Geddes celebrates an ace

With the prediction of hot weather, a field of 107 took to the Mount Gambier Golf Club for the Men’s Stableford competition, sponsored by Steeline, on January 18.

Andrew Birks (17) in C Grade (17.0 – 45.0) shot easily the best score of the day with 45 points.

Five pars and four bogeys had his score off to a flying start on the front nine to bank 23 points.

Birks impressive form continued on the back nine with a further five pars and two bogeys over the next seven holes to be sitting on 42 points with two holes to play.

A slight blemish on the seventeenth resulted in a six and a solitary point for his score, which was followed by another par to close out the round.

Second spot in C Grade went to David Turnbull (33) with 37 points made up of splits of 18 and 19.

A Grade (-9.0 – 10.0) had the closest result, with a single point allowing Zac Shanks (6) to take the win with 41 points.

Shooting a 1 over the card 37 off the stick Shanks had 19 points up early, before bettering that with an even to the card 36 strokes off the stick for 22 points on the back nine. Shanks’s scorecard had four bogies, 11 pars and three birdies.

One point behind was Craig Foster (7) with 40 points.

Foster would be rueing a pickup on the par 5 seventh which saw his scorecard also have four bogies, nine pars and four birdies.

Tim MacLean (14) was the winner in B Grade (11.0 – 16.0) with 41 points.

MacLean played his best golf on the front nine with tree bogeys, five pars and a birdie on par 3 eighth hole, for 23 points.

His back nine had a double bogey, six bogeys, a par and a birdie on the eighteenth.

Just two points behind in second spot was David Boyce (15) with 39 points after having splits of 22 and 17.

Boyce would like to replay the fifteenth and sixteenth holes again, as he failed to score on these holes.

Players required 33 points or better on a countback to collect one of the 35 balls handed out.

Nearest to the pins were won by Darren Bilney (+1) on the eighth hole and a special mention must go to Tony Geddes (11 – pictured) who scored a hole-in-one on the sixteenth.

Normally playing around 150 metres, the flag was slightly forward of the green, measuring 141 metres from the tee.

Geddes hit the perfect 7 iron and had the pleasure to watch the ball disappear into the cup.JANUARY 16 RESULTS

The Thursday Stableford competition saw a large field of 113 enter with visiting players from Kooyonga Golf Club (Adelaide) and Yering Meadows (Yarra Valley).

With such a large field, the pressure was on to have an excellent score to be in contention for the chance to win.

And excellent scores were certainly achieved with four golfers scoring 40 or more points.

Dave Evans (22) ended at the top of the leader board with 46 points.

Evans had 22 points to his credit at the halfway point with four pars, four bogies and a solitary double bogey on the par 5 seventh hole.

But Evans didn’t rest on his laurels there, carding another 24 points on the back nine with three pars, three bogeys, two double bogeys and the highlight of his round a birdie on the last.

Evans was runner-up the previous week with 41 points, so his handicap should certainly a take a hit soon.

One point back on 45 points was Pat Dempsey (11).

Dempsey defied his 11 handicap by shooting a one under the card 35 off the stick to have 24 points up after his front nine.

This consisted of six pars, two birdies, on the first and the sixth holes, and a bogey on the par 3 eighth hole.

The tenth saw Dempsey score another birdie, followed by a par on the eleventh.

A hiccup on the thirteenth resulted in a triple bogey, before three more pars, a bogey and another birdie on the sixteenth had Dempsey shoot a 2 over 74 off the stick for his 45 points.

John Miles (16) shot splits of 21 and 20 to finish with 41 points, followed closely by Mathew Knowles (5) who ended on 40 points.

Knowles hit a hot streak to fire four birdies on successive holes – twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth.

This was followed by three pars on the final holes to have him score a 3 under the card 33 off the stick and 20 points for the back nine.

With the high scoring, players required 35 points or better to earn one of the remaining 35 balls.

Pro Shot winners were Peter Ballard (24) on the eighth and Graeme Armstrong (17) on the sixteenth, each picking up five balls plus the extra birdie ball for rolling in their putts.