Matthew Gleeson's golf continues to thrive as we count down to the end of the year and look forward to success in 2008.

Playing off scratch on Wednesday in the Boxing Day medley individual stableford event, Gleeson was five under the card in posting 41 points.

He didn't have a lot happening for him on the way out with one under par on holes 1-9 but made four birdies coming home.

He now continues to practice and practice before the start of the major Australian amateur tournaments mid-January.

"First up I have the Lake Macquarie International at Belmont in Newcastle and the NSW Amatuer Championships before heading down to the Tasmania Open in February," Gleeson said.

"The Riversdale Cup is in Melbourne and I am also going to play in the Mandurah Open south of Perth - all of which will mean a lot of travelling but if I can pull off some good finishes then it will be worth the trouble."

By the time the Australian Amateur Championship at Royal Adelaide comes around in April, 18-year-old Gleeson should be at the top of his game.

The current Dubbo club and junior champion has no doubt set himself some tough targets to reach in 2008 and his fellow members will offer their fullest support and be right behind him.

On Wednesday at Dubbo, four marker Max Duffy matched Gleeson's score but the latter finished on top of the leader board after a countback.

Former professional Phil Munro also had his game on song with a par round of 40 points with Justin Astri and Jeff Wright equal to the task, also with 40.

Then came a group on 39 points headed by minus-5 handicapper John Swan, as well as Alan Marks and Max Ellis while Ballarat's Peter Harvey, Nicholas Tuddenham and Anthony Kek were satisfied with their cards of 38.

In Division 2, a three-way countback was needed at 41 points with Ron Eveleigh the winner in front of Johno Woodbridge with John Knaggs having to be content with a golf ball.

Two players, Trevor Mudge and Kelvin Kilsby had 38 points and Annette Ferguson and Brian McLauchlan had 37.

Best of the nearest to the pins was a shot by John Swan to 116cm on eight and he also picked up another on 18th, 198cm from the flag.

Swan also made things difficult in the Monkey Business with his 39 points being bettered by only eight players, each of whom shared the $75 jackpot.

Interestly 14 birdie pots were registered, all of which came from Division 1 players.

Like the top grade, 37 and a countback was the cut line for balls.

o Golf scores: page 24.