Spring is sprung, the grass is ris, I wonder where the birdies is. They say the birds is on the wing, ain’t that absurd, blind Fred can see the wings is on the bird. Yes it’s official, the equinox marks the start of the astronomical spring (in this hemisphere at least). Theoretically, it can only get warmer from here on in.
Whether it was the planetary alignments or whether it was the weather, the scores returned today were something of a mixed bag. Nobody busted out of their skin though Gordon could have broken par on the back nine with a hole-in-one on the 18th, repeating his performance of a couple of months back. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be and he had to share the winners laurels with Mehmet who also put in a pretty respectable back nine with 37 off the beater.
Pepsi held his own on the handicap front to finish square and take the second podium spot on his ownsome. As an aside, the second is the only hole that Pepsi hasn’t plodded a birdie so far this year. Noodles, Blighty and Jan also played steadily to come third on -1. Of the six that filled the first three places, three of them played off a handicap of 13 – who said it was an unlucky number.
Targe dubbed the group he played with a lot of old farts but he was the only one to make the placings along with another couple of old farts (sorry) Mike and RodG with a reasonably respectable result of -2. Targe was also heard to declare during the round that he was too short – who’d have thought it. Despite having his car removed by unauthorised persons last week, Mostyn gathered himself another Championship point alongside Craig with -3. Mostyn did have to call upon assistance to confirm that his Nissan (Cedric?) really was not in the carpark after the game last week.
The 4th was nominated as the nearest the Pin ball hole and whether it was too early in the round there weren’t a huge number of contenders with Stefan taking out the prize. If placement in the round is any guide, the ProPin should have been covered in names but as it turned out there was only one and Mike Mann picked up the cash from just over 2 metres. An average tally of birdies at eleven for the day and the feathers of the eagle were unruffled.
Eddie and Stefan fought it out for the top spots in the matchplay. As they approached the 10th green, Eddie reported that Stefan was giving him a thrashing but the final result suggests that this might have been a slight exaggeration. But then again, Eddie wouldn’t exaggerate, would he? The final result of a 4 and 3 victory to Stefan brought some relief to committee members after an early report that the match had ended all square which would have required a sudden death play-off. The injection of (double) points for the four finalists have made some moves on the table but Oliver is still comfortably in front.
Although the weather was calm, things got a bit draughtie out there particularly when Noodles was on the 2nd and 3rd tees. There was a rumour that his playing partners forgave him one of his transgressions. Hope he had to do some sort of penance – a Hail Mary at least!
The position of the pin on the 14th proved to be fairly tricky with quite a few putts from the top side finishing further from the hole than they started. But the one that really hurt was AndrewB who putted up hill to have the ball stop and run back to finish further back that he started. The saving grace was that he sank the longer putt. Should have done that the first time Andrew.
Don’t forget that next week is Footy Grand Final Day. There will be an early start at 0750 and they will be teeing off the 1st and the 10th. However we have arranged that our groups will all tee off from the 1st. It is a normal Club Event and Championship Points will be up for grabs so a chance to pick up a few on the die-hard footy fans who won’t be teeing up.
Results for Saturday, 21 September 2013
1st Mehmet Akdag(+1) 1st Gordon Hill(+1) 2nd Andrew Petricola(□) 3rd Andrew Blight(-1) 3rd Stephen Butterfield(-1) 3rd Jan Siemon(-1) 4th Rod Grant(-2) 4th Mike Mann(-2) 4th Targe Mifsud(-2) 5th Mostyn Gregg(-3) 5th Craig Sharp(-3)