Proving his win in Tuesday’s mid week Stableford competition was no fluke veteran Doug McPherson went even better by winning the Stuckey Electrical sponsored Monthly Medal at the Blue Lake Golf Club.
McPherson, who is a BLGC Life Member should know the course like the back of his hand but starting safely with bogeys on his two opening holes.
He kick started his round with a great par on the third hole which proved to be a false dawn with a pair of 6’s on the next two holes.
Turning with 46 meant he was two under his handicap of 26 and looking at a possible grade win.
With three pars on the back nine it did not take long for him to lift his sights and stake his claim for an outright win.
Despite a double bogey on the 17th McPherson made that possible, finishing the round with 90-26-64.
In the premier grade Derek Sargeant responded to the call to arms with a solid round of 79-11-68.
Things were going along nicely for Sargeant with three pars on his opening six holes before a double bogey on the innocuous seventh put him out of step.
He countered that with a birdie on the 9th for a turn of 40 off the stick. He kept the red ink off his scorecard and added another birdie on the 15th for an inward 39 and the win in A grade.
Tree trouble on the 16th cost Trevor McLean the grade win with a double bogey, but went on to record equal splits of 38.
Richard Kuhn took nine holes to wake up on Saturday and his outward journey had him trekking parts of the course he had not seen before, including a quadruple bogey on the seventh before finishing with a birdie.
His alarm clock must have finally went off during the turn as he then birdied the 13th and 17th for a turnaround of eight strokes and finishing with a round of 82-12-70.
Luckily Kuhn’s strong finish held him in good stead for the count back that eventuates with five players having the same score in A grade.
Trevor Little (4), John Millhouse (12) and Michael Watts (10) all had equal splits.
Perhaps the unluckiest of them all who tied on nett 70 was Anthony Williams off scratch.
His only blemish on the front nine was a bogey on the seventh which was surrounded by three birdies and two pars.
But he could not quite maintain that momentum over the back nine with just the one more birdie on the 17th.
Adam Dunn taught the rest of the B grade players what was needed to win with his round of 83-16-67 being good enough to be best in class.
Dunn had 4 pars on the front nine before he took too much on the 9th and walked off with a bogey which he repeated on the 11th but overall he scored an A+ for his round.
Runner-up Michael Olle refused to confirm that it was no coincidence that he played his best round of golf in two years after getting 10 hours sleep.
Olle survived a count back with Nicholas Driver (20) to secure second place.
In C grade Vic Smith (27) kept his eyes on the ball long enough to take the win with a superb round of 93-27-66.
Smith showed what he is capable of with pars on the front nine and another on the back nine where he only needed 45 strokes.
Ensuring bragging rights over his playing partner for another week at least Richard Neale.
He needed nine holes before he started to get his head right but then stormed home for splits of 50 and 44 for a nett 68.
Jacob Reed (21) will be cursing the last hole for costing him a shot at the grade win.
After opening with 43 Reed added two more pars to set him up for a challenge for the outright win but then the wheels fell off.
The old adage the cream rises to the top was evident on Saturday in the Ladies stroke round. Ashby, possibly distracted by her elite playing partners, got off to a rough start with an opening bogey but she quickly put that behind her with a follow up par on the very next hole.
Another par on the fourth had kick started her round but that faltered slightly with a double bogey on the seventh.
Another two doubles on the inward nine only put a slight damper on her round but she showed her class with pars on the 11th, 15th and 16th to close with 43 and a nett 66.
It was a distant five strokes to next best, Karen Panagopolous (32) who survived a count back with Helen Stratford.
Life Member McPherson has plenty of experience and he put that to good use in Tuesday’s mid week Stableford competition.
McPherson has walked the course more times than the second and third place getters combined and used that ability to compile a winning score.
Picking up some handy three point holes on the outward nine on his way to 17 points, better was to come on the opening hole of his back nine with a par earning him four points alone.
With two subsequent pars on the 15th and 16th McPherson could have stopped there which he almost did.
A scrub on the 17th halted his progress slightly but he made up for that with another three point hole on the last for 40 points.
However, McPherson did not have it all his own way.
Having set the bench mark Joel Feast went close to beating it but for a scrub on the last that cost him ultimate victory.
With 20 points on the front, Feast was angling for the big catch after a birdie on the 12th had him with 10 points after the first three holes on the back.
Another two three point holes saw him poised for the win but the scrub on the last cast him back into a count back with McPherson which he subsequently lost.
Third place getter Jason Jackson is starting to cook up some good form lately.
After a rough patch of one point holes early on Jackson spiced things up on the back nine with a four point birdie on the 12th.
He also suffered a wipe, this time on the 14th that saw him come in with splits of 18 and 21.
He needed all those 21 points to hold off Ben Pudney who also finished with 39 points.
Although beaten out of the prizes after a count back Pudney will not be too disappointed with his round after a superb eagle on the 12th.
