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LAST week at the Blue lake Golf Club Tim Smith shot a net 65 in a stroke event, only to see his victory slip from his grasp in a count-back.
This week in a stableford competition the count-back went his way after finishing in a two-way tie with Zach Walker on 42 points each.
Smith, finally playing off the holy grail of a single figure handicap, built his win on a solid foundation of 19 points on the front nine.
He cemented his win with a superb back nine of 35, separating his run of pars with a bogey on the 16th hole and a follow-up birdie on the 17th.
In contrast Walker did all his scoring on the front nine, starting off with a birdie on the first hole on the way to splits of 22 and 20 points but this week it was his turn to experience the pain of a count-back.
Leading the pack of Woolworths employees who have recently signed up for club membership was A Grade winner David Dowie.
Dowie is deceptively long off the tee and with the benefit of a good short game there are not many holes which scare him.
He peeled off five pars on each nine and with a birdie on the 17th was able to walk off with 39 points and the win.
Dowie’s 21 points on the back nine stood him in good stead as Michael Watts tied him with the same outright score but a scrub on the 15th where he tried to go over the trees ultimately cost him. Watts’s two birdies on the opening nine, on the first and fifth holes, got him out of the blocks early but he could not maintain the momentum.
Michael Dedonatis has a game as solid as granite and that was on display early with a 35 off the stick on the front nine.
A disappointing double bogey on the innocuous 12th hole halted his march to victory and he finished two points back in third place.
While Walker’s 42 points was not quite enough to take the outright win, it was a clear win in B Grade, ahead of club veteran Kevin Howell.
Howell started off well with a par, birdie, par start but a double bogey on each nine hurt his quest to catch Walker.
He will still be well pleased with his splits of 19 and 21 points and it would not surprise to see him knocking on the door of A Grade in the near future.
Soon to be a father Conway Johnson had a fantastic round going until the thought of all those dirty nappies got into his head and after turning with 21 points his win fell out of the pram, accumulating just another 16 points over the back nine.
The club would like to wish Conway and Sophie all the best for their imminent arrival.
Gavin Sparrow (28) was winging his way to a certain win in C Grade before a stumble over the closing four holes almost let the chasing flock close in.
His consistent scoring, 19 points on each nine, was the key in clinching the win.
He finally managed to hang on for a one-point victory from Brenton Speck and Vic Smith, both finishing on 37 points.
Speck hung on to second place after a count-back.
Players had to score close to their handicap to win a golf ball prize which Peter Mikelsen, Kevin Stark, Tyson Ploenges, Jason Clauson, Colin Tester, Tim Bates, Stephen Smith, Martin Markiewicz, Steve Dwyer and Bob White all did.
Both Watts (fifth hole) and Brad Talbot (16th) won four ball each for their pro shots, while nearest to pin awards went to Josh Ransom (A Grade), Fred Knight (B) and Vic Smith (C).
Tim Smith picked up the daily novelty award for best back nine.
