THE weather was the winner on Saturday at the Blue Lake Golf Club, with the forecast for temperatures in the 40’s requiring the club to instigate its hot weather policy.
Thanks to the continued support of club manager Bill Burley, players were able to tee off with a shotgun start at 7.30am, which meant most were safely back at the bar before the hot weather reached its peak.
Conditions were still unpleasant for the 65 players who challenged the heat, with only Dyllan Lane able to play under his handicap.
Unfortunately for the likeable Lane, because of the reduced numbers and change in format he was only eligible for the B grade win.
A four-way count-back was needed to decide the placings in A Grade, with Tim Smith, Ben Gordon, Stephen Easterbrook and Trevor McLean all signing for 71.
Smith kept his cool early on, with just the two bogeys up until the eighth hole, but he walked off there a little hot under the collar after a triple-bogey seven to make the turn with 40 strokes.
His back nine was a lot more like Smith can produce, with just the one minor hiccup on the 11th hole before a run of six pars and an inward 38.
It was swings and roundabouts for Ben Gordon (9 handicap), with some hot holes and some luke warm, if not downright cold.
Birdies on the third and eighth holes underlined how good he is, but doubles on the fifth and ninth spoiled some of that good work.
The inward nine was much of the same, with two doubles to open, but he powered home with birdies on the 16th and 17th holes before finishing with a par on the last.
Easterbrook held on for the last of the prize money with splits of 38 and 39 which was one under and two over his handicap.
McLean matched that despite having a number of opportunities to grab the solo win.
He opened his back nine with a pair of birdies before a double on the 12th hole and a costly double on the 17th, a hole he would have chalked in as a birdie opportunity.
That double cost him in the count-back as well, with Easterbrook having the better score over the last six holes.
In B Grade it was two steps forward and a leap backwards for Lane, who parred the first two holes but gave them straight back on the third with a triple-bogey.
It was a similar story on the eighth hole after two impressive pars to also miss out on gapping the field.
Making the turn with 43 he was one under his handicap of 17.
The trend was reversed on the back nine with a double on the 13th hole before clawing his way back with three successive pars to finish with 85-17-68.
Lane finished two strokes clear of Wayne Dunford and Derek Sargeant, who both signed for nett 70.
Dunford got rid of all his bad holes early, closing out the front nine with a triple-bogey, but the seasoned warrior bounced back strongly with a run of birdie, par, par from the 14th to finish with 41.
Sargeant was the more consistent but could not quite turn the par putts into birdies, closing out with splits of 41 and 42, but showing enough to suggest his return to A Grade is not far off.
The Lane name featured prominently in C Grade as well, with Brayden taking out the win.
He had his moment of glory with a superb birdie on the eighth hole for an outward 44 and expected big things to finish with.
Unfortunately the heat got to him towards the latter part of his round, finishing triple, double, quadruple to just hang on for the win.
To score so badly over those last three holes meant that there was plenty of good work done before that.
Jake Hollis regularly gets a mention in the prize run down on a competition day and it was no surprise to see his name there again for Saturday.
His splits of 48 and 49 gave the 24 handicapper second place.
Richard Dean was another to feel the effects of the sun with a shaky last four holes, but like Lane, he had done enough earlier on to hang onto third place.
Relatively high scores of 75 or better earned a ball prize and they included Fred Knight, McLean 71, Michael Millhouse, Josh Pettman 73, Jamal Jakubenko, Ben Papps 74, Roger Gale, Brenton Hodge, Jamie Walters, Justin Ploenges, Trevor Little and Brett Perryman on 75.
David Lock won the pro shot on the fifth hole, with Jesse Foster claiming the honours on the 16th, while Dunford (B Grade) and Smith (A Grade) won their respective nearest the pins.
