Blaine Tessier squeaked out a narrow two-stroke victory in the 11th annual One-Club Wonder golf tournament this past Sunday afternoon at the Mountain View Golf Course.

Tessier bettered his own record score of 81 with an 80 on the testy Mountain View links. This edged out perennial challenger Vic Istchenko who came in with an 82.

Istchenko clearly felt the icy fingers, both literally and figuratively, as he lost the match on the greens where he needed 33 strokes to hole the spheroid. This compared to the mere 27 putts from Tessier, who also assisted his cause with prodigious shots using only the lowly 8 Iron.

One example was a 215-yard shot onto the green at the ninth hole that prompted some talk about requiring blood tests in future events.

The tournament is in the style of a pro-am with elite foursomes such as Tessier, Istchenko, Dave Griffiths and Kent Davy being sent out after the remainder of the duffers have exited the opening tee box.

The lesser known players, while not necessarily up to the standards of such luminaries, hotly pursue the larger trophy provided to the low-net victor. This year, Jim Harris sparkled in posting an 87 for a low net of 75.

Harris rescued his round by chipping in on the 12th hole after having performed an industrious job of stick handling to the general vicinity of the green in five shots. Pictures taken later show Harris demonstrating the technique of playing the game with his eyes shut.

The tournament did not prove as facile for the remainder of the field, as 50 per cent of the players found their scores to be in the triple digits. A total of four players broke 90 and the remaining 12 came in under 100.

Each year tournament organizers provide participants with a special energy drink, but it does not seem to have had much influence in lowering scores. In fact, statistics are showing that scores worsen rather than improve on the back nine.

At the close of the day and, given the weather, undoubtedly the close of the season for all but the most hardened and addicted to the game, the trophies were handed out in front of a jovial crowd.

A more somber moment occurred when the time arrived for the donning of the yellow sweater by the tournament champion. Since Tessier was a repeat winner, the honour of assisting him in putting on the hideous accoutrement was left to Dave Griffiths, who carried out this duty in the role of long time tournament organizer and master of aplomb.

As always, a quiet moment is taken to allow the winner to digest the solemn fact that he will be in possession of this piece of clothing for the annum.

Organizers were greatly pleased that 32 of those registered turned out for the tournament and encourage those who didn't show to renew their supply of memory pills. As in the past, those present were unanimous in their assessment of the no shows 'their loss.'

Special thanks are due to the Mountain View Golf Course and its employees in particular, Greg Wagstaff for the cooperation and good humour they exhibited throughout both the planning and the playing of the tournament.

So as not to protect the innocent, the complete results, showing gross and net scores, were:

Blaine Tessier, 80 (77)

Vic Istchenko, 82 (76)

Jim Harris, 87 (75)

Barry Davidson, 89 (78)

Brian Love, 93 (77)

Hugh Carruthers, 93 (81)

Glen Slonski, 93 (85)

Mark Pike, 94 (77)

Greg Wagstaff, 94 (86)

Glenn Ford, 95 (81)

Gareth Howells, 96 (86)

Patrick Michael, 97 (80)

Barry Mole, 98 (85)

Stu Mackay, 98 (82)

Harry Kulych, 99 (79)

Buster Davy, 99 (91)

Ed Mollard, 100 (82)

Gary Potter, 101 (83)

Bruce Fulcher, 102 (83)

Gary Acorn, 102 (87)

Colin Dawe, 103 (87)

Robb Dunn, 103 (89)

Jim Pollock, 104 (82)

Dave Griffiths, 104 (91)

Wally Hidinger, 108 (83)

Matthew Sills, 108 (84)

Dave Nugent, 108 (88)

Terry Weninger, 108 (93)

Al Fozard, 109 (89)

Gary Hewitt, 110 (88)

John Spicer, 112 (88)

Kent Davy, 122 (102)

This special report was filed directly from the Mountain View Golf Course by Nat Stremy.