By Dave Ransom
THE weather finally relented and two rounds of the club championships have been completed.
In A Grade Stephen Rippon, after rounds of 74 and 68, has opened up an 11 shot gap on defending club champion Adrian Gehrmann. Adrian has replied with rounds of 79 and 74 to be well positioned in the defence of his title.
Adrian Bell has fired rounds of 78 and 76 to be a further shot back and leads club matchplay champion Paul Hazeltine, 77 and 78, by a further shot. Ray Orr rounds out the top 5 on 159 after rounds of 79 and 80.
In the nett it is much closer with Rippon leading with 136, one shot ahead of Orr, Hazeltine and Warwick Miller on 137. Pat Paris, 139, and Ken Bradley, 140, round out the top 5.
B Grade close
It is very close in B Grade where several players have excellent chances to win the title.
Ron Chilby (85 and 80) and Peter Francis (82 and 83) share the half-way lead with 165. Tim Young (81 and 85), making a solid defence of his title, is a further shot back on 166 along with Bernie McGlinchey (84 and 82). Matt Tedeschi (81 and 87) is 5th on 168. Paul Henderson and Danny Fanning are also well placed on 169.
In the B grade nett, Fanning leads on 131 closely followed by Tedeschi on 132, Chilby on 133, Francis on 135, and McGlinchey and Dave Ransom on 136. Bruce Hammond is also well placed on 137.
C Grade 5 shot leader
In the C Grade, Jim Ryan (86 and 85) with 171 has opened up a 5 shot lead over Michael Carr (88, 88). Chris Goodwin (96 and 81) is a further shot back after his impressive 2nd round. Tied with Chris is Jeff Draper (89 and 88) with Warwick Drew on 178 in 5th place at the half-way point, and Gary Humphries is 6th on 179. Ron Hewson has scored 191 in defence of his crown and is looking for an improved third round to get him back into contention.
The C Grade nett leader is Jim Ryan on 127. Draper, Humphries and Andrew Ball on 133 pursue him as does Carr and Phil Hahn on 136. Andrew fired a 58 nett in the second round to blast back into the tournament.
Don’t forget a good round can get you back into the mix very quickly. Good luck in the third round.