BRAGGING rights were at stake on Saturday when there was a father/son battle at the Blue Lake Golf Club.
After a couple of weeks of intense competition – which saw capacity fields vie for the Wayne Scutter Invitational, the Men’s and Women’s Club Championships and the inaugural seniors – it was not a surprise to see numbers down.
Despite the recent competitions wild weather, there was still an entertaining battle between familiar rivals which took place.
Josh Gale can presently claim he is a better golfer than his father Roger.
When you compare handicaps, the former plays off a handicap of eight, while Roger has the most experience and has a handicap of 14.
Both players had a similar start with a pair of 4’s on the first hole but with Roger’s handicap he held the early lead.
Josh bounced back with a birdie on the third hole for a plus.
However, this just spurred the elder Gale on and he produced a birdie of his own on the fourth hole and by the half way mark it was Josh who held the ascendancy with a +2.
Roger’s slight advantage of a higher handicap proved pivotal over the inward nine as two of his three bogeys produced a square result.
He also recorded five pars to finish with the wind in his sails and posted a score of +2.
The pressure found the better of Josh and despite a nice birdie on the 17th hole, he failed to add to his front nine tally and had to settle for second to his father after a count-back.
Josh took some comfort after he took out the A Grade win with a count-back required to settle the minor placings.
The count-back had to go back even further after Zach Westwick and Michael Watts finished tied on +1, which was also what they both scored on the back nine.
Eventually, Westwick prevailed with his +2 over the last six holes just seeing off Watts’ +1.
In B Grade, it was the ultra-consistent Wayne Dunford who claimed victory with a score of +1.
After a less than dazzling front nine of -2, Dunford knuckled down to do the heavy lifting and quickly claimed one back with a par on the 10th hole.
Another two consecutive pars on the 12th and 13th holes had his nose back in front which is where he stayed.
After another strong performance and the dryer weather hopefully on the horizon, it would not be a surprise to see Dunford return to A Grade.
John Kamp put in an impressive display to outlast David Johnston in another tight count-back.
Kamp had two plusses to his name after the first two holes but managed to give them back to turn square at the halfway point.
Another two plusses on the back nine had him headed towards an outright win but unfortunately finished with a pair of wipes to still finish square with his handicap.
A holiday-refreshed David Johnston also started with two pars but couldn’t quite maintain the momentum as he reversed his +1 on the front nine to a -1 back nine to lose out to Kamp.
A count-back was also required in C Grade as the red-hot Brenton Hodge claimed another victory after he edged out the experience Doug McPherson.
Both players finished squared with the card and it was a topsy-turvy round as he mixed some ordinary golf with some extraordinary play.
A superb birdie on the seventh hole only gave him a single plus and he ended his round with splits of -1 and +1, which was enough to see off McPherson’s 0 and 0.
Due to the reduced field there was a smaller run of ball winners which included Colin Stratford, Jim Ferrazzola, Colin Rex, Shaun Phillips, Stephen Von Duve and Jake Matthews.
Von Duve claimed the pro-shot on the fifth hole and Westwick claimed the honours on the 16th.
The wild inclement weather took a toll on the numbers in Tuesday’s competition as only 35 golfers made their way to the Blue Lake Golf Club.
Despite not featuring in the prize winners list, Tyson Ploenges – who plays off a very impressive handicap of two- went out in 36 to be even with his handicap and -1 on the back despite birdies on the 15th and 18th holes.
It is not often a player can shoot a two-over 72 and still not claim a major prize.
Marc Dalton was another player who put in a strong performance but was unfortunate to not be amongst the place-getters.
Playing off a three handicap, Dalton had a two-over 37 on the outward nine to be square but his back nine featured five consecutive pars as well as birdies on the 15th and 18th holes.
However, despite such an impressive performance, his 71 off the stick earned him a score of +1 in the par round.
Von Duve relishes the rough weather and put in a sublime performance to claim the victory on Tuesday.
It was a sluggish start for him as he found himself down three after five holes.
However, he turned it around with two pars and a birdie on the eight hole which was enough for him to claw back to square.
Once Von Duve found his rhythm, there was not stopping him as he picked up another birdie on the 11th hole then recorded five pars to end with a score of +4.
Club president Peter Sealey and Rod Heinrich battled it out for second as both finished on +2.
Sealey took home the runner-up honours after the count-back.
He overcame three dropped shots on the first nine to turn square and found consistency on the back nine to finish +2.
Heinrich was a little more consistent across both nines with splits of +1 and picked up a birdie on the penultimate hole.
Ian Bown also impressed with a two-over 37 on the front nine for a +2 but he was unable to capitalise on his strong start and finished square.
