JAKE Matthews will not know whether to thank the awesome work in preparing the course by head greenkeeper Daniel Christian or the match committee who decided to go ahead with Saturday’s stroke competition at the Blue Lake Golf Club after wild weather through the night had lashed the course with more than 25mm of rain.
A quick inspection showed some free standing water on holes three and eight, but with no further rain forecast for the morning it was decided play would be safe.
Matthews made the most of it by going out and birdying the first hole and following up with a par on the third to justify the call.
Despite a couple of hiccups on the front nine, Matthews still turned with 41 off the stick thanks to another birdie on the sixth hole, but it was a superb nine in those conditions.
With the course recovering quickly, Matthews consolidated his great start with opening pars on the back nine.
Just the one double on the inward journey saw him come in with a match-winning 40 off the stick for a nett 66.
Having relished the blustery winter conditions in his outstanding football career, it was no wonder Keith “Hooker” Ransom excelled in the wind and rain to claim the A Grade honours.
What made Ransom’s win even more remarkable was he still won despite a double-doughnut on the fourth hole.
Scrambling to get his round back on track after turning with 43, he then excelled over the back nine with a superb 37, with bogies on just the last two holes.
After taking to the driving range during the week for some practice, Colin Ferguson put that to good use with his second place.
Ferguson recovered well from an average start with a double-bogey on the eighth hole negated by a birdie straight away.
He then birdied the 16th as well to come in with a 36 off the stick, one over the card.
It was pleasing to see Jamal Jakubenko return to the podium with his third place finish after his round of 85-11-74.
While he will be disappointed to have left some shots out there with a number of double-bogeys, he still showed glimpses of the ability he does possess with six pars in trying conditions.
Scoring two of those pars over the last three holes helped him see off Tim Smith (79-5-74) in a count-back.
In the bleak conditions it was no wonder it was a case of all or nothing score-wise with birdies as rare as hens teeth and greatly valued.
So B Grade winner John Brown (84-16-68) would have thought he had his round kick-started with a birdie on the fifth hole after opening with four straight bogeys.
But just as quickly it had started it almost spluttered to a finish with two double-bogeys to follow.
His back nine was similar – equal splits of 42 – with four valuable pars being slightly dented with a couple of double-bogeys.
Shooting under handicap any time is an achievement, but it was even more impressive in those conditions.
Second placed Chris Hoggan has the poise and elegance to often make the game look easy and he exemplified that over the front nine, keeping the red ink off his card for a 41.
Copping the worst of the showers over the inward nine saw his charge halted, with double-bogeys on the 11th, 16th and 18th holes taking him to nett 70.
Veteran Colin Stratford has seen those conditions and worse and he did not let a little rain and wind deter him.
He was another who saw a doughnut on his card, but like his beloved Collingwood, he stormed home to take third place.
Anything around par to your handicap was always going to be a good score and that is what Curtis Coppetti and Robert Lindner did to take out first and second respectively in C Grade.
Coppetti (95-24-71) gritted it out after a scrambling finish to his front nine (50) to go five shots better on the inward nine with pars on the 10th and 13th holes.
Lindner, like the weather, was hot and cold, mixing some brilliant pars with disappointing double-bogeys, or worse.
He still showed he had the game to overcome those slip-ups to finish with a nett 72 which was probably better than it looked.
Russell Lingham took third with 101-22-79.
Due to the reduced field there was a limited ball run down which featured a mixture of A and B Grade players scoring between 73 and 77.
Ransom took out the pro shot on the fifth hole with his tap-in and Graham Burke was rewarded with his great shot on the 16th to claim that pro shot.
A Grade nearest to pin went to Zach Westwick on the 14th hole, while David Johnston gave himself a birthday present with his NTP in B Grade.
Special mention to Fiona Punton who was the only female to brave the wintry weather.
There was no competition on Tuesday due to the inclement weather.
