CHRISTMAS came early to a lot of the players in Saturday’s stableford round at the Blue Lake Golf Club, with more than 60 birdies recorded
Some, like Michael Dedonatis and Anthony Williams, were a bit greedy, with six of them each, while the top 20 players all scored 36 points or better.
Overall winner Curtis Coppetti deserves his own accolades, the 20-handicapper returning a respectable 41 points.
His three pars on the outward nine earned him 10 points alone out of his 21 and he added another 20 on the back nine thanks to three more pars.
Coppetti did what was needed, scoring on every hole and he continues to show great improvement.
The scoring in A Grade was as hot as the week’s weather.
Playing off five, Dedonatis led the way, taking the win with an impressive 40 points.
After three uncharacteristic bogeys and a wipe on the fourth hole, Dedonatis regrouped and finished with three consecutive birdies and a par on the ninth for an even 18 points.
He continued that scoring with another birdie on the 10th hole, followed by four pars.
His only bogey came on the 16th hole, which made his closing 33 and 22 points look even better.
While Dedonatis was rapt with his win, he was even more elated the next day with an albatross on the third hole.
After a great drive down the middle of the fairway, Dedonatis watched in disbelief as his second shot lobbed onto the green and ran straight up and into the hole for a rare feat.
Tim Smith was another who had an unspectacular start, a double-bogey on the first hole hole for nil points was matched by another on the fourth.
Things only got slightly better over the journey, but he managed to scramble together 17 points to give him some hope.
Like most A-graders he was not willing to give up and four birdies on the back nine were only slightly marred by a wipe on the 15th hole.
A par or better there could have seen him snatch the outright win.
A count-back was needed to separate three players finishing on 38 points.
Usually enough to take the grade win, Ian Bown, Bruce Morale and Williams were all locked together for third place.
To make things even closer, all three players had 19 points on the back nine, which required a closer count-back, awarded to Bown, just in front of Morale and Williams.
Count-backs continued in B Grade, with Richard Evans and Ben Wilson finishing tied on 37 points.
Evans also feasted on the birdie splurge, with his coming on the second hole for splits of 19 and 18.
Wilson started strongly, with an opening birdie earning him four points and turning with 20.
A uniform 17 points over the back nine relegated him into the count-back which he just missed out on.
The ever-reliable John Kamp survived his own count-back to take third place.
It was a bit of a struggle all day for the southpaw, with his splits of 44 and 41 earning him 36 points.
C Grade also had its fair share of count-backs, with winner Lachlan Byrne hanging on with his closing 20 points.
After a couple of one-point holes, Byrne recovered for an opening 19 points and he impressed with pars on the 14th, 16thand 17th holes to be a worthy winner.
Also finishing on a 39 was a new member, Ori Festa who showed enough with his three pars to suggest better things are to come.
His 20 points on the back nine with a scrub on the last showed he has the ability to go further.
Finally getting some confidence in his new knee, Yogi Anderson had equal splits of 18 points to clinch third place.
Place getters included the unlucky Morale and Williams as well as Trevor Little, Marc Dalton, Adrian Wallace, Kieran Ashby, Rob Lindner, Adrian O’Donnell, Thomas Von Stanke and Stephen Easterbrook.
Matt Dwyer and Morale won the pro shots, while Michael Egan (A Grade), David Johnston (B) and Brian Vawser (C) won their respective nearest to pins.
