It was a tale of two halves in both the weather conditions and the scoring in Saturday’s Stableford competition at the BLGC.

Just as the morning starters finished their round the weather turned for the worse and that was also represented in the scores with the majority of good scores being recorded by the earlier players.

The difference in the weather was replicated with a difference in scores with the top two golfers, who had both teed off  by 7.30, being stark winners.

At the top of the list was Ben Papps (14), a clear winner with 41 stableford points with pars on the first six holes earning him 16 points before adding another three-pointer par on the eighth.

Turning with 23 points in his pocket he was always going to be hard to chase down and it was a more regulation back nine (18 points) that had him safely in first place.

Jamie Walters (14) was in one of the first groups away and his game was awake early, also starting with a par on the first for three points.

Follow up pars on the third, fourth and eighth got him to 20 points at the halfway mark and he quickly added to his score with another three-pointer on the 11th.

His only hiccup for the round was when he found tree trouble on the 15th, but he made up for that with a great birdie  (four points) on the 17th to come in with another 19 points to take out the B Grade win.

A Grade winner Tim Smith (6) had splits of 18 and 19 points, negating a pickup on the sixth with a couple of three-point pars on the two of the more difficult front nine holes while finishing with a par on the last to ice the win and grab bragging rights over his father, Stephen.

Smith senior was just one of several players tied on 35 points, with his closing 19 points holding off Josh Gale but not quite enough to fend off Brett Perryman’s 20, who was helped by a four-point birdie on the 17th.

Colin Tester took out second place in B Grade after a three way count back.

Tester finished strongly with pars on the 17th and 18th for a 41 off the stick, earning him 21 points over the inward nine.

He needed all those points to take the prize from Beachport Golf Club visitor, William Mullan, who enjoyed his visit to the BLGC by taking out third place.

Mullan (17) got off to a three-point start but then gave two points back through the middle of his opening nine, but he boosted his score with a superb birdie on the long Par 3 14th hole for four points.

Peter Mikelsen can feel hard done by, tying both Tester and Mullan and having 18 points of his own on the back nine which would normally be enough to claim a count back victory.

C Grade winner Jacob Reed (25) deserves special accolades as he was one of the few late morning starters who battled the worse of the weather and still posted a winning score.

Teeing off just as the rain started did not stop Reed from opening with a par and despite a wipe on the third hole, he still managed a respectable 17 points on the outward nine.

A run of pars through the 14th, 15th and 17th earned him nine of his 19 points, which was enough to take the count back win from Richard Dean (26).

Dean had seven points on the card after just two holes with  an impressive birdie on the second hole, earning another four- point hole on the 14th with a par.

Two wipes and three one-point holes over the back nine hurt his chances of a higher win.

Russell Lingham (21) fought back well from a tardy start having no less than five three-point holes to finish with 35 points.

Place getters included the unlucky Mikelsen with 37 points, as well as Kevin Howell, Jake Matthews, Josh Gale, David Quinn and White on 35 and Barry Humphries, Adam Jones, Tony Morandin and Bryan Scott on 34.

Trevor Gartside and Humphries took out the Pro Shots on the fifth and 16th holes while Matthews (B) and Cameron Adams (A) won the NTP’s.

A healthy contingent of women got their round in  before the conditions dete- riorated on Saturday in the  Stableford competition, with Rosemary Martland  posting 38 points off her handicap of 13.

Martland showed composure through her round by scoring on every hole and that consistency will be the key in her drive to a single figure handicap.

Jo Ashby chased Martland to the finish but just fell short, finishing square with her 20 handicap.

Two points behind Ashby in third place was Di Perryman who continues to knock on the door of a win.

Her 34 points showed that win is not far off.

While the course was set up a little easier for the mid-week Stroke competition on Tuesday players still managed to play to their handicap with only the winner, John Brown, able to do so with his score of 84-16-68.

Brown’s consistency with equal splits of 42 on each nine was the key to his win, although he needed a birdie on the 11th to cover his double bogey on the roadside 13th.

Club volunteer Bruce Tichbon (26) led the chasing pack with a nett 70 but it was a roller coaster ride to get there.

There were pars, bogeys, double bogeys and even a triple bogey but he still managed a 47 over the outward nine before a more even nine holes coming in.

It was a tale of two halves for Colin Stratford (19) who took out third place after coming in 10 strokes better over the inward nine.

Stratty had three triple bogeys on the fourth, seventh and eighth, but turned it all round with no fewer than five pars on the back nine.

Dewain Barrett headed a long list of players on nett 72 who all had to settle for a ball prize, the list including Bruce Grubb, David Adkins, Tony Morandin, Graeme Anderson and James Parker as well as David Dowie on 73 and Wayne Dunford on 74.

David Lamont was the best with the putter and took home the novelty event.