The temperature was hot, but the scores turned in by some of the Mount Gambier Golf Club’s best players were even hotter in Saturday’s stableford competition. In the past three months the top score of the day had only once come from an A Grade player.
But that changed in a big way on Saturday when no fewer than seven players in the top 10 came from the A Grade ranks – those players on handicaps of 12 or less. Leading the way was 11-marker Jason Mann. The big hitter finishing with a hard-earned 41 stableford points, two clear of fellow A Graders Patrick O’Donnell and Paul Reade on 39.
Mann started his round on the 10th hole and had 19 points in a solid if unspectacular back nine, made more difficult by some very wayward drives. On the par-four 14th hole for example, his drive finished close to the hole on the 17th green, but after taking a drop he still managed a bogey for two points.
Unfortunately, on the 18th another off-line tee shot was not retrievable and Mann had his one and only pick-up of the round. His front nine was where he showed what he’s capable of when he hits the ball straighter off the tee.
Mann put together eight pars and a single to add 22 points to his back nine of 19 for a competition-leading total of 41. “That’s certainly my best round for a while … my irons were unbelievable,” he said. “I got a new Titleist TSI3 driver a couple of weeks ago. “That’s helped a bit, although obviously I still missed a few.”
With the A Graders dominating, the B Grade winner was Ian Ewert who came in fifth overall with 38 points, edging out Bryan Hunt (seventh) on a countback. A 12th-placed finish overall and 37 points was good enough for Robert McLellan to claim victory in C Grade from Johnathan Blanche who compiled 36 points.
Meanwhile last Thursday was the final round of the Driscoll Summer Cup, a competition that started in early November and went to the player with the highest aggregate Stableford points from their best six rounds.
The winner was Bryce Whicker who finished with 216 points, a mere one point ahead of Peter Lock. In a jam-packed leaderboard, four players – Barry Brook, Garry McCormack, Bob Tonkin and John Shirley – were a single point further back on 214.
Whicker, who has only been playing competition golf for about 18 months, has seen his handicap come down from 26 to 14 in that time. Despite that improvement, no doubt helped by playing “three times a week minimum” – not including competitions – he said he hoped to reduce his handicap by at least two more strokes in the next few weeks.
“I’m hoping to be in A Grade by March,” Whicker said. “My putting is generally pretty good, but I can still improve my chipping. “If I get a good drive away I feel like I can make par on any hole.”
While Whicker’s 35 points last Thursday got him over the line, Lock managed just 28 when a score of 35 would have seen him tie on 216. The best score of the day went to David Pike who beat Barry Brook on a countback after they both finished on 39 points.
