South East Pine Sales sponsored the Mount Gambier Golf Club’s Saturday par competition. Par rounds are generally not regarded highly by a lot of golfers, however the scoresheet at the end of the day showed some of the 104 in the field would have enjoyed it immensely.
Best score of the day went to B Grade (11 – 16) player Gordon Bignell (16) with a very impressive +5.
Bignell’s front nine was an up and down affair, but he finally turned with +1.
It was on the back nine that Bignell hit his straps, shooting a three over the card 39 off of the stick to end with his +5 score.
The only setback being a double bogey seven on the par 5 15th.
Only one hole back in B Grade, Kent Comley (13) finished on +4 to take second spot.
The C Grade (17.0 – 45.0) winner was Peter Jones (19) with +4.
Like Bignell, Jones also made most of his score on the back nine, with +3 adding to his +1 on the front.
Runner-up in C Grade was Alex Rigaux with +3.
It was the top division, which struggled in the conditions the most on Saturday, with none of the overall top 10 positions being filled by an A Grade (-9 – 10) player.
Trevor Younghusband (5) took victory on a countback from Pat O’Donnell (5) with both finishing at square. Younghusband took a while to warmup, as after the front nine he was -4.
Things turned quickly though, as he fired an even to card 36 shots on the back to wipe out the front nine tally and get back to square.
Other players to better their handicap included Chris Gabriel (15) and Mike Griffiths (17) who continued his good form from Thursday, both finishing on +2.
Terry Janeway (14), Pat Dempsey (13), Rob McLellan and Moryn Sullivan all at +1. Thirty-two balls were given out for scores of -3 or better on a countback.
Bryan Walsh (9) took out the pro shot on the eighth hole and Tony Geddes (11) claimed the 16th, with both rolling in their birdie putts to receive an extra ball.
The Thursday stableford competition had a field of 79 players with the usual countback necessary to determine the eventual winner.
This week we had the same winner with Jeff Hodge (13) going back-to-back, after winning the previous week. Hodge tied with Jack Jennings (15) with both finishing on 39 points.
With a pair 41s off the stick for each nine, Hodge amassed 20 points on the front nine and 19 on the back.
This was enough to edge out Jennings, who also shot 41 off the stick on the front nine to score 21 points.
But a solid 18 points on the back was not enough to give Jennings the victory.
Daniel Long (19) and Mike Griffiths (16) both played good golf, finishing with 38 points. Griffiths started his round well, racking up 22 points on his outward nine.
Unfortunately, a triple bogey on the 10th, followed by a double bogey on the 11th slowed any momentum.
Thirty-three points or better on a countback was needed to win one of the extra 12 balls handed out with pro shot winners being Daniel Long (19) on the eighth and Bryce Cutting (11) on the 16th.
