CHRISTMAS came early for many players at the Blue Lake Golf Club, with birdies and good scores aplenty in the Saturday stableford competition.
Collecting the biggest prize was the always-colourful Fred Knight with a return of 42 points to just edge out Shaun Martin on the same score.
Knight was diligent early with a pair of pars and a quick six points in his pocket.
Even a couple of tough holes after that did not dampen his celebrations, still scoring with a brace of double-bogeys.
It was nearly an all-or-nothing finish to the opening nine, pars on the fifth and eighth holes, to earn another two three-point holes, while double-bogeys on the rest took some of the gloss away.
Turning with 18 points, Knight settled in for the long game.
A superb birdie on the 10th hole kick started his march to the win with four points which he smartly followed up with par on the 11th for three.
He alternated three-point pars from there, his only slight hiccup coming on the 16th hole where he registered just the solitary point.
A par-par finish saw him close out his round with a 38 off-the-stick and 24 points for his 42 total.
Tony Brooks celebrated his return to the premier grade with a win, opening with two birdies and a par for 10 points after three holes.
While he could not quite maintain that for the rest of the nine he still scored on every hole to see out the front nine with 22 points.
Three pars to open the back nine had him well on track to take the outright win and with just the two bogeys on the 13th and 16th holes, all he had to do was score a bogey or better on the last. However, as luck would have it, it was his only wipe for the day.
There was still enough classy golf on display to ensure Brooks remains in A Grade for some time.
Michael Dedonatis had possibly the round of the day.
He was also moving along nicely with 18 points after eight holes, but tree trouble on the dogleg ninth saw his only scrub for the day.
From there he had no less than four birdies on the back nine (11, 13, 14, and 17) to close with 21 points.
In third place Josh Ransom showed consistency is the key to scoring well in stableford golf.
Four pars to finish his front nine had him out in 18 points and he went one better on the inward nine thanks to his birdie on the 16th hole.
B Grade winner Shaun Phillips has made huge gains in his golf and Saturday was no exception.
The 17-handicapper started with a birdie for four points and then went five consecutive pars to have 19 points after six holes.
A scrub on the seventh hole dented his aspirations but he still had 24 points to his name at the turn.
Another four-point birdie on the 11th hole was where it all ended, with a string of one-point double-bogeys or bogeys, as well as a complete wipe on the 16th, but his 40 points was still a good return.
John Millhouse was rewarded for his good play, with his second placing in B Grade.
His wipe on the first hole was quickly counted for with a birdie on the second and from there it was regulation golf, turning with 19 points.
He went one better on the inward nine thanks to a four-point birdie on the 17th hole.
The excitement of an eagle the third hole may have proved too much for third-placed Nick Driver, as he wiped the next hole.
The merry-go-round continued on the rest of the opening nine for 17 points, but it was a lot more consistent over the back nine with 21 to see the 15-handicapper finish on 38 points.
The good scoring continued through to C Grade with the unlucky Shaun Martin just missing out on the overall prize after a count-back.
Martin will rue a wipe on the 12th hole after some great golf in scoring a couple of four-point pars on both nines.
Splits of 22 and 20 saw him finish well clear of Tony Morandin in second.
Morandin chased hard, closing with 23 points thanks to his four-pars on the back nine which earned him 13 points alone.
Joe Gallagher took the last prize with 38 points.
Ball winners included Greg Cooper, David Adkins, Vic Smith, Richard Dean, Adrian Wallace, James Roughana, Matt Roscow, Brian Dunn, Steve Dwyer and Gavin Sparrow.
Pro shots were won by Aaron O’Donnell on the fifth hole and Marc Dalton on the 16th.
Phillips won the B Grade nearest to pin and Mark Whan in C Grade.
