Links Bar and Bistro manager and A grade golfer Bill Burley has won the Blue Lake Golf Club’s July Monthly Medal, after golf returned after being postponed due to COVID-19 restrictions.
The event over the weekend attracted a field of over 80 entrants, but it would be fair to say the course won as no player was able to break par.
Burley and Russell Lingham were the best of the challengers, finishing tied on nett 71 each but Burley’s 35 over the back nine, with a birdie on the 17th helped him secure the win on a countback.
Burley’s birdie on the 2nd set him up for a steady outward nine until tree trouble on the dogleg of the ninth hole saw him double bogey the hole.
Putting that behind him it was par golf from then on, with a bogey on the last hole equalising the birdie.
It was a welcome return to the winners’ circle for Burley.
As to be expected in a monthly medal round, A grade golfers filled five of the top six finishers, including four tied on nett 72.
Marc Dalton (2), Steve Jelly (8), Jarrod Ryan (9) and Scott Sawyer all needed a count back to decide on the placings.
Dalton’s sizzling finish of birdie, bogey, and birdie par on the closing holes was always going to be hard to beat and saw him crowned the winner.
The smooth swinging Jelly had a slow start to his round with a couple of double bogeys in the first four holes.
However, he then set his sights on firming up and had splits of 42 and 38 to take second.
A double bogey on the 11th hole hurt Jarrod Ryan’s chances in a count back, while Scott Sawyer was the unlucky golfer who missed out on a step on the podium.
Sawyer had a spark to both nines, opening each with a trio of pars, but a poor 17th hole took all the electricity out of his round.
There was a fair gap in the leader board before getting to the winner of B grade, with Matthew Pritchard taking that title with his round of 90-16-74.
Pritchard will gladly take the spoils after the rough start to his round, with two double bogeys and a triple bogey in the first four holes.
But full credit was due to him after he bounced back from his start, shaving four strokes off his front nine 47 with pars on the 16th and 17th in tough scoring conditions.
Veteran Kevin Howell used all his experience to overcome a difficult start and played steady golf through the middle part of his round.
However, a finish of double bogeys on the last two holes took some gloss off what was an otherwise solid game, with Howell good enough to hang on for second.
Fred Knight (94-18-76) took third place after a five-way count back.
Lingham was a standout winner in C grade, narrowly missing out on the overall win due largely to a two over finish on the last two holes.
Before that it was vintage Lingham golf with consecutive pars on the 13th, 14th and 15th setting him up for a shot at the title.
Rounding out the placings were Richard Dean with a creditable 98-25-73 in second and Brenton Speck, who was five strokes further back from Dean in third.
When the going gets tough out on the course it’s usual to see the cream rise to the top and the better players cope with the challenging conditions.
That was certainly the case on Saturday in the women’s stroke competition, with Josie Ashby bringing her A game.
Ashby was a runaway winner with her round of 95-21-74, which was highlighted by her birdie on the second.
Ashby did not have it all her way, showcasing her class with pars on both nines but also struggling with a three over finish on the last three holes.
After a not-so-great start, Women’s captain Helen Myers showed her strength of character to shave seven strokes off her opening nine of 54 to post a respectable nett 78, while third place went to Lesley McPherson.
There was a strong field of golfers who took to the course for Tuesday’s mid-week par competition, most looking to improve their golf in the hope of qualifying for the upcoming BLGC Handicap championship.
Jacob Reed (23) epitomised the usual scorecard of most B and C grade golfers, either walking off with a plus or a minus, with squares being hard to come by.
That was certainly the case with the talented Reed, starting plus, minus and three plusses before registering his first squared hole.
In fact, he did not ‘par’ a hole over the back nine, either having a win or a loss.
His opening 44 off the stick returned a +3, adding just the one more over the rest of his round.
Matt Davidson (25) will feel a little robbed that his superb birdie on the ninth only scored him a single plus.
Turning with a great score of +4 over the front nine, Davidson would have expected to have taken the win, specially opening the back nine with a plus.
However, golf has the tendency to quickly bring you back to earth and that happened with two scrubs in a row before settling for a -1.
Filling the placings was up and coming James Rice who continues to show improvement after only recently taking up the game.
Rice (34) overcame a rough start, with his par on the third the only shining light.
However, this soon turned sweet with a run of three plusses through his back nine to come storming home with a +3 and finish third with +1 overall.
Continuing the run of eagles, Rice’s workmate Aaron O’Donnell took just two shots on the 15th.
