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A pairs ambrose event, the second round of the summer fourball was played at Merrigum on Saturday.

Fortunately the extreme heat of a couple of days prior was gone and conditions were pleasant enough for golf.

A strong field contested the event, however there were two standout pairs who battled it out for top honours. Bruce Andrews and Bill Bray got over the line by the narrowest of margins with a score of 67-7.7-59.3 after an inglorious start and a similar finish, bogeying both the first and the 18th, their only blemishes for the round.

In fact, of their group, three finished up in the channel with their drives on the first while the other went only 50m, albeit up the middle. The winners had a purple patch on the back nine where they birdied four of five holes from the 11th.

The narrowly beaten runners-up were Keith Hogeboom and Roger Gillon with 73-13.3-59.7. Like plenty of others, they would have had missed opportunities and hard luck stories about the ones that just missed, but as one local personality is known to say, ‘‘that’s golf’’.

Ball competition winners were Bruce Andrews and Bill Bray, Roger Gillon and Keith Hogeboom and Phil Savage and Brian Pollard, who finished with 62.7.

Nearest the pins were won by Rod Newham on the sixth, Bill Bray on both the ninth and the jackpot 12th and Roger Gillon on the 14th. Points for the day were awarded to pairs who had 66.7 or better.

The heat took a toll on the field for last Thursday’s Drummond Golf twilight competition, with numbers dropping off for the first time this season.

Greg Hall was in great form and unaffected by the heat, deservedly winning with 47-11.5-35.5. Last season’s overall runner-up, Simon Doherty, showed some form and finished in second place with 46-9-37. Those two players made up the ball competition winners, while Greg also won least putts with 16.

Neil Siddall was nearest the pin on the 14th, while the jackpot failed to go off on the ninth. The two-point cut was 38.

This coming Saturday’s event is stableford, however most people seem to be more excited about the following week, which is par.

The duty team for this week is Geoff Forbes and Geoff Ward.

— Bill Bray