In “don’t have disaster day” the leading A Grade players have all got to catch second round leader Shaun Rose. His gross 74 just bettered his score of last week.
Geoff Grayson also recorded an excellent gross 74 to keep his aspirations alive. Mark Rae with a better 77 and Luke Many will still feel they are in the chase but will need two very good rounds next weekend to be in the mix. Fraser Marsh and Tom Martin need spectacular scores to come close. Justin Menzies (who had high hopes), and Rod Smith, Mark Hemmy Andrew Cowling and Corey Lewis will all need two sub par rounds next weekend to push for the higher places.
In B Grade, Coby Tabor leads the way after another excellent 85 to be four shots clear of the chasing field. A large bunch are clustered behind him with only five shots separating the next six players.
In C Grade, Brett Connor nearly equalled his best round of 89 last week to find himself five shots clear of Mark Williams (91). The rest of the grade can only hope for a slip from these top two to have any chance.
In D Grade, Ryan Wisley followed his top 99 last week with an even better 97 to leave him a distance clear of Ted Harvey and Ray Anderson, both of who will both need a minor miracle or a very large slip up to get close.
In the nett competitions, A Grade was won by Geoff Grayson on 67 nett, a full three shots from Peter Saunders and Shaun Rose one shot further back.
B Grade was won by Dave Smith just above Sean Mcfarlane and Brendan Reeves.
Mark Williams pipped Brett O’Connor on c/b to win C Grade. Glen Durrant was just one shot back in third.
Ryan Wisely added to his gross win with nett win in D Grade and must have thought he was in for his second hole in one in a year as his tee shot on the 7th pulled up just a few inches from the hole.
Second in D Grade was Ray Anderson just one shot ahead of Chris Moorhead in third.
The easy morning conditions and a couple of down wind par fives produced four eagles, notably Mark Rae on the down hill par 5 thirteenth.
Probably playing a fairly high iron for his second shot, his eagle putt was a formality. A birdie for most of the single figure golfers would be a disappointment.
Tony Johnson mitigated a difficult day with nearest the pin on the 2nd. Ryan wisely took out the 7th with ease. Jackson Wright slipped in a close one on the 11th and Shaun Rose finished his solid round with a very controlled tee shot on the 17th.
With a difficult pin placement Lance Pedraza took the Thistle on the 9th hole.
Ball prizes down to John Fong Kee (just) with nett 77.
With the deciding two final rounds played next Saturday and Sunday, expect treacherous pin placements to counter the greens slowness if they get the expected drenching during the week.
Miles James