Another strong field of close to 100 golfers turned out for the Blue Lake Golf Club’s Stableford event sponsored by the Bay Pizzaria.
With the morning dew on the greens adding an extra degree of difficulty to the early Saturday morning starters Tom Drenthen made the most of the dry conditions to post a winning score of 41 points.
Drenthen was consistent through his round with the 24 handicapper scoring on every hole and having splits of 20 and 21 points.
His outward nine was highlighted with an easy par on the eighth picking up four points alone which was followed by an even better birdie on the 11th for another quartet.
He struggled on the even holes where he had double bogeys on the 13th and 17th holes, but he still managed to pick up some points which is the key in Stableford golf.
Drenthen did not have it all his own way and had to survive a countback from A grade golfer Josh Ransom who also finished on 41.
Unfortunately for Ransom the only bogeys he had for the day both featured on the back nine which counted against him eventually.
Ransom earned the consolation A grade win with his fantastic golf on display, specially over the front nine of 34.
There was not a bogey in sight and he even threw in a birdie on the reachable third hole to turn with a 34 and 23 points.
Opening with another birdie on the 10th Ransom let the excitement get the better of him with two bogeys following quickly before a wipe on the 16th took some gloss off what was otherwise a superb round of golf.
The scoring was hot in A grade with second place getter Brad Talbot setting the course alight on the back nine.
A poor tee shot on the fifth set up his only wipe for the day but that was made up for with a birdie on the ninth to turn with 19 points.
Even better was to come over the back nine with birdies on the 12th, 15th and 17th holes for an inward 33 and 21 points earning him a warm hug for his round.
Scott Sawyer celebrated his return to A grade by taking third prize with 39 points.
Another player who mixed brilliance with some ordinary golf was B grade winner David Gould.
A great opening half of 38 off the stick and 23 points were eclipsed with struggles over the back nine, only registering the two pars.
Even if he had managed to turn one of the five bogeys into a par, he would have threatened the overall win.
Runner-up Jordan Williams is another who would relish replaying the back nine.
Turning with 20 points in his pocket he only needed to replicate that for a win but faltered badly with two doubles and a complete wipe on the 17th to only add another 17 points.
Josh Pettman made a welcome return to the links course with his third place.
Mirroring the above two Pettman made light work of the front nine with 21 points but then added just 16 on the inward nine.
Scoring was a lot more difficult in C grade with no player able to play under their handicap.
The best was Simun Lalich with 35 points taking the win.
Lalich regathered well after a lack luster opening 16 points to add pars on the 11th and 15th holes for four and three points respectively to add a total of 19.
That was one point too good for veteran Vic Smith who took second place followed by Bruce Tichbon who survived a count back for third with 33 points.
In ideal conditions for golf only three players managed to break 70 in Tuesday’s midweek stroke competition.
The best of those belonged to veteran Brian Vawser with 87-22-65.
Vawser took a while to get going, not really registering a score until the par three fifth hole which he
parred.
He followed that up with another par on the ninth to turn just one over his handicap.
While a win was probably the furthest thing from his mind two opening pars on the back nine had him aiming high.
The only hole to give him any trouble over the back nine was the 14th where he saw a return to the red ink but he quickly made up for that with a superb birdie on the 16th.
A very respectable 40 off the stick was -6 under his handicap, a 65 good was enough to snatch the win.
Second place getter John Barratt was another who struggled over the front nine, after starting smartly with a par, it was all downhill from then.
Disaster after disaster would have put even the most hardened golfer off their game but to Barratt’s credit, he did not let it deter him and he stuck to the task.
Better was to come over the inward nine with pars on the 15th and 17th showing the ability is there and once he keeps it on the fairway wins will come.
It was still a good effort to take the silver prize with his round of 102-36-66.
Barratt could do worse that copy the swing of third place getter Chris Hoggan.
While it was temporarily absent over the outward nine a good player does not lose ability and he stormed home with 34 including birdies on the 12th, 15th and 18th holes.
A smooth swing matched with an even temperament means top five finishes are never far away.
