stableford competition where he can use his generous handicap to his advantage and he did that on Saturday with 39 points and second place in C grade.

Ben Pudney butchered his front nine with just 14 points but his back nine was more like the finest scotch fillet, a near personal best of 41 off the stick getting him a remarkable 23 points.

Mike Dedonatis finish just 80cms from the hole on the fifth (but missed his birdie putt) to take out the pro shot on that hole while Colin Ferguson cleaned up the pro shot on the 16th.

Michael Egan, Colin Stratford and Russell Lingham all won their respective nearest the pins while Jakubenko took out the novelty prize for best front nine.

Like her beloved Western Bulldogs did in the recent AFL grand final Ronda Edwards took an early lead into the club house and then had to wait to see if anyone would finish over the top of her in the women’s round.

But like the Doggies, Edwards could only watch victory slip away with Annette Ford going one point better than her to take the win.

In a field that was decimated by the early climatic conditions only four ladies managed to finish their round but that did not stop them from registering relatively good scores considering the weather.

Ford (24) was not firing on all cylinders early with just 16 points to her name after the front nine. But, as the weather improved, so did her golf with regular pars on the inward nine scoring an impressive 22 points to just take the win.

In contrast Edwards (19) had the better front nine, opening with three pars an outward 19 points. An unfortunate wipe on the 13th after a further two pars, jaded her momentum but she regained her composure to finish with 18 points over the back nine for second place.

Edwards can take some consolation from her round with a win in the novelty event (best front nine) and also the nearest the pin shot.

Like ordering a pizza with the lot, Jason Jackson had a day out in Tuesday’s mid week Stroke competition, having one of each score.

Starting superbly with a birdie Jackson soon found a soggy part with back to back double bogeys before some pars put him back on track to score a neat 40 off the stick at the change.

He forgot the recipe over the back nine, mixing in a triple bogey, bogeys, pars and a birdie on the 15th before finishing with a par on the last to give the 20 handicapper a nett 63 for the win.

No less than five players finished their round tied for second with nett 65. Probably the most notable was Marc Dalton (3) who parred the course.

But David Dowie was the lucky recipient of second place thanks to his birdie on the 17th.

After a postponement of the Men’s A grade Handicap Championship, the huge event was completed on Sunday with Daniel Christian (4) taking on Scott Sawyer (13).

Played in fine conditions Christian got off to the best start with a long range putt giving him a birdie and a win on the first.

He then showed his short game is just as lethal as his length with a superb chip in from off the green on the second to halve the hole.

Sawyer quickly got rid of his nerves and also showcased why he was in the final with some awesome recovery shots keeping him in the game and after the first nine he was one shot in front.

After shooting a -2 33 on the back nine on Saturday Christian approached the back nine with confidence and showed it was no fluke with three consecutive birdies to take the lead by one at the half way mark.

The match seesawed over the next nine with both players putting on a great display of precision golf.

After 27 holes it remained a one stroke game, this time in the favour of Sawyer.

Heading to the 17th Christian had managed to wrestle back the advantage and the game went down to the wire with a result still in the balance after 35 holes.

Christian won the decisive hole giving him the win and championship 2 up.

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