BLUE Lake golfer Rob Lindner had reason to smile on the weekend after he played the perfect shot into the par 3 16th hole for a magical hole-in-one at the links course.
Playing 159m uphill onto a blind green Lindner knew his tee shot would be close.
His playing partners were all as excited and upon walking up to the green and finding his ball at the bottom of the cup the celebrations began.
“I didn’t quite get it cleanly off the tee but I knew it would be close on the green and maybe a pro-shot prize,” Lindner said.
“It wasn’t the prettiest shot but, as they say in golf, I’ll take it and it’s on the score card.”
While no one else matched Lindner’s perfect shot the rest of the scoring on the day was pretty hot with count-backs aplenty.
The first was in A Grade where former Western Border football star player and premiership coach Keith Ransom won another battle, outlasting impressive up-and-coming junior Callum Harvey and Bryce Smith to snatch the win, all recording 67.
Both Ransom and Harvey are off a 12 handicap so it came down to a straight best off-the-stick score over the back nine, Ransom’s 38 too hard for Harvey to match despite the left hander’s birdie on the last hole.
Both players had their high and low points, throwing in double-bogeys as well as birdies.
Smith matched Ransom’s inward 38 but unfortunately it was not quite as good as his superb 34 on the front nine, thanks to birdies on the first and third holes.
Despite recording equal best scores for the day, Dyllan Lane and Barry Humphries both let an outright win slip through their fingers.
Humphries was off to the best start, a birdie on the second hole setting up an outward nine of 39.
Opening the back nine with three successive pars, Humphries would have had visions of grandeur but unfortunately he double-bogeyed the 13th, 14th and 18th holes which ultimately cost him the B Grade win.
Lane mirrored Humphries’ 39 thanks to a birdie on the 17th hole and fortunately for him it was the right way around to take the win in a count-back.
Marty Markiewicz had also set himself up for a tilt at the win with his birdie on the eighth hole seeing him out in 41 but three successive double-bogeys dropped him back to third.
In C Grade it was the improving Matt Dwyer who took the win with his consistent golf the key to getting the job done.
While there were no real fireworks for Dwyer he did record a couple of impressive pars that showed there are better things to come pinpointed by his three-under his handicap front nine of 47.
Having to settle for second with 68, Rob Lindner will still go home feeling like a winner after his ace on the 16th.
That single shot helped him to an awesome 42 inward nine, seeing off the fast-finishing Michael Millhouse in third with a score of 90-21-69.
After a lengthy spell David Whitehead has returned to the form he was showing previously, the likeable Whitehead leading the list of ball winners with his 69, together with Trevor Finnis, Josh Gale, Matt Roscow, Brian Vawser, Wayne Dunford, Greg Cooper, Jim Ferrazzola, Stephen Kamphuis, David Gould, Rob Ellis and Colin Stratford all shooting their handicap or better.
Trevor Little’s length helped him make short work of the 17th hole which he eagled, while Markiewicz and Cameron Adams won the pro shots on the fifth and 16th.
Kieran Ashby and Simon Perryman picked up their respective nearest the pin prizes, with the novelty events won by Cooper for least putts, Marc Dalton in A Grade, Quinn in B Grade and Johnson in C Grade.
