NORMALLY the Blue Lake Golf Club weekly write up is all about the highs and lows of the winner but this week the spotlight is on the player who finished down the leaderboard.
Brad “Razzle” Talbot, playing off a handicap of 1, deserves a special mention for his round of 69-1-68.
Talbot had a front nine of 32 off the stick with birdies on the third, sixth and eighth holes and not a blemish on his card.
That all soon changed with his first bogey on the 10th quickly followed up with a double bogey on the 11th.
But that was it with pars from then on except for another birdie on the dogleg 15th.
Talbot’s superb round of 69 was rewarded with second place in his grade win, finishing seventh overall.
Good mate and avid fisherman Mark Ferguson was one of four players to finish tied on 65 but under count-back conditions was relegated down to fourth place and second in his grade.
Thanks to pars on the final four holes, Gavin Coon eventually clinched the win with his 81-16-65 round, holding off Tim Smith, David Gould and Ferguson.
One of four players tied on net 65 was A Grade winner Tim Smith with a round of 75-10-65. Improving weekly and closing in on the magical single figure handicap, Smith was out of the blocks early with a birdie, par, par start, adding another birdie on the fifth hole to have a hot round underway.
Looking to cash in on his start he went to go over the top of the trees on the dogleg ninth only to find trouble which eventually cost him dearly.
A 37 off the stick on the inward nine, with another birdie on the 11th, was good enough to take the win by three strokes from Talbot.
Former demon fast bowler for South, Colin Ferguson took third after a count-back from Nick Moretti, both finishing on 69.
Ferguson had splits of 37 and 36 with his eagle on the 15th hole helping him clinch the count-back.
Moretti had a great round going with no less than five birdies, all scored over the first 12 holes.
A count-back was needed to decide the winner in B Grade between Gould and Mark Ferguson, with the former getting the nod by the barest of margins.
Gould took it down to the last three holes before getting the verdict, his net score of -1 just nudging out Ferguson who was square over the same holes.
Ferguson will be happy after impressive birdies on the ninth and 12th holes.
Rounding out the placings with his own fine round of net 67 was Tony Brooks, who also scored two birdies – a tap in on the fifth hole and another on the 12th.
There was a four-way count-back in C Grade before a clear winner eventuated, as Brendan Lunnay, Bert Kamphuis, Scott Montgomery and Curtis Coppetti all finished on net 70.
Both Montgomery and Coppetti had hard luck stories to tell, Montgomery with birdies on the fifth and 15th holes but then had 22 over his last three.
Coppetti also found trouble over the same holes to hand Lunnay the win after he finished -2, with a par on the 17th helping him take the main prize.
Minor ball prizes went to Wayne Dunford 67, Russell Lingham, Nick Moretti 69, Peter Buckley, Matt Roscow, Aaron O’Donnell, Tim Bates, Marc Dalton, Bob White, Adrian Wallace, Coppetti 70, and Graham Burke on 71.
Montgomery and Gould reaped further ball prizes with their respective pro shots on the fifth and 16th holes.
Wallace (A Grade) and Chris Hoggan (B) won a ball prize for nearest to pin, while White took home the novelty prize for least putts.
