Dunn on course for back-to-back titles

By Greg Best
February 11 2014 - 4:00am

DEFENDING champion Chris Dunn had plenty to think about as he walked from Port Fairy Golf Club as darkness descended on Friday night after a less-than-impressive nine-hole practice session.
Playing alongside club championship rival Troy Richardson, Dunn had struggled to match his mate’s birdie blitz, as the commute from Melbourne after work took its toll.
“He (Richardson) made birdies left, right and centre and he kept on saying ‘it’s a day early’,” Dunn said.
“I said ‘I’m just saving myself’.”
Less than 10 hours later he backed up his jocular words with a one-over 73 that catapulted him to the halfway lead in the club’s A grade championships.
Dunn and Richardson’s rounds were delayed by fog for about 30 minutes on Saturday morning before they both made “scratchy” starts.
While Dunn, who started the day two shots behind first-round leader Kevin Leddin and one ahead of Richardson, climbed the leaderboard, his fellow scratch-marker Richardson had a horror round and finished with an 88.
Dunn will start favourite for back-to-back championships this weekend and his third in four years after his round of 73, which included three bogeys and two birdies.
He made a three-putt bogey on the par-three fourth and struggled with the blade throughout despite birdies on the par five fifth and 18th holes.
“I hit 15 greens (in regulation) and 10 fairways but the putts just didn’t drop,” Dunn said.
He said he made a putting adjustment late in the round, which worked.
“I’m looking forward to playing two days this weekend,” Dunn said in an ominous message to his rivals.
The secondary school maths teacher at Viewbank College in Rosanna expects to be making the trek more regularly to Port Fairy in coming months.
He has committed to playing for the club in the Corangamite District Golf Association pennant season, which starts next month, and he has also blanked out the second week of the term three school holidays for representing the CDGA in the top grade at country week competition.
Dunn will start Saturday’s third round four ahead of Leddin, who had 79. Three players, Nelson Williams, Craig Bramley and Chris Johnson, are a further two shots back — six off the pace. Aaron Finnigan is three adrift of the trio while Ben Goodall is in touch before Saturday night’s 54-hole cut ahead of Sunday’s final round.
Neil Cahill holds a three-shot lead in the race for the B grade championships from a group of three players — 12-year-old Fraser Marris, Steve Malone and Peter Gubbins.
Richard Chapman has a mortgage on the C grade championship. He will take a 16-shot lead into the final 36 holes over Tony Eccles.

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