Thursday’s dire weather forecast kept the golfers away with only 44 players teeing it up at the Mount Gambier Golf Club.
Interestingly the numbers were evenly balanced over the morning and afternoon players and in hindsight the conditions were better than expected.
Players will be queuing to start in the exclusive first group as for the second time in three weeks the winner Peter Lock held on all day with a welcome return to form.
Lock (13), a one-eyed Crows supporter who is always dreaming about next year, scored 41 points with a strong front nine of 22 points.
Runner up was the recently retired pharmacist Graham Thomas with 39 points enjoying a much more relaxed lifestyle.
Thomas (23) had a topsy turvy front nine of 17 points but lit it up on the back with 22 points made up of all three and two pointers.
Only six players played to handicap and included Jeff “Old Tom” Hodge getting back to the form he is capable off, Barley Ashby who threw the anchor out with only 14 points on the back nine, Kevin Cook and club professional John Martin with a 71 off the stick.
The ball rundown went to 35 points the same as last week with Peter Collie rounding it out.
Nearest the pin on the 8th was Barry Brook who converted for a birdie and Peter Collie on the 16th.
Saturday’s stableford competition field of 89 enjoyed benign conditions following Friday’s windstorm that brought down a number of trees and a special mention to the members who pitched in on Friday to clear up the debris.
A Grade’s winner was a previous captain Adrian Ballintyne with 38 points.
Ballintyne (8) had a ho hum front nine but lit it up on the back nine with eight pars for 22 points.
Runner up with 37 points was Nick Black (9) with splits of 16/21 and would like to play the first again with a wipe, but finished strongly to par the last four holes.
Bryce Cutting, who started with a birdie on the first and finished with a wipe on the last which always leaves a nasty taste in the mouth, had 37 points as did Bryan Pink with Darren Bilney (scratch) 36 points as you do!
Beware the unwell golfer they say and Paul Reade (pictured) who was “tired and emotional” after a few flights winning the darts grand final, had no trouble keeping his head down to win B grade with 39 points.
Birdies on the 3rd, 8th and 9th set up 20 points followed by 19 points on the back.
Paul continued his good form over the last few weeks and with the days getting longer the on-course resident will step up the practice, so more good scores to come.
Runner up was Tim MacLean (14) with 37 points.
B Grade is a very competitive grade with very consistent players and others that scored well were all steady and included Jason Millhouse and Moryn Sullivan with 37 points followed on 36 points by Jeff Olafsen, Jeff Hodge continuing on from Thursday, Dave Boyce and Nathan Taylor.
The score of the day belonged to a visitor Jay Wastell (29) with 43 points made up of 22/21 an excellent result to take out C Grade.
Others to play to their handicap with 36 points were Shane Foote with another good round and Scott Whicker who continued his recent form.
The ball run down went to 32 points with nearest the pin to Moryn Sullivan on the 8th and Wayne Elliott who converted for birdie on the 16th.
Sunday had the first two knockout rounds of the Pro Shop Handicap Match Play with a lot of good close matches.
Next Sunday’s quarter finals will feature Kim Sykes v Tim Driver, Jason Millhouse v Nic Clayton, Craig Wirth v Craig Foster and Jim Leane v Stacey Parsons followed by the semi finals.
