ON a day where most members of the Blue Lake Golf Club had their eyes focused on the MCG for Saturday’s AFL’s grand final, Bruce Morale had only one sight in his eyes and that was the win in the Blue Lake Golf Club’s monthly medal.
Like former North Gambier player Brad Close who often plays at the links course in the off season Morale gives it his all and this was more than evident between the both of them.
Morale started steadily with pars on the first three holes, before his first minor stumble on the fourth which he bogeyed.
He quickly made up for that with a birdie on the fifth hole and despite another bogey on the eighth, he turned with a classy 36 off the stick.
An out-of-the-blue triple on the 10th hole saw him seeing red but he channelled his frustration into his game play with pars on four of the next five holes as well as a birdie on the 12th.
The 17th hole proved no obstacle for the big hitting right hander and with the flag down the bottom of the hilly green it was no surprise he recorded another birdie.
Morale finished with splits of 36 and 38 for a nett 67 and the win.
Despite the favourable conditions and pin placements for a monthly medal competition, players still struggled to play to their handicap.
However, A Grade winner Colin Ferguson played to his handicap with a nett score of 70.
A brilliant even with the card 35, which included a birdie and a bogey, set him up for a dream round.
However, like Morale, he also found trouble, his coming on the 11th hole with a double bogey.
This was bookended by bogeys on either side and Ferguson could see his round slipping away.
However, he also showed tenacity with a birdie on the 15th hole, which was followed by three consecutive pars on the last three holes to rescue his score.
It was an inconsistent day for Jamie Walters, there was brilliance with birdies on the fifth and 13th holes but also calamity with six double bogeys to blot his copy book.
Splits of 42 and 41 saw the 12 handicapper finish with a nett 71 and claim second place.
With five players in A grade finishing on nett 73, it kept the scorers busy working out the count-backs.
Eventually the third place honour went to Michael Watts.
Handicaps were always going to play a big part in deciding the place getters and with Watts’s 39 on the back nine he was in the box seat to claim the final place.
Others to also finish on 73 score included Josh Gale, Trevor Little, Zeick Dalton and Daniel Christian, who went out strongly with an opening 35 but slipped out to a 39 inward nine.
The good news continued for B Grade winner Colin Tester, after finally regaining some strength and match-fitness Tester put it all together for a change.
It looked far from good for the valued volunteer with an outward 47 seeing him behind his handicap and plenty of work to do.
However, he knuckled down and shaved five strokes off on the inward nine for a round of 89-20-69.
Another one who willingly volunteers his time either at the handicap desk or out on a mower is Wayne Dunford and he also got rewarded with second place.
Dunford was a lot more consistent than Tester with splits of 43 and 42 and a string of late pars at the finish saw him almost snatch first place but just fell short by one stroke.
Another count-back was needed to decide the last spot on the podium with Jake Matthews and Stephen Smith finishing on nett 72.
After a poor 11th hole, Matthews then powered home with five consecutive pars and a birdie on the 17th, his closing 40 being too good for Smith to match.
As is normally the case in the harder course set up, the C Grade players struggled on the day.
Colin Rex was the closest to playing to their handicap with a nett 73.
This was good enough to take the grade win from Matt Dwyer on 74 and Ray Patching, who survived a count-back for third on 75.
Place getters included Smith 72, Stephen Von Duve, Gale, Little, Dalton, Christian, 73, Robert Martland, Scott Sawyer, Steve Jelly, Matt Jennings, Brett Perryman and Anthony Riddoch on 74.
Greg Cooper’s only moment of joy came on the fifth hole, where he picked up four balls for his pro shot and Kieran Ashby did the same on the 16th.
Nearest to the pins went to Julian Tickle for B Grade and Bryan Scott in A grade on the 14th hole.
