While the weather was dreary the scoring certainly was not in Saturday’s Stableford competition at the Blue Lake Golf Club.
Once again a near capacity field of just under 100 members and visitors battled it out for the Bay Pizzaria sponsored event and taking home the pizza with the most toppings was Ray Patching with 41 points.
Patching (21) made the most of his handicap, still managing to scrape two points on the harder holes that he gets extra shots on and capitalising with three point pars as well.
Turning with 20 points Patching would have been happy with his game so far and was keen to maintain that momentum.
Unfortunately he started his back nine the same way he finished the opening nine with a double bogey on each but still scrambling a point.
From then it was smooth golf with another three pars for nine points as well as the icing on top with a three point bogey on the last for another 21 points.
In A Grade the slick Jarrod Ryan brought his pizzas to the course, painting his scorecard with the regular light blue ink of birdies on four occasions to take the win.
Ryan (7) always cuts a fine figure on the golf course and after turning with 19 points he was seeing red after a rare double bogey on the 13th upset his run of pars.
But worse was to come on the benign and reachable 17th hole where he almost painted himself into a corner with a scrub but bounced back well with a four point finish.
He needed that birdie to see off David Dowie (10) who also finished with 38 points.
After both players finished with 19 points on the back nine it took a count back to the last six holes to separate them.
Dowie also had doubled the 13th and could not quite match Ryan’s birdie to just fall short and be relegated to second.
Third place getter Nick Wilson (6) showed the other two how the 17th should be played with a superb eagle and – despite recording 34 off the stick on the inward nine – he did not quite have enough points on the front nine to catch the first two.
Another count back was required in B Grade to separate Aaron O’Donnell and Dyllan Lane after both signed for 39’s.
Both started well, the former having 20 points at the turn but being outmatched by the big hitting leftie with 22 points.
While both double bogeyed the opening hole of the back nine the turning point was the 16th where O’Donnell could not quite convert his birdie putt from three metres but still walked off with a trio of points while Lane could only muster a single point.
Early morning starter Dieter Rostig had to sit in the club house with a lead that held on for most of the day before being pipped by Patching, having to settle for the C Grade win.
It was not an easy start for Rostig, his opening 18 points having a fair share of one point holes but also featuring a four point par on the eighth.
He added another four point hole on the 10th, then followed up with a hat-trick of three-point holes for a closing 22 points to complete a welcome return to the winner’s podium for the unassuming Rostig.
It did not take long for new member Shaun Phillips (21) to take a liking to the course, birdying the fifth for four points on his way to 21 over the front nine.
But reality soon struck on the start of his inward nine where he could only gather three points on the opening three holes but he battled manfully to finish with 16 to take second place.
Wilson’s was not the only eagle on the day with Bryce Smith only needing two strokes on the 15th while Mike Dedonatis eagled the third.
Under the tutelage of her father Bruce, Jorja Morale has gone ahead in leaps and bounds after taking up the game not so long ago.
She has dropped her handicap from the maximum amount down to the 20’s and it did not take long for Morale to showcase her improvement with a par on the first for four points.
While the next five holes were a struggle she still managed to score on every hole to close out the opening nine with 21 points.
Morale added another couple of pars on the back nine for another 21 points to ensure the win.
Ronda Edwards (16) will be ruing her slip up on the second where she failed to score but with two birdies on the day she would have thought it was her birthday.
Despite the wipe out Edwards still managed 19 points to set herself up for a tilt at the main prize and a four-point birdie on the 11th certainly had her celebrating.
One of the candles blew out on the 14th with just a single point but thanks to her experience she bounced back well with two three-point pars to finish with 40 points.
The ever consistent Helen Stratford is starting to find her feet once again after a forced absence from the game, taking out third place with 37 points.
After suffering the embarrassment of watching his clubs disappear over the hill and across the road from the club Brad Talbot put his gear to better use and took out the win in Tuesday’s Par competition.
Talbot had a dazzling front nine, opening his scoring with a birdie on the first.
He gave that straight back on the second which was the only blemish on an otherwise superb front nine with the rest being either pars or birdies.
Off a three handicap his playing partners could only sit back and be amazed and waited with baited breath to see what the inward nine would bring.
Unfortunately, Talbot hit an early chicane with bogey returning a minus but with the help of his new remote control he got back on track, registering a string of pars, a birdie on the 15th before closing out with a bogey on the last to finish square with his handicap, but a clear win with +5.
Second place getter Michael Millhouse is finally getting the results he deserves and one day he will put it all together and blow the course apart.
Playing off a generous 23 handicap Millhouse showed he has the talent to take his game to the next level, easily parring three holes on the outward nine and throwing in an eagle on the 12th to show how easy the game can be to him.
A squared back nine saw him take the silver medal with +3.
Another 23 handicapper, Jordan Williams, rounded out the placing with his +2 seeing him pip Brenton Speck in a count back.
