Former talented footballer Darren Keding has wasted no time making his mark in his new sport, leading the way in Saturday’s Par Competition at the Mount Gambier Golf Club.
A handy golfer as a junior in Adelaide, Keding got his handicap down to 17 in his mid-teens before “footy and cricket took over”.
He spent three years with North Adelaide before playing for more than a decade in the top amateur competition in Adelaide.
After relocating to Mount Gambier in 2009 (his wife was originally from here), he still did not play golf, instead electing to coach juniors at South Gambier where his two boys played.
He was also involved with Centrals Baseball Club, but with the boys grown up and finished in the juniors at the end of this season, it was time to find something else to do with his Saturdays.
His first few games after getting his handicap did not set the world on fire, in fact two weeks ago he had 101 off the stick, but on Saturday it all came together with an incredible score of +8, three better than anyone else in the 119-strong field.
The bizarre thing was that he did not have a group to play with in the morning. It looked like he might have to basically play a practice round by himself, but after a last-minute cancellation he jumped in with regulars Tony Geddes, Jack Jennings and Brad Von Duve.
Playing off a 22 handicap, that trio must have wondered what was going on when Keding parred the first six holes to move to +6.
“I actually was not hitting many greens in regulation, but my chipping and putting was awesome,” he said.
After halves on the 7th and 8th he made another par on the 9th to make the turn at an incredible +7 after shooting 38 off the stick.
The 54-year-old was not able to keep up that pace on the back nine, making bogeys on the 10th and 11th before dropping his first shot for the day courtesy of a double bogey six on the par-four 12th.
That turned out to be only a temporary hiccup, however, with plusses on the 13th and 14th quickly getting him back to +8.
He was able to maintain that score on the way home, easily good enough to top the leaderboard, take out C Grade … and lose five strokes off his handicap.
“I love my footy, but I’m really loving golf,” he said.
And he was not the only one in the group to have a good round.
Geddes came in with a +5 to take out B Grade and Jennings signed for a +2 which was good enough for the runner-up spot behind Keding in C Grade.
The A Grade division was taken out by Peter Lock who had an excellent +5 off his 11 handicap, three clear of Craig Wirth.
Runner-up in B Grade was Garry McCormack with +4, while the round of the day was turned in by Darren Bilney who finished with +1 after shooting two-under par 70 off the stick.
Meanwhile Thursday’s Stableford Competition was won by veteran Paul Kenny who came in with 41 points, two better than Peter Edwards, Shane Brook, Greg Hudson and Brian Norman who all signed for 39s.
Playing off 12, Kenny had three-over par 39 off the stick for 21 points on the front nine, a score that could have been even better had he not made a double-bogey six on the 9th hole.
His back nine was solid, five pars and four bogeys adding another 20 points to take out the top prize.
Edwards took second place on a countback, while Brook, who played off a four handicap, shot an impressive one-over par 73 off the stick for his round to just miss out on the runner-up prize.
