ALL golfers know not only do you have to hit the ball well to score well, if you want to win you need the golfing gods to smile on you.
That little bit of extra luck helped John Shirley take out Thursday’s stableford event at the Mount Gambier Golf Club with a solid 39 points.
Starting on the 10th hole, the 74-year-old, who was playing off a more-than-respectable 10 handicap, made his normal steady start and had nine points on his card after playing his first four holes in three-over par.
But then the stars aligned and he played the final five holes on the inward nine in a superb one-under par to shoot 38 off the stick and pocket an impressive 22 points.
“I’m usually pretty steady, but every now and then the sun and the stars and the moon align and you have a good round,” Shirley said.
“All of a sudden I was getting up-and-down and making some good putts.”
Not only did he make pars on the 14th, 16th, 17th and 18th holes, the icing on the cake was a chip-in for a birdie four and three points on the par 5 15th.
The one-time five-handicapper knew a solid front nine would put him in contention to take out the competition and while he had disappointing one-point bogeys on the fifth, sixth and eighth holes, he did well enough to shoot 41 on the front nine for another 17 points.
That saw him finish one point ahead of Tony McGregor, who edged out Wayne Davison to claim the runners-up prize on a count-back.
Another perfect autumn day for golf on Saturday was not reflected in the scoring, with just four players in the 105-strong field beating their handicap.
Leading the way were C Graders Eben Beukes and Angus Altschwager who finished with net 69s, Beukes taking top place on a count-back.
While Beukes split his round 49/53 off his 33 handicap, Altschwager was left wondering what might have been after falling away badly on the back nine.
Playing off a 27 handicap, the Millicent visitor had an excellent 43 on the front nine, highlighted by birdies on the fourth, fifth and sixth holes, to leave him at five-under his handicap starting the back nine.
Unfortunately that was where his game took a turn for the worse.
A triple-bogey six on the par 3 10th was bad enough, but worse was to come with a quintuple bogey 10 on the par 5 11th.
He followed that with a double-bogey six on the par-four 12th and despite playing the final six holes respectably, the damage had been done and his 53 on the back nine saw him forced to settle for the runners-up prize.
In A Grade a net 71 was good enough to give Craig Wirth top honours, two shots clear of David Pick who took second a count-back from Nick Black, Clint Mitchell and Stacey Fiegert.
A net 70 was good enough for Mick Gill to take to spot in B Grade, three ahead of Shirley who backed up his win on Thursday with another solid round.
Gill was actually on target to shoot a net 68 which would have been the best of the day, but a double-bogey six on the easy par 4 18th hole ruined that outcome.
Meanwhile two of the club’s best juniors have been taking on some of the state’s best in Adelaide in recent days.
On Sunday Zac Shanks and Blake Schroder were members of the Combined Country junior pennant side which played in the Sharp Cup at the fabulous Grange course that hosted last month’s LIV tournament.
The team lost their match 3.5 to 1.5 and then backed up at Reynella on Monday in the SA Schools Sport individual secondary school state championship.
In a fantastic result, 15-year-old Shanks took out the A Grade title with a brilliant 76 off the stick for a net 67.
Schroder unfortunately could not find his best form, shooting a 94 off the stick in B Grade to finish with a net 82.
