PRACTICE continues to pay off for relative newcomer David Millard who took up golf last year and won his third competition in the past three months at the Mount Gambier Golf Club on Saturday.
Two sessions on the practice fairways each week have helped him straighten out his long game, and despite some difficulties on the greens, he managed to come in with 42 points in the stableford event.
Plagued by sliced drives early on, Millard now hits his drives long and often straight, and combined with much-improved irons and fairway woods, will give himself every chance to notch up more winning scores until the handicapper catches up with him.
Playing off a 29 handicap, Millard had 45 off the stick on the front nine for 23 points despite three-putting the fourth and fifth holes after hitting both greens in regulation and having relatively straight-forward putts of no more than 15 feet for birdie.
He picked up two more three-pointers on the 10th and 11th holes, before he three-putted the 12th and had a four-putt green on the 13th.
He regained his composure to pick up three-pointers on the 14th and 15th holes but was lucky to pick up one point each on the 16th and 17th.
Millard added two more points on the 18th hole for a total of 19 on the inward nine.
He admitted it wasn’t the first time he had struggled to finish off a good round, something he is clearly capable of, adding he had also been pretty disappointed with his putting.
“I’ve actually been putting quite well, but clearly that was not the case on Saturday,” Millard said.
His score was enough to take out C Grade by two points from Thomas Miles who cost himself the chance of shooting an even better score, after he wiped the third and 11th holes.
In A Grade, it was the in-form Kent Comley who took the top prize after he signed for 39 points.
Playing off an eight handicap, Comley picked up 19 points on the front nine after a two-over par 38 off the stick.
His day got even better on the back nine, with birdies on the 11th and 13th to get him back to even par with just five holes to play.
Unfortunately he could only manage two points in the next three holes thanks to a double bogey on the 14th hole, a bogey on the 15th and a wipe on the par-three 16th.
In the end, a birdie on the 18th for three points was good enough to give him a three-point buffer over runner-up Nick Black.
In B Grade Leigh McManus showed the benefit of a four-week break from the game and returned with 40 points to finish five clear of runner-up Simon Browning.
While Millard topped the leaderboard on Saturday despite some poor putting, in Thursday’s stableford competition it was Terry Janeway who claimed victory thanks to some excellent work on the greens.
The 12 handicapper had eight one-putt greens on his way to 40 points, highlighted by a superb three-over par 39 on the outward nine.
One-pointers on the 16th and 17th holes threatened to derail his bid for victory but he was able to hang on and finish two points clear of runner-up Peter Emetlis.
