The Mount Gambier Golf Club’s Saturday par competition had exactly the same number as Thursday, with 108 players contending with breezy conditions and true greens quickened up just a touch.
Looking through the scores the majority of good scoring surprisingly occurred on the more difficult back nine where players took advantage of their handicaps where the majority of handicap strokes fall.
The joint best score for the day came in A grade with Joe Clements (7) posting +4.
At the turn Clements was -1 which is better than it looks as Clements only received two shots the front nine in shooting 39.
The good scoring continued on the back nine with an even par 36 for +5 featured by birdies on both the par 5s with a bogey on the 14th for a half and a bogey on the last.
While that would have been a disappointing finish for the competitive Clements, +4 is a good day’s work.
Runner up on +3 was Pat O’Donnell (5) who was one under the card the front nine in his +2/+1 split which included birdies on 1, 4 and 9.
Good scores also came from Gary Wilson +2 and on +1 Phil McBain, Richard Gosling (2), his playing partner Adrian Ballintyne and Paul Reade.
The other joint best score was in B grade with Nathan Taylor (12) also +4.
Par rounds are match play against the course and Taylor did it to perfection.
A front nine of one win, one loss and seven halves was solid followed by a standout back nine of four wins through holes 10 -13 then five halves to close out a very tidy score card that all golfers would be delighted with.
Runner up on +3 was Peter Lock (14) who is always in the speedy first group of the day.
Lock did his best work on the front nine +3 added another win on the 11th before a stumble on the 15th for a square back nine.
Another on +3 was Daryl Hutchins, then on +2 Peter Buckingham, Simon Browning and Dave Boyce with Ross Bond on +1.
Long time member John Sandery (21) with +2 took out C grade thanks to a strong back nine with five wins on the last six holes following a loss on the 11th.
A great fightback and pleasing for John to break through for a win which are hard to come by.
Another long-term member Don Coulter (23) also had a return to form with another +2 and returned a similar back nine story of five wins and one loss.
Another on +2 was Peter Emetlis then Stephen Herbert on +1.
Saturday’s ball run down went to -2 with Kev Lennon the last of 10 players with -2 to collect a ball.
Nearest the pins went to Daryl Hutchins on the 8th and Nick Black, with another on the 16th.
Interestingly in Thursday’s field of 108, Bryan Walsh (10) registered 43 points and was one of very few good scores from the morning players.
Walsh, a previous club captain, has taken time to adjust to the Mount Gambier weather following his annual sojourn to the Gold Coast, but rolled back the clock for an impressive 23/20 split.
A single figure handicapper for many years, Walsh was one under the card the front nine and even par through the first 13 holes with all parts of his game on song especially his irons.
But like most golfers, Walsh lamented a few missed putts with the golfer’s narrative of “it could have been a lot better”.
Runner up with 40points was Riley Parsons (13) who again posted a sub-par score on a new handicap, with 20/20 splits highlighted by four point birdies on the difficult 7th and 12th.
Parsons nudged out Ben Wilson from Port MacDonnell GC also on 40.
