Of the favoured contestants, Andrew Stewart, was the best in with a 75 followed by Ashley Whitehouse on 78 and Jacob Slimmon with 80.

It was clear that the morning conditions hadn’t produced the lower scores usually expected.

Slimmon is living in Horsham and has beefed up considerably due to the manual nature of his employment installing a pipe line.

Whitehouse would have been hoping for much better while Stewart would have been reasonably satisfied with three over par.

Standout performance of the morning came from Phil Moisidis who, off a 10 handicap, had 75 off the stick and Brendan Dean who also recorded a 75.

Second best score of the day came from up and coming junior Ryan Laird who bogeyed the last two holes for 74.

Laird only played the first round as he is away this weekend.

The afternoon players rolled up and eventually the field of 134 players had all hit off in the oppressive conditions.

For more of this story, purchase your copy of Wednesday’s Sunraysia Daily 04/11/2009.