Must be that the cricket season is over. Or was it just the beautiful weather and the finely manicured turfs of Ivanhoe that brought out a total of 26 players (or was that 22?). No wonder the money was in short supply after a liberal application of Chrispematics. The upshot was that we probably ended up with somebody paying double (or not). And what about all the accusations about people not paying or nicking off with the loose change. SOS was all fired up to bring out his pencil and notebook and start taking statements from all and sundry – or does that only happen in Midsomer.
Regardless of the confusion caused by the ‘missing money’ and the fact that this was an Orange Ball Teams day, there were some mighty fine scores brought in and you had to break your handicap to even get a point. He hasn’t been back in the fold on a regular basis for long but Laurie is certainly making his mark and put in a blinder today to absolutely destroy Oliver in their matchplay round six and five and take out the competition as well with plus 5. Oliver was gob-smacked that, on the front nine, they were both plus one in the main event but he was three down in the match. Unfortunately, the hole indices on the front nine do tend to favour the long handicapper. Maybe we should reconsider whether to use a matchplay index for this event.
RodG, who has been in the woods for a while, came out with a vengeance today and except for a couple of touches of the nervous nellies could easily have taken the top spot. His +4 was matched by Eddie who has made a stellar start to the year and the handicapper obviously hasn’t been severe enough on him. His lead in the Championship Table, while not unassailable is getting close to being out of reach for some members.
Keith is another returnee who seems to be going from strength to strength and getting his eye back into the game. After the debacle with the player count, the handicapper double checked Chrispy’s card but it seems that his maths improved as the day went on, or was it his marker that saved the day. The break away having a smack at the larger red ball hasn’t harmed RodW’s game and he matched Chris for fourth place.
A veritable swag of players rounded out the podium places with Zimmer, Bill and those two hard workers Dennis and Ben collecting the last of the points on offer today. Ben also collected himself a ball for the Nearest the Pin on the 15th while the ProPin on the 12th went begging and will jackpot with a healthy ante of $22, though it was almost $26.
There was a reasonable number of birdies today with thirteen all up. The big bird has been laying well and there are now five eggs in the nest so it is about time some of the big hitters started attacking the 17th again. A couple of people improved their eclectic on a total of eighteen holes – their first game this year. And, believe it or not, the Beast improved on three holes as well. Still, the year has still got nine months to run, so don’t despair just yet.
Oh yes. Today was an Orange Ball teams event and there were a couple of drop-outs through lost balls and OOB’s. Yes guys, if you hit off with the Orange Ball you have to finish the hole with it in the cup, not in your pocket. Anyway, with Laurie on fire and the others doing not too badly, the easy winners with +3 were Oliver, Laurie, RodW and MalA. Well done chaps!
In other Matchplay results, Ben overcame Will 5 and 3 and RodW downed MalA 4 and 3. There are still five matches outstanding and they have to be finalised next week one way or another. Maybe Richard and his opponent have another week depending on the cricket.
Will was noticed rushing madly up the 10th fairway after his shot ricocheted off a tree and smacked Damo, who had bent down to tee up his ball in the 11th, on the forehead. Damo ended up on his you-know-where as much from surprise as anything else though there might just be a little bruising and a new Titleist tattoo on his forehead. Damo didn’t have the greatest day of it but he did manage to par the 17th with a drive and three chips. The one off the path put a few gouges in his wedge as well. Not happy, Jan!
Ben was admiring Mehm’s shirt because he has one just like it but was wondering whether Mehm had raided his wardrobe or was just using him as a role model. Rumour has it that living in Sydney has gone to Pepsi’s head as he was in town for the weekend but chose to go to the races instead of playing with us.
Targe must be getting soft in his old age as he was saying today that he doesn’t shoot (duck season is coming up) wood ducks because they mate for life and besides they are a bit tough to eat. Maybe that comes from mating for life.
Results for Saturday, 08 March 2014
1st Laurie Mannix(+5) 2nd Rod Grant(+4) 2nd Ed Kloprogge(+4) 3rd Keith Delzoppo(+3) 4th Chris Priems(+2) 4th Rodney White(+2) 5th Ben Akdag(+1) 5th Kazim Akdag(+1) 5th Bill Eastoe(+1) 5th Dennis Tiernan(+1)