MORE than 100 competitors descended on the Blue Lake Golf Club on the weekend for the annual GEM Easter Tournament.
The overall honours went to Wade Chant with his round of 85-20-65 but back at the 19th there were many stories shared of what could have been and who did what.
That included Trevor Little shooting a 71 off the stick with his three handicap, Jacka Ryan (8) with a nett 67, Dan Christian’s 69, adjusted to a 70 with his +1 handicap and Anthony Williams also suffering at the hands of the handicapper with his gross 71 equal to a nett 71.
However the hard luck story of the day as well as being the shot of the day belonged to Bruce Morale.
After a double bogey on the 11th hole, Morale unleashed his anger on his next tee shot and watched it roll agonisingly close to a hole-in-one on a par 4, which would also have been a rare albatross.
His cries of anguish could be heard over the back nine and he had to settle for a tap-in eagle.
But take nothing away from the overall winner for the day, with the GEM Easter Tournament trophy in the hands of Chant after an impressive round.
Chant had an inauspicious start with double-bogey to open his round and despite a par on the second hole, his struggles continued with a further two doubles to see out his front nine with a 45.
However, there was no further red ink from then on and he added another couple of pars on the 13th and last hole as well as a birdie on the 15th, needing only 40 strokes on the inward nine, in what was a well-deserved win.
In A Grade it was the impressive Brett Perryman who is never far away from the winner’s circle and returned a superb round of nett 66 for the grade win.
After starting with successive pars, Perryman failed to capitalise on the reachable par 5 third hole, making a complete botch of it with a double-bogey 7.
He quickly made up for that with a birdie on the fifth, then finished the front nine with four successive pars for a 37.
After opening the back nine with a birdie, it was a bit of an up-and-down nine from there, mixing bogeys with a birdie on the 17th to return another 37.
Former Western Border football star full forward Jarrod Ryan took second with his nett 67.
Ryan had a purple patch through the middle part of his front nine with four pars and a birdie on the difficult fourth hole for a 38.
Adding another birdie on the 15th he improved his score by one, ending his round with 75-8-67.
Up-and-coming left handed junior Callum Harvey filled the placings after just missing out on a count-back from Ryan.
Harvey also had his own run, coming off a birdie on the fifth hole, he then finished off the front nine with regulation pars.
While he could not quite maintain the momentum, it would have been mixed feelings for Harvey, putting himself in the picture for a win but faltering on the last hole with a double-bogey.
Visiting Port Fairy golfer Anthony Westwich enjoyed his time at the links course, taking out the win in B Grade with his round of 79-13-66.
Westwich was off to a fast start with pars and a birdie on his opening five holes to set a nine to catch.
However, just like Harvey, he also could not hold that form, returning a 42 but already had the score on the board to hang on for the win.
Second-placed David Lamont (14) would have been left with a “what if” feeling.
Two birdies on the back nine (15th and 16th holes) were soured by a triple-bogey on the 12th and a double on the 13th but he still managed to return respectable splits of 42 and 41.
Barry Humphries filled the last place on the podium with a nett 71, just seeing off Russell Christian in a count-back.
The C Grade players failed to match the hot scoring of the better golfers, with Steve Dwyer the best with a nett 73.
with consistent with splits of 47 and 48, Dwyer would have been happy to have claimed pars on the 15th and last holes, taking the win by one stroke.
In a count-back, two local veterans Geoff Munt and Russell Lingham finished tied on nett 74.
Both playing off 21, Munt took the place thanks to his better back nine.
Another large field turned out for the Sunday stroke round and the efforts of playing the long course on Saturday took its toll, with no player able to break their handicap.
Full honours to Anthony Williams, after his round of 70-+1-71 went one better with a nett 70 win.
Williams took a while to find his groove, bogeying a number of holes through the middle part of his round before finishing strongly with a birdie on the eighth and an eagle on the ninth.
That spurred him on with a birdie/birdie start on the back nine and he returned an impressive 33 off the stick.
Williams did not have it all his own way, having to fight off Keith Ransom who also finished on nett 70.
Ransom (12) could not match Williams’ hot finish but was still good enough to take the A Grade win.
Three players fought out the two minor placings, with Jamal Jakubenko (11) taking second from Bryce Smith, the unlucky player to miss out being Daniel Christian.
It was also tight in B Grade, with James Parker snatching the win thanks to his birdie on the 15th.
His 71 was one better than Colin Tester (20) and Alan Stewart (18) who tied on 72.
Mick Lamond (21) took C Grade honours with 71 from Richard Neale on 74 and Richard Dean on 75.
Placings on the Sunday included Christian, John Millhouse, Bryan Scott, Josh Gale, Trevor McLean, Callum Harvey, Russell Christian, Roger Gale, Matthew Foreman, Riley Chant, Michael Millhouse and Trevor Little.
Lamont and Williams both had eagles on the third and ninth holes respectively.
