O’Donnell on song

Mount Gambier Golf Club held the first round of the South East Championships on October 12 as part of the Spring Tournament.

The tournament this year was supported by FootJoy, the Lion Beverage Company and Jetts 24 Hour Fitness.

With the weather perfect for golf a good field of 109 players participated.

Taking out the win in A Grade (-9 – 10) with the best score of the day was Pat O’Donnell (4).

O’Donnell continued his recent good form by shooting an even to the card 72 off the stick to be 4 under when he signed his card.

The outward nine had three bogies and four pars with birdies on the second and fourth holes to turn with 37 shots and square with his handicap.

It was the inward nine where O’Donnell showed his best form – with two bogies and four pars and a string of birdies on the tenth, fifteenth and eighteen holes, to be 4 under his handicap.

Runner up in A Grade was Andrew Stark (3) who finished 1 under with a nett 71 after shooting a 74 off of the stick.

Shayne Hosking (13) took out B Grade (11.0 – 16.0) with the same score as O’Donnell at 4 under his handicap.

With nine bogies and nine pars spread across the eighteen holes it was a very consistent round.

A countback was required to sort out the runners up spot with four players all finishing on nett 71s.

Darren Griffin (15) getting the node with an even to card front nine followed by a 1 under back nine.

Griffith had a good start to his round, getting to 4 under his handicap after birdieing the Par 5 seventh hole.

An unfortunate stretch of holes on 8, 9 and 10 undid all his early good work.

Neal Doody (12) was the first of the unlucky ones also finishing on 1 under nett 71.

A triple bogey eight on the Par 5 fifteenth enough to deny him a better finish.

Peter Waters (13) was again near the top of the leader board with his nett 71, followed by Paul Kenny (15) who would be ruing a pair of double bogies on the par 3 tenth and par 5 fifteenth, as this is the second week in a row that he has missed out on the runners up spot on a countback.

C Grade (17.0 – 45.0) also required a countback to determine the final positions.

John Miles (20) and Stephen Stott (18) both ending on 2 under nett 70s.

Miles even split of 1 under on both nines pipped Stott who was 1 over on the back after turning at 3 under.

As it was a stroke round, where you aren’t given the opportunity to pick your ball up once you exceed the number of shots allowed per hole, so it needs to be acknowledged the persistence of those who had incurred troubles on a hole.

Thirty-four balls were given out for scores of nett 76 points or better on a countback.

Nearest to the pins were won by Gary Wilson (7) on the eighth hole and Peter Berkefeld (15) on the sixteenth.OCTOBER 10 RESULTS

Footjoy sponsored a 4 Ball Better Ball competition as part of the SpringTournament.

With the winning pair Charlie Finch (22) and Peter Jones (19) both receiving a quality pair of Footjoy shoes for their efforts finishing at +10.

One shot back Robert Harkness (15) & Graham Allen (22) were runners up on +9 taking out at $60 Club voucher each. A count back was required to split 3 teams all finishing on +8. Peter Collie (17) and Ken Whitehead (8) taking out the $30 Club vouchers from the teams of David Millard (19) and Craig Foster (7) and Nick Black (8) and Ross Anderson (23).

Plus five or better on a countback was required to win one of the 27 balls with Pro Shot winners being Jim Douglas (37) on the eighth and Morris Watson (29) on the sixteenth.