THE French champagne corks were popping at the Mount Gambier Golf Club on Thursday when Alex Rigaux blitzed the field of 114 to post an incredible 51 points.
The affable and eloquent Frenchman is a newcomer to golf and has set a high bar with 51 points.
Rigaux (45 handicap) had 27 points on the front nine – five three-pointers, four four-pointers and a par on the 14th hole for five points.
When asked to describe his round, Rigaux laughed and said “I couldn’t believe the holes moved to wherever I was putting!”.
Runner-up was Terry Janeway (12) with 42 points on a count-back from Bob Tonkin (25).
Janeway’s round of 20/22 was highlighted by birdie on fifth and 13th holes, both four-pointers and the 18th, following a par on the 17th for a strong finish.
By comparison, Tonkin had 22/20 on what was a nice steady round of two and three-pointers.
Others to play to their handicap were on 40 points, John Miles runner-up the last two weeks becoming a Thursday specialist and on 38 points Jake Dempsey, Matt Knowles and Sam Mainwaring.
The ball run down seems to be stuck on 35 points, with John Kirby the last of the seven players.
Nearest the pins were taken out by long-time member Tony McGregor on the eighth hole and youngster Charlie Winterfield (40) on the 16th, with both recording birdies, a highlight for Winterfield.
Saturday saw another large field of 132 men (and 25 women) tee it up with the A Grade being the hot grade.
A host of good scores started with Craig Nisbet (10) posting the best score of the day of 41 points to take out the A Grade on a count-back from the unlucky Jason Shanks (5).
Nisbet, with a modest 15-point front nine, tore up the back nine with 26 points, shooting a two-under-par 34.
A par on the 10th hole started the fireworks, with an eagle on 11 for five points, birdie on 14 for four points and he closed in style with another eagle on the 18th for four points to claim an eagle’s nest bonus 10 balls.
The unlucky Shanks, beaten by Nisbet’s eagle on the last hole, followed up last Saturday’s good round with an even par 72 comprising 19/22, with birdies on fourth, ninth and difficult 17th to reclaim bragging rights.
Good scores followed for the consistent Bryan Pink and Sam Letizia on 39 points, Matt Knowles continuing on from Thursday, Hayden Schroder (1) and Stacey Parsons with 38 points.
Then Nic Clayton, David McGregor and Jake Laubsch (+2) on 37 points.
In B grade, Dane Handreck (16) got back into the winner’s circle with the second best score of the day of 41 points.
Playing the front nine to handicap with 18 points, Handreck recorded five pars and a birdie on the 18th hole for a back nine of 23 points, shooting 38, well under the odds for the 16-handicapper.
Runner up on 39 points was Darren Griffin (13) with 21/18 in a round that had nine pars, which included all the four par 3’s.
They were followed by Neil Quirk on 38 points and Lachie Rees and Darren Keading on 37.
Peter Jones (19) had one of the better afternoon scores with 39 points to take out the C Grade, although he left his run late with his back nine 21 points coming primarily over the last five holes with 15 points.
A birdie on 18 was a bonus to finish off a good round.
Runner-up with 37 points was Max Tollner (17), in good form following Thursday’s 36.
With the large field and windy conditions, the ball run down went to 33 points.
Nearest the pin on the eighth hole went to Mike Millard and Kevin Cook on the 16th, with both converting on their good shots with birdies.
