Every golfer knows how physically and mentally demanding the game can be – and it’s doubly so for Stephen Wyte.
But on Saturday the former Australian Defence Force parachute rigger came out a winner when he combined with Mount Gambier Golf Club captain Peter Waters to claim victory in the 4BBB stableford competition at Attamurra with 47 points.
While Waters did most of the heavy lifting on the front nine, it was Wyte, a relative newcomer to the game, who came to the fore on the back nine.
The pair secured a reasonable 21 points on the front, with Waters contributing most of those, including three points thanks to a par on the 4th hole, four points following a one-putt birdie on the par-four 5th and another three after making par on the par-five 7th.
Winning was a long way from their minds at the turn, Wyte admitting the front nine was “a bit of a struggle” for him.
“In 2008 I was in York in WA doing some work for the SAS and as a parachute rigger you also had to be prepared to skydive yourself,” the 40-year-old said.
“One landing went badly wrong and I almost killed myself.
“I’m still carrying the mental and physical scars from that.”
But starting on the 10th hole he was able to produce enough good shots for his team to come out on top.
A three-point bogey on the 10th was a good start, but even better was to come.
A chip and putt from just off the 12th green led to a four-point par, two more four-pointers followed on the 15th and 16th and another three points jumped onto the card when the 36-handicapper made bogey on the par-four 17th despite a wayward second shot.
Waters did not have to do much, but a three-point par on the par-four 13th helped the tally on the back nine reach an impressive 26 points, the total of 47 ending up one better than runners-up Tony Revill and Kev Lennon who edged out David McPherson and Peter Berkefeld on a countback.
While Wyte’s impressive run on the back nine led to a win on Saturday, it was a consistent 18 holes (21 points on each) that helped Jim Pegler take top honours in Thursday’s stableford competition.
Almost 12 months sine he lasted victory, Pegler said he had no idea why, but had “suddenly started to hit it better in the last couple of weeks”.
Fifteen points after the first seven holes was a decent start, but it was the next seven holes where he really caught fire.
In that stretch he produced six three-pointers and another two-pointer on the 12th to add 20 more to his score and bring morning leader Graham Greenwood into his sights.
A hiccup on the 15th resulted in a double bogey for one point, but the 32-handicapper bounced back with six points on the final three holes, including a wipe on the 17th, to finish one point ahead of Greenwood.
It was not all bad news for the runner-up however, as he was able to proudly express that his round on Thursday had included his first hole-in-one in 30 years of playing the game.
That came on the par-three 8th, where his nine-iron landed on the green, rolled up to the hole and appeared to be sitting against the flagstick.
But as the group approached the green the pin wobbled in a gust of wind and the ball disappeared into the cup, much to the delight of his playing partners whose thoughts immediately turned to the number of balls their share would be from the hole-in-one nest.
