FACED with playing the unpopular par competition, but also being able to take advantage of the spring-like weather brought out a large field of over 90 competitors to the Blue Lake Golf Club on Saturday.
The favourable conditions were reflected in the scoring, with the top 11 all finishing in the positive.
In a competition often overlooked by the better golfers, the top 12 positions were filled by A or B Grade players, with Jake Matthews the best of them with his +4 winning score.
Matthews had a superb start with four pars in the first five holes before a minor stumble on the sixth which was soon rectified with a birdie on the ninth.
He set up the win with an opening nine of 38 off the stick for four plusses.
It was a steady run over the inward nine, overcoming two pickup’s with two pars to finish square.
The best of the A-graders was Brett Perryman with +3, just missing out on the overall win. Perryman had a bit of an up-and-down round, opening with successive bogeys before a tap-in birdie on the fifth hole to turn with +1.
Another birdie on the 11th set up a run home to add another two plusses to his overall score.
A disappointing bogey on the 17th eventually cost him a tilt at an outright win.
Zach Westwick, with a four handicap, does not have much room for error and unfortunately for him he had a couple too many on the front nine to turn with -2.
But like all good A Grade golfers he put that behind him with a brilliant 34 off the stick on the back nine.
After his only bogey on that nine on the 11th, Westwick added birdies on the 12th and 15th to return a +3.
He needed all those to fight off a number of fellow A-graders who finished on the same score, including Jarrod Ryan, Zeick Dalton and Tim Bates.
Ryan tried hard to paint himself out of the count-back with two pick ups and a double bogey on the 17th, but he had enough good golf in between to finish with +2 overs the last six holes to hang on to third place.
Despite an impressive birdie on the last hole to go with another three, Dalton just missed out with a +1 over the same six holes, while Bates finished square, with birdies on the 12th and 15th.
Another count-back was required in B Grade to separate Colin Tester and Tony Brooks, who tied on +3.
Tester had a rough finish to his front nine and opening holes of the inward nine before settling down with +3 over the last six to hold off Brooks.
Brooks showed in his outward nine why he belonged back in A Grade, reeling off pars at will to have a couple of plusses in his back pocket at the turn.
He had set himself up for a tilt at the outright win before a wayward shot on the 17th saw him wipe the hole which had him fall back to second place.
Two points further back Brett Lewis and Wayne Dunford tied on +1, with Lewis surviving the count-back with a score of square despite not finishing three of his last four holes.
Dunford did all his scoring on the front nine with a -2 over his inward nine.
In a competition that normally favours the higher handicapped players, only one C-grader managed to finish in the positive, that being Brenton Speck with his +1.
Speck had his troubles through the end of his front nine and the opening holes on the inward nine, but then closed with +2 over his last six to hang on for the win.
Michael Millhouse found some form, but while he could not build on his two pars on the back nine, he still finished square with his handicap and second place from Vic Smith, who took third with his -2.
A and B Grade golfers filled the list of ball winners headed by the unlucky Dalton, Bates and Dunford on +1, followed by Kevin Howell, Josh Gale, Josh Ransom, Jay Ilsley and Peter Mikelsen (square), Roger Gale and Justin Ploenges on -1.
Trevor Little cleaned out the eagle’s nest on the 17th, while Matthews also won the novelty event.
