Chip-ins and lucky drops win day

BIG DAY OUT: Justin Ploenges relaxes after his round on Saturday.

IT was a day out Saturday for Ian Bown at the Blue Lake Golf Club as he claimed the overall honours.

Bown shot an impressive 70-7-63 on the back of chip in birdies to “missed” putts which fell in.

After opening with a bogey Bown had little idea the rest of his round would be exemplary.

Turning one over the card on the front nine after his opening bogey he repeated the score on the 10th.

However, from then on he needed just 29 more strokes with birdies on the 11th and 17th holes.

He did not quite have it all his own way though with a chasing pack of players in the mid 60’s. 

One of those hot on the heels of Bown was A Grade winner Jason McCrae (72-7-65).

McCrae opened with a birdie and a par but could not capitalise on the reachable par 5 third hole, walking off with a disappointing bogey which he repeated on the next hole.

However, he righted the ship with a birdie on the sixth hole to get back even with the card on the front nine.

An impressive birdie on the 13th hole was bookended by bogeys, closing with a two-over 37.

Easy going Bobby White would have had his pulse rising after his spectacular front nine of 33.

Error free golf with birdies on the seventh and eighth holes would have had him mildly excited for the back nine but that was quickly snuffed out with three consecutive bogeys and two double bogeys which almost sunk the ship.

His 76-10-66 was still good enough for second place.

Third prize went to the ever-consistent Trevor Callis with splits of 40 and 39 for a net 67, just ahead of Brett Perryman in a count-back.

Perryman was a little unlucky, with no less than six birdies on the day.

Four of those came on the back nine which also included a double and a triple bogey for a wild nine holes. 

Finishing just one stroke away from the major prize was B Grade winner Stephen Kamphuis who would love to play the third and fourth holes again.

They were the only major blemishes on his way to a 81-17-64 round.

He was a clear winner with David Quinn a distant five strokes further back in second.

Quinn (89-20-69) also had his struggles, unable to keep too much red ink off his card but showing his ability with regulation pars and a birdie on the 17th hole.

Another count-back was needed to decide third place with a number of players finishing tied on net 70.

Marty Markiewicz eventually claimed the chocolates.  

Club handicapper Geoff Munt would have been happy to write out his own prize certificate after picking up the win in C Grade.

Normally a net 66 would have him vying for the outright win but Munt had to survive a count-back from Zac Walker just to claim the grade honours.

Munt’s four pars – for four-under over the back nine – sealed the deal.

Brian Dunn (97-29-68) took the money off his playing partners with his third place.  

Good scores of 70 or better were needed in the ball rundown headed by Perryman (67), Brad Talbot, Stephen Easterbrook (68), Bruce Tichbon, Anthony Williams, Zach Westwick (69), Colin Ferguson, Jim Ferrazzola, Ben Gordon, Garry Von Duve, Scott Montgomery and James Roughana on 70.

Peter Mikelsen and Michael Dedonatis picked up the Pro Shots. Brad Talbot, Matt Jennings and Dieter Rostig won their respective NTP’s. Jason McCrae was rewarded for his putting prowess while Talbot (A), Gordon (B) and Brenton Speck won golf balls for the novelty events.