With the AFL grand final taking centre stage on Saturday, the Mount Gambier Golf Club used an early shotgun start to get the field of 103 golfers away in a stableford competition.
The near perfect conditions early provided a great opportunity to put some good scores down, before a challenging wind picked up during the morning.
Casterton GC visitor Troy O’Connell (21) took out the honour of best score of the day, and the win in C Grade (17.0 – 45.0) with 41 points.
With four pars, four bogies and a solitary double bogey on the outward nine, O’Connell got 22 points on his card on the outward nine.
Consistent golf on the inward nine added another 19 points.
A countback was required to find the runner up in C Grade with Kevin Lennon (21), Che Thomas (33) and Darren Earl (17) all finishing with 39 points.
It was Lennon’s superior 21 points on the back nine which handed him the spot.
The B Grade (11.0 – 16.0) winner was Darren Griffin (16) with 39 points followed by Rob McIntyre (12) on 38 points.
While A Grade (-9 – 10) was taken out by Sam Letizia (9) with 37 points, with Trent Eitzen (9) in second spot with 37 points.
Rob McLellan (18), Gary Button (11), Leigh McManus (15) and Bryan Pink (11) were the only other players to better their handicap with 37 points.
Thirty-one balls were given out for scores of 32 points or better on a countback.
A Grade players took out both the nearest to the pins, with Nick Black (8) on the eighth hole and Craig Wirth (8) on the 16th, with both making their birdie putts to receive an extra ball.
A large field of 93 players were in the Thursday stableford competition, which saw one of the closest battles in a number of weeks.
As is the norm of late, a countback was necessary to confirm the final placings at the top of the leaderboard.
Bob Tonkin (26) and Pat O’Donnell (4) both finished on 39 points, but Tonkin made use of his higher handicap on the back nine to score 23 points, including a four-point hole for a par on the tough par 4 14th.
This was enough to pip O’Donnell, who fired a one under the card 35 to score 22 points, after his 17 points on the front.
One point back were Craig Nisbet (7) and Tim MacLean (14) both finishing on 38 points.
While Peter Waters (12), visitor from Melbourne reciprocal club Spring Valley GC Bao Nguyen (26) and Nick Wilke (14) all beat their handicaps with 37 points.
To win one of the 17 balls you required 34 points or better on a countback with pro shot winners being Craig Nesbit (7) on the eighth and Peter Waters (12) on the 16th.
